Ron Herrera could have stopped fighting fires years ago. But what exactly, he wonders, would he do with himself then? Honored Monday for wrapping his 45th year with Albuquerque Fire Rescue, the 66-year-old lieutenant has now logged the equivalent of more than two full careers with the department. He once worked alongside the fathers – and, in at least one case, the grandfather – of some of his current peers. - PUB DATE: 12/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albuquerque Journal
The investigation of a Harlem building blaze that killed a firefighter and disrupted production of a movie starring Edward Norton was rigged so Norton’s production company -- which was using the building for filming – would escape blame, an FDNY fire marshal claims.
Fire Marshal Scott Specht, the lead investigator in the fire, accuses Chief Fire Marshal Thomas Kane, his deputy J. - PUB DATE: 12/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News
A former fire chief has filed a federal lawsuit against the Center Township Fire Department for more than 330 hours of overtime.
Ernie Campbell alleges in his suit that he was fired over a time-off request and did not receive his compensatory time or pay for more than eight weeks since he began working for the department in 1989. - PUB DATE: 12/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lebanon Reporter
The Burlington Rescue Squad will hire temporary workers to help fill time slots for emergency medical technicians.
In an agreement between the nonprofit squad and the city, the city will handle the hiring of the temporary workers but their salary will be paid for by the volunteer squad. The squad, a private entity run under the auspices of the Burlington Rotary Club, also serves the Town of Burlington. - PUB DATE: 12/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times
Retired Worcester firefighter John Griffin recalled how much it meant nearly two decades ago when other city employees stepped in to relieve the city’s fire personnel while they mourned their six colleagues killed in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. fire.
Saturday, Mr. Griffin and some of his fellow retirees from the department will pay that favor forward to the city’s current firefighters when they grieve for Christopher J. - PUB DATE: 12/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram & Gazette
VIDEO: Orlando firefighters are being credited with helping to save a woman and her car after they got stuck on railroad tracks in downtown as a freight train approached.
The rescue was captured on cellphone video by Nolan Thompson on Wednesday night.
According to Orlando fire officials, people started banging on the doors to Fire Station 1 at approximately 11:20 p. - PUB DATE: 12/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKMG-TV CBS 6 Click Orlando
For years, they’ve watched from across the street as the trucks go in and out of the Park Avenue fire station, protecting the city and its residents. Now Harris Auto Body is returning the favor, giving two fire trucks a final detailing in preparation for Firefighter Christopher J. Roy’s funeral services. - PUB DATE: 12/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram & Gazette
At 6:33 a.m. on Nov. 8, a Butte County dispatcher answered what was among the first emergency calls in what would become the deadliest wildfire in California history: A “powerline transformer sparked and there is a fire,” the Magalia caller reported.
By just after 8 a.m., residents of Concow and Magalia were phoning in a panic — some of them trapped and needing rescue and others frantically alerting authorities to parents and grandparents in harm’s way, according to Butte County dispatchers’ logs. - PUB DATE: 12/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle
Two more top Baltimore County officials are leaving as County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. sets up his new administration.
Fire Chief Kyrle Preis and planning director Andrea van Arsdale announced this week that they are retiring. They were two of the department heads who were not included in a list of appointments and reappointments that Olszewski sent to the Baltimore County Council last week. - PUB DATE: 12/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baltimore Sun
Southwest Airlines recently found itself in hot water and had to apologize for the actions of one of its employees. That person, a gate agent, had joked with coworkers about the unusual name of one of the passengers on the flight, and later posted a picture of that passenger’s boarding pass to her personal social media account. - PUB DATE: 12/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
The city of Houston has alleged in a legal claim that the voter-approved charter amendment granting firefighters equal pay to police officers is unconstitutional and preempted by Texas’ local government code, echoing a similar contention from the Houston Police Officers’ Union.
The claim, filed in state district court as part of the police union’s lawsuit against the Houston Professional Fire Firefighters Association and the city, comes 10 days after a judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking implementation of Proposition B, which passed with 59 percent of the vote last month. - PUB DATE: 12/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
At least 12 people are recovering from injuries after a massive fire burned through several businesses in Sunnyside, Queens.
The fire broke out inside one store on Queens Boulevard around 2:14 a.m. Thursday and quickly spread.
Dozens of firefighters were called to the scene as the fire grew to five alarms. - PUB DATE: 12/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV ABC 7
Austin City Council members on Thursday will consider an ordinance that would require most of the city’s fire vehicles to be staffed with a minimum of four people, a move decades in the making that supporters say will improve safety and efficiency at the Fire Department.
The ordinance would essentially bring into law a policy that the Fire Department has already been implementing to make sure that first responders are able to act immediately during a critical fire incident. - PUB DATE: 12/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman
The attorneys for the Ghost Ship defendants are asking the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for an unusual move — to arrest the warehouse landlords and fire department officials for the deadly fire.
Attorneys for Derick Almena and Max Harris announced the motion to compel the arrests on Tuesday, asking for a laundry list of arrests that includes the Ghost Ship warehouse landlord Chor Ng and her two children, Eva and Kai, who served as building managers. - PUB DATE: 12/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times
The head of the city council's investigations committee has requested an independent probe of the events leading up to the suspension of a top Fire Department chief accused of abusive behavior.
Councilman Ritchie Torres, (D-Bronx), sent Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett the request Tuesday, days after FDNY Chief of Department James Leonard was relieved of his command and put on desk duty. - PUB DATE: 12/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News
Mitch Crocetti's job pays pretty well, but his old job pays him even better.
The Pingree Grove & Countryside Fire Protection District chief receives $117,500 a year in his current role, but his pension after his previous 30-year career with the Wood Dale Fire Department also pays him $124,037 annually. - PUB DATE: 12/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Illinois Daily Herald
On Monday night, firefighters rushed to rescue a family stranded on a highway before a tractor-trailer smashed into their vehicles causing an explosion.
In a bizarre incident later that night, the passenger of a car who drove through the barricade during clean-up waved a gun and ran into a firefighter. - PUB DATE: 12/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WECT-TV Channel 6
A Connecticut Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of a local firefighters union saying it effectively disaffiliated in 2016 from the Uniformed Professional Firefighters Association of Connecticut. The city firefighters’ union, Local 825, filed a four-count lawsuit in March alleging a breach of fiduciary duty against the UPFFA, which represents the state’s fire departments. - PUB DATE: 12/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Greenwich Time
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) today announced the participants accepted into the seventh-year of the prestigious Fire Service Executive Development Institute (FSEDI).
FSEDI is a yearlong leadership-development program developed by the IAFC to provide new and aspiring chiefs with the tools they need to have successful and productive tenures. - PUB DATE: 12/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs
The Magical Butter Botanical Extractor is a mechanical device which looks similar to a coffee thermos and is marketed as a tool to infuse food with your favorite herbs.
Sheriff's officials say a Hillsborough County firefighter used one to create homemade cannabis oil.
Deputies were called Monday afternoon to Hillsborough Fire Station 26, a small public safety house at 5302 Thonotosassa Road, after someone found a Magical Butter machine in the workout room with marijuana in it. - PUB DATE: 12/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Bay.com
