When I spoke last year with Chief Jan Rader of the Huntington, West Virginia, Fire Department, she was realistic about the circumstances her department faced with the growing opioid crisis. At that time, data showed that West Virginia had the highest per capita rate of opioid addiction in the United States, and more than 41 overdose deaths per 100,000 population.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

A brewing feud between Detroit's police chief and the president of the city's firefighters union has now erupted into a criminal investigation. DPD Chief James Craig says his department is looking into whether a Facebook post by Union President Mike Nevin criticizing police response times has violated law.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WXYZ-TV ABC Detroit

As Anne Arundel’s Safe Stations continues to grow, county public safety officials are looking at issues regarding transporting people to addiction treatment centers. Fire Department and mental health officials stress the program’s protocol — which has firefighters and police helping those looking for treatment who walk into a county firehouse or police department — has not affected emergency response time.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Capital Gazette

The city of Cedar Falls is under threat of having its ISO rating, which impacts insurance rates for property owners, lowered from a 3 to a 4. But the city has been working throughout 2018 to keep the rating as is. The Insurance Service Office informed Cedar Falls it is prepared to drop the rating, but has given the city until February to make improvements to retain its level 3 classification.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Courier

A special Christmas gift for the son of a fallen Philadelphia firefighter. Evan’s father, Michael, died suddenly in January of 2016. He was a marine corps veteran and a proud Philadelphia firefighter. For the holidays this year, Evans wish is simple, to fill up his board of fire company patches, to collect them just like his dad did.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS Philadelphia

The township’s former fire chief and director of emergency services will receive a $500,000 payment to end a civil lawsuit alleging his job was eliminated because of his political activities. The Township Committee narrowly approved a resolution authorizing the payment as part of a settlement with former fire chief Jason Carty, whose position was eliminated in April 2016 after less than two years on the job.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Burlington County Times

Through the implementation of Task Force Response procedures, the Columbus Fire Department has made headway in regard to being more efficient with its overall response time to a variety of emergency situations happening throughout the Columbus community. On Monday evening, Fire Chief Dan Miller spoke during a Committee of the Whole Meeting held prior to the scheduled Columbus City Council meeting about how some procedural shifts have resulted in more efficiency, which ultimately can mean the difference between life and death.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Columbus Telegram

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $4.5-million plan Tuesday to reduce the strain on the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which responds to devastating incidents such as the Woolsey fire but also provides 24-hour emergency services across 2,300 square miles. The new effort comes months after the board raised concerns about the department’s aging stations and equipment, and weeks after the Woolsey fire burned more than 90,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

While public communication becomes increasingly digital and existing technologies become obsolete or unserviceable, public safety leaders in 911 and telecommunication agree that upgrading to NG911 systems across the country will ensure that every request from every individual is received, located and responded to in the way that best meets the needs of the public and first responders.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

The plaintive wail of bagpipes fills in where 19 years ago sirens sounded. A prayer goes up from the same spot where firefighters called out over crackling radios hoping to hear something that would lead them to Lt. Thomas Spencer, Lt. James Lyons or firefighters Paul Brotherton, Timothy Jackson, Jeremiah Lucey of Joseph McGuirk who were lost inside the maze-like interior of the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse on Dec.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Patriot Ledger

At the heart of the battle is Chief of Department James Leonard, 59, a tough-talking officer who started as a firefighter in Brooklyn’s Engine 310 in 1979 and is now the highest-ranked uniformed officer in the agency — second only to Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro. But for all his success, what some in the FDNY call Leonard’s abrasive and aggressive manner — and allegations he sometimes uses misogynistic slurs — have put him out of step in a department striving mightily to get into the 21st century, sources told The News.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Daily News

A federal judge has ordered Delaware State Police to turn over the full accident report on the death of a Lewes firefighter who fell from a helicopter during a training exercise in 2016. Tuesday's order comes after a lawyer for the family of Timothy McClanahan issued a subpoena for an unredacted copy of the report and related materials.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Delaware News Journal

A federal investigation reviewing the 2016 fatal shooting of a Maryland firefighter found that 911 public safety call takers did not warn first responders that the possibility of guns had been reported at the scene and that volunteer firefighters were not wearing a common uniform the night of the incident that made it clear who they were.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post

A state district judge Friday evening granted a temporary restraining order blocking the implementation of a voter-approved charter amendment requiring the city of Houston to grant its firefighters “pay parity” with police officers of similar rank and experience. State District Judge Kristen Brauchle Hawkins granted the TRO Friday night at the request of the Houston Police Officers Union, which filed a lawsuit earlier in the day against the city and the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

From responding to emergencies at the Bippity-Boppity-Boo Boutique, to rescuing a downed princess, the Reedy Creek Professional Firefighters isn’t your traditional fire service. RCPF serves the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the exclusive government agency of Walt Disney World properties in Florida, providing all fire and emergency services for 38.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

It was the best bad place. To the south was a gun shop called Fins, Fur & Feather Sports, stocked with live ammunition. To the northeast, a propane yard. Across the street, a Fastrip gas station. All around, soaring, drought-crisp pines. And in the center? About 150 terrified people who had fled the ferocious Camp fire only to be stopped at the intersection of Skyway and Clark Road, forced to sit out the deadliest conflagration in California history.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

The city’s second-highest paid employee in 2017 will soon be without union protection if the City Council approves a new contract Thursday with the Uniform Fire Chiefs Association. The tentative agreement signed by Mayor Patrick Madden and Deputy Fire Chief Dave Paul, president of the UFCA, would remove Fire Chief Thomas Garrett from the union.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albany Times-Union

The former Ogunquit fire chief has filed a complaint in York County Superior Court seeking to appeal his firing earlier this fall. Mark O’Brien had served with the Ogunquit Fire Department for 37 years before he was placed on leave, investigated and ultimately fired by the town manager, who had concerns about his ability to lead the department.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Central Maine

The afternoon of Aug. 15, Wilkes-Barre Fire Department’s Engine 1 filled up with 24.74 gallons of diesel fuel at the city pumps, a routine repeated 38 more times over the following eight weeks of daily patrols under the ramped-up community fire watches ordered by the mayor. Engine 1, based at the department’s headquarters at the East Ross Street station, took on 750 gallons total during the watches, almost double the fuel intake for the eight weeks in June and July, according to fuel logs obtained by the Times Leader through a Right-to-Know request.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wilkes Barre Times Leader

The thick black smoke from a savage warehouse inferno came quickly two years ago, but not quickly enough to spare 36 mostly young partygoers from the terror of knowing they were at life’s end: “I am going to die, mom,” one texted; a young couple fell into an embrace, dying of asphyxiation in each other’s arms.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times