Portsmouth Fire Lt. Russ Osgood was next to firefighter Sarah Fox the day she died from cancer at Concord Hospital when he learned another fire brother, Jeff Bokum, had the disease as well. The toll Osgood faced in that moment at the hospital was emotional, but a financial one came shortly after. Osgood and firefighters worked to raise thousands of dollars for Bokum’s out-of-pocket costs during his six-month battle as they had for Fox in the months before her death, cancer benefits not yet covered for fighters.
- PUB DATE: 7/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Foster's Daily Democrat

Just like in citizens, drinking and driving is not a new problem in public safety. For some volunteer fire companies, having volunteer firefighters show up at the scene of a fire while under the influence of alcohol is also not a new problem. Even organizations with career staff may have to deal with crewmembers showing up to a shift planning to firefight while under the influence (FFUI) or while intoxicated (FFWI).
- PUB DATE: 7/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

Mesa firefighters rescued a woman whose car had plunged into a canal during a storm that blew through the area Monday afternoon. The woman's car veered into a canal near Alma School Road south of the Loop 202 freeway in north Mesa, according to the Mesa Fire Department. When responding units arrived they found the car submerged upright.
- PUB DATE: 7/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

A Phoenix firefighter was found dead in his quarters Friday while on duty at the Arizona Army National Guard Base, the Phoenix Fire Department announced Sunday. Juston Doherty was 45, according to public records. Phoenix Fire Capt. Rob McDade described the technical-rescue technician, a 15-year veteran of the department, as "heroic" and committed.
- PUB DATE: 7/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

The Supreme Court of Wyoming has ruled that in a combination fire department, part-time and volunteer firefighters are entitled to vote on whether or not firefighters can form a union. The decision was handed down Friday, July 6, 2018. The case involved two IAFF locals, Campbell County Firefighters IAFF Local 5058 and Jackson Hole Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 5067, who sought to collectively bargain with their respective municipalities.
- PUB DATE: 7/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireLawBlog.com

It has been about 14 months since Russell Brooks last served as Utica’s fire chief. With Brooks on administrative leave, the Utica Fire Department has had three interim chiefs in that span. Retired Utica fire Capt. James Barefoot, the latest appointed to the role, officially started July 2. Through it all, Brooks continues to challenge the city’s decision to place him on paid, nondisciplinary, administrative leave due to concerns with Brooks’ health.
- PUB DATE: 7/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Utica Observer-Dispatch

Video footage that surfaced Thursday raised new questions about the San Francisco Fire Department’s response to the Asiana plane crash on July 6, 2013, particularly its handling of a subsequent incident in which a fire rig ran over a 16-year-old girl. “I mean, s— happens, you know?” San Francisco Battalion Chief Mark Johnson appears to say in footage from the camera attached to his helmet, according to a report published late Thursday by ABC7 investigative reporter Dan Noyes.
- PUB DATE: 7/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SFGate.com

For years, firefighters at Seattle’s Station 31 have worried that the place where they barbecue steak and try to sleep between calls might be making them sick. Red flags were first raised in the early 2000s, after a string of firefighters were diagnosed with cancer. But a subsequent study found no link between the station and the illness.
- PUB DATE: 7/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Times

A Swatara Township fire company is suspended and no longer responding to calls after an investigation into reports that some members were being subjected to racial slurs, harassment and bullying. Director of Fire Services Mike Ibberson said the Lawnton Fire Company was taken out of service on May 31.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Penn Live

The FDNY is considering stationing one less firefighter at its busiest engine companies as part of a cost-savings measure to cover rising medical leave, officials said Thursday. As early as next week, the Fire Department might stop assigning a fifth firefighter to the 15 engine companies that had the extra help.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

At least 22 people were killed and 40 injured Thursday when explosions ripped through several fireworks factories in a Mexican town that has a long history of deadly blasts. The explosions occurred in Tultepec, a town in Mexico state known as the country’s pyrotechnic capital and the site of a blast that claimed 42 lives in 2016.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles TImes

A Lake Travis firefighter has returned to work more than six weeks after a severe firetruck crash on FM 620 left her injured. According to Lake Travis Fire Fighters, Lt. Rachel Zambrano returned to work Tuesday after a six-and-a-half-week recovery. Lt. Zambrano was riding in the fire engine on May 16 when she noticed its engineer was suffering a medical emergency.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KVUE.com

Finding people willing to work as emergency responders is getting to be a tough task. A lack of trained paramedics and emergency medical technicians stresses emergency networks in Aberdeen and surrounding rural areas, said Keith Sharisky with Aberdeen Fire & Rescue. That's why the department is striving to become a paramedic education center that provides new training programs.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com

A firefighter has been identified after he was killed and two others injured in a crash in eastern Rowan County Wednesday afternoon. The crash happened at 1:22 p.m. on Gold Knob Road. Highway Patrol says the firefighter was in a pick-up truck and responding to an accident call when he crashed into a Ford Mustang.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBTV-TV Channel 3

A series of clashes between the Baltimore Fire Department and bicycling advocates has sparked concern among City Council members who are frustrated about how a feud over emergency access to streets with bike lanes has helped stall several development projects. First, a Baltimore firefighter was charged with assaulting a city employee at a meeting about bike lanes in what a witness says was a “violent choking.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baltimore Sun

Ghost Ship warehouse master tenant Derick Almena and creative director Max Harris pleaded no contest Tuesday to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the fire at the warehouse in December 2016 that killed 36 people. By pleading no contest, Almena, 48, and Harris, 28, avoided going to trial and potentially facing life in prison if they had been found guilty of all the charges stemming from the fire during a music party at the warehouse at 1309 31st Ave.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KGO-TV ABC 7 San Francisco

The night a gunman fired into a crowd of 22,000 people at the country music festival in Las Vegas in 2017, nursing supervisor Antoinette Mullan at University Medical Center was focused on one thing: saving lives. She recalls dead bodies on gurneys across the triage floor, a trauma bay full of victims.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NPR

Future pregnant firefighters no longer have to worry about losing pay if the doctor advises against them going out on rescue calls. County commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved a light-duty option for pregnant firefighters. "It's long overdue," Commissioner Joe Flescher said. The policy, which has been ratified by the International Association of Firefighters Local 2201, removes pregnancy as a condition ineligible for light or restricted duty.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: TCPalm.com

Redding Fire Chief Gerry Gray. who was beloved in the community and known for his friendliness and almost daily tweets, has died, the funeral director for Hoyt-Cole Chapel of Flowers in Red Bluff said. Funeral director Jack Kirchert said his funeral home is handling the arrangements but did not have any additional information about the fire chief's sudden and unexpected death.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Redding Record Searchlight

Boise Fire Capt. Rob Christensen listened to the victim count rise on his way to the scene of Saturday’s mass stabbing. Initially, his crew got the call for a stabbing, then he heard there were four victims and by the time he got there, he realized the crew of 11 Boise firefighters would be spread thin treating the nine victims.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Nampa Idaho Press-Tribune