Alabama law enforcement officers have been the target of gun violence recently. Several officers have been shot or killed in Auburn, Birmingham, Mobile and Selma. Now, there’s work to add protection to law enforcement officers and first responders. Under existing law, the murder of a first responder is not a capital offense.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBRC-TV Fox 6 Birmingham

This is how bad things have gotten in Julian since San Diego County took control of the region’s last volunteer fire department eight months ago. When first responders went out on a call, someone would paint over the marking that reserved the new county fire chief’s parking spot at the fire station, which used to be manned by the local volunteers who resided in the popular tourist destination.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times - Metered Site

VIDEO: Tipton County was hit with flooding as a result of constant, driving rain. The Brighton Fire Department is drying out after the tables were turned as several inches of water flooded their station forcing an evacuation. "This one was one of the worst because not only did the fire station get affected and if that gets affected, we can't help people," said Tipton County Fire Chief, Jon Piercey.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: LocalMemphis.com

The Community Response Team has received its second one-year grant as the mental-health project develops a system to identify and help “super utilizers” of emergency services without repeated 911 calls. The CRT triumvirate — police officer, fire paramedic and mental-health counselor — respond to mental-health calls in an emergency medical service truck.
- PUB DATE: 2/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tulsa World

Great Falls City Firefighter Jason Baker lost his battle with Stage IV lung cancer Wednesday morning. His friend and fellow firefighter, David Van Son, remembers Baker, an 18-year-veteran of the city’s fire fighting team, as not only a terrific firefighter, but an all-around great man. The 45-year-old Baker, a non-smoker and otherwise the picture of fitness, was diagnosed with cancer in 2016.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Montana Public Radio

Orlando Fire Department Chief Roderick Williams resigned Thursday after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined he and two deputy chiefs discriminated against a female employee. “I regret that during my tenure there have been allegations that have hurt the department and the City of Orlando,” Williams said in a letter submitted Thursday afternoon.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel

VIDEO: Dorchester County Council is considering taking steps to have the North Charleston Fire Department take over the area that is currently served by the Ashley River Fire Department, and shut the department down. The Ashley River Special Tax District was formed in 1979 to create the fire department because there was no fire protection near the area.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCBD-TV

VIDEO: Fire officials in Dauphin County are questioning how safe their paging systems are. Deputy Fire Chief of Hummelstown Fire Department, Leland Blough, says the pagers they use, requires them to look down and read fire calls, sometimes while driving, making them unsafe. The pagers were a 35 million dollar investment, purchased in 2010 by Dauphin County.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPMT-TV Fox 43

Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham accused the Waukegan firefighters union of fearmongering in its push to increase contractually mandated staffing levels. The city and Waukegan International Association of Firefighters Local 473 are in the midst of negotiating a replacement to a three-year contract that expired in April 2018.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune - Metered Site

Houston officials have offered to raise firefighters’ base salaries, but not sufficiently to establish pay parity with police officers as approved by voters, city and firefighter union officials said Wednesday. “In my mind, the proposal makes no effort to implement Prop B,” union attorney Troy Blakeney said, referring to the ballot item reflecting a city charter amendment approved in a Nov.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Baltimore City Council members on Tuesday questioned Fire Department officials about the agency’s aging vehicles and stations and demanded more information on staffing policies and overtime costs. The council members who sit on the public safety committee asked the department to provide them with data on its operations to help determine how best to allocate resources to improve response times, repair aging firehouses and vehicles, and provide proper overtime pay to employees.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun - Metered Site

VIDEO: Springfield's Fire Chief says there is nothing he can do when it comes to recommending charges in fires caused as a result of drug production, so he is taking the fight to the capitol. The issue regards to two sections of the current state fire law-- which were written when focus was on methamphetamine.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: OzarksFirst.com

The city of Los Angeles will pay $800,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a veteran fire marshal who was transferred out of his job after he clashed with inspectors in his department and the fire union sought his removal. The City Council voted 10 to 0 without discussion Wednesday to approve the settlement payment.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times - Metered Site

A spat between Cleveland and one of its labor unions over when firefighters should start work each day has escalated to a case before the Ohio Supreme Court over who should referee the fight. The high court this week ordered Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo to file a brief by Friday that explains why she should be allowed to have a part in the case.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland.com

Spotsylvania County mourns the loss of Volunteer Fire Chief Norman Brooks, Sr, who passed away Wednesday, February 13, 2019. Chief Brooks dedicated his life to serving and helping others. He remained focused on fulfilling that mission until the end of his life. Chief Brooks was part of a county team overseeing final inspections and acceptance testing of Tower 1 and Rescue Engine 8 this week in Wisconsin when he suffered a sudden medical emergency.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fredericksburg Today

The Burlington County Board of Freeholders began reorganizing a first responders’ advisory board Wednesday over objections from some fire and emergency services associations who fear the changes could politicize the group. The resolution approved by the freeholders Wednesday amended the advisory board’s makeup so that it consists of three members from the fire service, three from the emergency medical service and three from police, plus the county Public Safety Director and another representative from the county Department of Public Safety.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Burlington County Times

A city fire captain seriously injured while fighting a Newell Street arson fire last year has filed suit against the two men who started the blaze. Theodore G. Kolb III filed state Supreme Court action Friday against John H. Long and Scott Munson, both of whom are serving 2 1/3- to 7-year state prison sentences imposed in November in Jefferson County Court for third-degree arson and first-degree reckless endangerment convictions stemming from the Feb.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

Fire departments across the United States have long struggled with outdated federal reimbursement policies which fail to reimburse fire departments for the cost of providing EMS treatment without transportation and prohibit transporting patients to alternative destinations like urgent care clinics. However, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced today that they will begin testing a model policy in which CMMI reimburses fire departments for the cost of providing Medicare beneficiaries with treatment-without-transportation and transporting patients to alternative destinations.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IAFC.org

Allegations that the Thorndike Fire Department leadership is unprofessional and has endangered the lives of firefighters from other communities are having an incendiary effect on the small town and its volunteer-run department. The allegations came in the form of a Jan. 23 letter sent by four Waldo County emergency response officials to the Thorndike Select Board and town residents.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bangor Daily News

Citing rats, broken plumbing, leaky ceilings, poor ventilation and run-down equipment, firefighter unions across the state are sounding the alarm about station houses they say receive little attention, saying poor conditions raise safety fears and hurt morale. “There’s concerns statewide,” said Richard MacKinnon Jr.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Boston Herald