With much fanfare and no less hand-wringing, state regulators approved plans that for the first time set out how California’s electric utilities intend to prevent their equipment from sparking wildfires. But the plans provide scant details, and little evidence to support the companies’ claims that indiscriminately clear-cutting millions of trees and replacing hundreds of thousands of wooden utility poles with steel ones will actually reduce the risk of wildfires.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Mercury News - Metered Site

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri is facing a volunteer shortage. More than 600 kids are waiting for a mentor — and about 80 percent are African American boys. The local branch of the nonprofit is launching a program in the hopes of filling the volunteer gap and building trust within communities of color.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Public Radio

The federal government wants the owner of a tourist train in Durango to pay $25 million for causing a wildfire that scorched 53,000 acres of Forest Service land last summer. A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office says burning cinders from the exhaust stack of a coal-fired steam train operated by the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Co.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Colorado Sun

Rochester’s fire chief says, after the first night under the department's new dynamic staffing model, there were no lapses in firefighters' response times. Under the model, a fire company closes for a shift, leaving other companies to respond to calls. The policy is meant to curb overtime costs. Monday night, Engine No.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHAM-TV ABC 13 Rochester

The Cedar Falls firefighters' union is taking their battle against the city to court. The latest in an on-going controversy over the public safety officers program, that trains police to be firefighters, is the promotion of nine of those dual-trained members to high-ranking positions in the fire department.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KGAN-TV CBS 2 Cedar Rapids

Fourth of July weekend is one of the most dangerous times of the year in the United States. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Fourth of July is one of the deadliest days in the year for motorists, and more fires are reported on Independence Day than any other day in the year, according to the National Fire Protection Agency.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: A Secure Life

When firefighters sign up for the job, they’re aware of the dangers of flames, heat and smoke from burning buildings. But they often don’t know about the slower, lingering dangers that can hurt them even when they’re working in the firehouse. Firefighters are 14 percent more likely to die from cancer than the average American, according to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: North Carolina Health News

Never-before-seen video from the Camp Fire is painting an urgent new picture this fire season. The video provides a first-look at the evacuations in Paradise as the Camp Fire moved into the community. The Truckee Police Chief released these videos with a warning: know when it’s time to go. The video gives an “eyes wide open” look at how waiting to evacuate can make the difference between life and death during a wildfire.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOVR-TV CBS 13 Sacaramento

Firefighters battled a large fire that destroyed a home in northwest Houston overnight. The fire led to a roof collapse and brief mayday call at the home, the Houston Fire Department said. The fire broke out early Tuesday at a home on Badger Forest in the Acres Homes area. Firefighters responded and found flames shooting from the roof of the two-story home.
- PUB DATE: 7/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHOU-TV CBS 11

The Logan community is mourning the loss of one of its firefighters following a tragic accident. According to City of Logan Fire Chief Scott Beckett, the department responded to an ATV crash on W.Va. 44 near the Honda Logan Motorcycle Sales in Wilkinson at around 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Beckett said Ernie Woods, 46, was driving his side-by-side back to Logan when he lost control and collided with a tractor-trailer type of truck hauling scrap steel.
- PUB DATE: 7/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Logan Banner

On the day a former New York City police detective and leader in the fight for the Sept. 11 Victims Compensation Fund died, fellow Boston-area first responders voiced their support for extending the crucial fund, which would give protection and peace of mind to affected families. Detective Luis Alvarez was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2016, which he traced to the three months spent in the rubble of the World Trade Center’s twin towers after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
- PUB DATE: 7/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald - Metered Site

A Pennsylvania law passed in 2017 that finally allowed residents to buy aerial fireworks has increased both the number of booms and the corresponding noise complaints, sparking frustration among Lehigh Valley firefighters, police officers and residents. Allentown police officials said prior to the 2017 law, they would often respond to complaints by seizing aerial fireworks.
- PUB DATE: 7/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Morning Call

It’s the battle firefighters face everyday that many of us don’t see – cancer. “I’m not a firefighter but both my brothers were and I know the risks that they take on,” said Travis Horn, spokesperson for the Hillsborough County Firefighters Union. Horn lost his brother, Lt. Michael Wayne Horn to Melanoma on New Year’s Eve in 2002.
- PUB DATE: 7/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFLA-TV NBC 8 Tampa

The newest firefighters in St. Paul and Minneapolis graduated Friday, including two men who will be the first Somali-American firefighters in St. Paul and possibly the state and nation. Twenty-three firefighter recruits for St. Paul graduated, including seven women. Eighteen recruits graduated for Minneapolis.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Paul Pioneer Press

Nighttime aerial firefighting equipment that helped knock down Australian wildfires last year will be tested in Orange County over the next five months. Starting July 1, the Orange County Fire Authority will run a pilot program with two special helicopters: one that does reconnaissance of ground conditions, any obstacles such as power lines, and where the nearest water sources are, and a second chopper that will be “the first-ever nighttime, hover-filling tanker in the U.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Orange County Register - Metered Site

A long-term shortage of emergency medical service, and eventually firefighter, volunteers will severely impact Dodge County municipalities both large and small in coming years, according to county officials. And while mutual aid can help minimize the impacts of that shortage, fire and EMS organizations have been preparing for the future.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

VIDEO: They are fire investigators on four legs who help the FDNY solve some of the most difficult arson cases around the city. Weighing in at just under 70 pounds each, Bucca and Pete pack a type of crimefighting muscle different than any other firefighter. They’re part of the K9 arson squad. They sniff, they sit, they solve.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCBS-TV CBS 2 New York

As wildfire season approaches, local winemakers are concerned about the potential for more dense smoke. For two summers in a row, thick smoke consumed the Pacific Northwest. It didn't just worsen air quality, it affected wine vineyards, too. Freddy Arredondo, the winemaker for Cave B Winery, told me there can be both positive and negative impacts on grapes.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVL-TV CBS 10 Medford

The Ohio Senate balked at mandates in a House-passed budget to provide workers’ compensation for first responders diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and to make all injured workers declare their immigration status. With those and other policy measures stripped from the bill, the Senate voted unanimously Thursday to approve the budget of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, which is funded by employer premiums.
- PUB DATE: 6/28/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Canton Respository

Every day a lot of men have to shave. No matter how good a job they do they have to do it all over again in a day or two. Once a year the VC Fire Protection District has to map as much of the district as it can before the fire season begins in earnest and send out letters to property owners warning them if their property poses a fire hazard.
- PUB DATE: 6/28/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Valley RoadRunner