A statewide shortage of trained medical personnel has left many rural county ambulance services having to delay hospital transfers to ensure they have enough staff for emergencies. For example, in Norton County in northwest Kansas, the county's 5,400 residents are served by six full-time volunteers and nine volunteers, who respond to all 911 calls and taken patients from one hospital to another.
- PUB DATE: 3/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Kansas City Star

VIDEO: As firefighters from all over Maine and the nation gathered to honor the life of one of their own who died in a Berwick fire, another firefighter also lost his life. Oxford Fire Chief Gary Sacco died while he was in Portland attending the funeral of Capt. Joel Barnes on Sunday, March 10, according to multiple sources.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News Center Maine

Working firefighters will earn less from their pensions than their retired peers because the city will spend less on those plans. Before city commissioners unanimously approved a new pension plan on Feb. 19, retired firefighters could have gotten payments comparable to $72,000 a year. But the new plan caps pension payments at $95,000 for lifetime for firefighters who have yet to retire.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palm Beach Post

The city’s ambulance corps is so busy that an overtime cap applying to all other agencies has been lifted and medics are routinely putting in 60 and 70-hour weeks, union officials said. Normally, city workers can’t make more than 40 percent of their salary in overtime. However, with just 4,133 emergency medical technicians and paramedics to handle nearly 1.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

What started as an experiment in training firefighters locally is turning into a regular event in the Tri-Cities. Starting Monday, 17 firefighters will start a 15-week training program at the regional fire recruit academy — without having to leave home. With Kennewick looking to open a new fire station, and Pasco and Richland replacing retiring firefighters, it will be the largest class ever trained in the area.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tri-City Herald

More than four years after a massive blaze destroyed an Edgewater apartment complex and temporarily displaced more than 1,000 residents, legislative attempts to better protect residential structures from fast-spreading fires have stalled. A panel of firefighters, fire safety experts, activists and builders at a public forum in Teaneck weighed in Wednesday night on how best to address the issue.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: North Jersey.com (Bergen County Record & Herald News)

Greg Eisenhut saw a high school soccer goalie hit a goal post and fall to the ground with a probable concussion and possible spinal injury two years ago. An ambulance arrived 50 minutes later, said Eisenhut, board president of Mohawk Valley Ambulance Corps, or MOVAC. “That made me realize that we have issues here.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Utica Observer-Dispatch

VIDEO: On Wednesday, the Lansing Mayor released a statement saying that a new racial diversity and sensitivity would go into place in the City of Lansing Government. "As Mayor of the City of Lansing, I am committed to continuing to work toward racial equity," Andy Schor said. "We must all work together to ensure that no one is left behind or treated differently based upon race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other distinguishing characteristics.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSYM-TV FOX 47 Lansing

Immokalee Fire Control District officials say budget shortfalls are to blame for a delay in getting to a man who died because of injuries suffered from a chainsaw accident Saturday. It took only a few minutes for crews from the Immokalee fire district to arrive after Esteban Cristobal-Antonio, 36, injured himself while cutting branches about 30 feet up in a tree he had climbed at 331 N.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Naples Daily News

VIDEO: The Hartford Fire Department continues to rebuild. It was short 100 firefighters after it lost more than that in 2016. Now, nearly 40 percent of the city's firefighters are new. "Five years ago, 19.5 [years] of experience was the average time for having a firefighter in the Hartford fire department," said Chief Reginald Freeman, Hartford Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFSB-TV CBS Channel 3

The union representing the city’s firefighters has filed a complaint against the city and state over unfair promoting practices, compensation and unpaid raises. International Association of Fire Fighters Local 198 filed the complaint Monday in state Superior Court alleging the city and the state Department of Community Affairs and Division of Local Government Services have failed to “act in good faith” when promoting firefighters to captains and failed to pay contractually mandated step raises.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Press of Atlantic City

Mike Nevin figured it was a prank. There's no way the city is now requiring firefighters and medics to clean up blood from crime and accident scenes without the proper training or equipment, the president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association told himself. “I thought it was a joke when I first saw it,” Neven tells Metro Times.
- PUB DATE: 3/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Detroit Metro Times

An Atlantic City firefighter filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and the department’s chief and deputy chief after learning he would be suspended without pay unless he shaved his beard, which he has grown out for religious reasons. Alexander Smith, who has worked for the fire department for more than 15 years and makes $115,000 a year as an air mask technician, is a born-again Christian who began growing out his beard in December as an expression of his faith, according to a lawsuit filed last week.
- PUB DATE: 3/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NJ.com

The Pueblo Fire Department's newest class of firefighter recruits consists of six men who were selected to serve Pueblo residents based on their "experience, merit, and fitness for the position," but it's also making history for the department. Terrence Fantroy-Hankins will be PFD's first black firefighter when he completes the academy class, which started March 1.
- PUB DATE: 3/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KRDO-TV

VIDEO: A 5-year-old boy in Addison has taken it upon himself to help out his local volunteer fire department. After discovering they were missing a certain piece of life-saving equipment, the little guy knew he had to help. Eleni Wakeman, Asst. Fire Chief for Addison Fire Department says, "There was a call for a woman who had fallen through the ice.
- PUB DATE: 3/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABI 5

VIDEO: Virtually every item on the Houston City Council's agenda Wednesday was postponed by Councilman Dwight Boykins in a parliamentary protest over un-sworn firefighter cadets. It appears the months long debate over firefighter cadets who have not been sworn in has finally boiled over. On Wednesday morning, 68 firefighter cadets are at the Houston Fire Department Training Academy.
- PUB DATE: 3/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTRK-TV ABC 13 Houston

A burning home near Bethalto partially collapsed while firefighters were inside on Tuesday, killing a Godfrey fire captain and injuring three other firefighters. Capt. Jacob "Jake" Ringering of the Godfrey Fire Protection District died from his injuries after being transported to a hospital. He was 37 years old.
- PUB DATE: 3/6/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Post Dispatch

Nearly eight decades later, the Fire Department is remembering 13 firefighters who died in the line of duty. A ceremony is scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. at City Hall to observe the 78th anniversary of the Strand Theatre Fire. The ceremony is held each year around the anniversary of the fire, which resulted in one of the largest losses of life for firefighters in the history of the United States.
- PUB DATE: 3/6/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Enterprise

VIDEO: A first-of-its-kind Pasco County program is helping high school students hoping to become firefighters. "Last year, my step-dad brought me to a live burn at the training center and it really sparked my interest," said Amy Newland. For students like Newland, the "Fire Science Course" at Fivay High School is the perfect way to start climbing the ladder.
- PUB DATE: 3/6/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFTS-TV

VIDEO: York County soon may step into the business of putting out fires. But not without being asked to, at least for now. Riverview Volunteer Fire Department reached out to the county about making its firefighters full-time county employees. The possibility of the county taking over would be a new step.
- PUB DATE: 3/6/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: HeraldOnline.com