The firefighters union is criticizing the search process to replace retiring Fire Chief Stephen Geldart after none of the 19 candidates who applied for the position – including four Hudson firefighters – was selected.
The initial candidate pool was whittled down to six finalists – including two Hudson firefighters – who attended an assessment center that put candidates through a battery of exercises covering all aspects of the profession such as technical knowledge, personnel administration, leadership and grant writing. - PUB DATE: 10/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MetroWest Daily News
It was 11:19 p.m. on Oct. 8, and a panicked caller to Sonoma County’s 911 dispatch center was incredulous the operator wasn’t aware her world had exploded in flames.
“What’s on fire?” the 911 dispatcher asked.
Everything, the caller said. The trees, the houses, anything standing on Mountain Home Ranch Road in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains. - PUB DATE: 10/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Maybe they should take baked Alaska off the menu.
More firefighters are getting burned – thanks in part to a 32 percent spike in cooking injuries in firehouse kitchens.
Overall, there were 247 firefighter burns in fiscal year 2018, a 22 percent increase from 2017, according to the latest Mayor’s Management Report. - PUB DATE: 10/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post
Authorities on Sunday confirmed that three “males” died in a fiery car explosion Saturday night in Center City Allentown, what they called an “isolated incident.” They also believe “the perpetrator” was killed in the blast, an explosion that shook city buildings and residents, leaving many to wonder what could have led to such carnage. - PUB DATE: 10/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Allentown Morning Call
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), if you have a reported home fire today, you are more likely to die than you were in 1980. This startling fact is attributed to several factors, including the way homes are built and the contents in them. “Open floor plans and a prevalence of modern synthetic furnishings make homes burn faster and the fires produce deadly smoke and gases within moments,” said Lorraine Carli, NFPA vice president of Outreach and Advocacy. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NFPA.org
A fire truck hit a tanker truck on U.S. Route 36 just east of state Route 258 around 3 p.m. Wednesday, according to Sgt. William Bower of the State Highway Patrol.
The firefighter driving the Newcomerstown Fire Department truck, Heather Stein-Wells, 42, was ejected from the truck. She suffered a broken hand, scrapes and required stitches at Coshocton Regional Medical Center. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Times Reporter
FirstNet provided the city of Whiteville, N.C., with critical voice and data communications throughout Hurricane Florence and subsequent flooding in the area, passing a “big test” regarding the resiliency and flexibility associated with the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN), according to a Whiteville official. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgentcomm
Former Fire Chief Mark O’Brien says he will fight his firing by the town manager, and will likely seek a public hearing before the Board of Selectmen, saying in an interview Thursday he “has nothing to hide.”
Town Manager Pat Finnigan confirmed O’Brien’s employment was terminated Sept. 18, but would not provide further details, citing personnel privacy laws. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seacoastonline.com
Easton's firefighter union says it does not want the city to start hiring part-time employees.
The union laid out its grievances with possible part-time hires in a Facebook post on Monday.
In the post, the union says hiring part-timers would equate to a cut in staffing and says the city isn't willing to send-part time employees to the Allentown Fire Academy for training, something Mayor Sal Panto denies. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFMZ-TV Channel 69
Bellingham Fire Department personnel made 15 training attempts to intubate a dead man as he lay in a body bag on the floor of the apparatus bay at Station 1, according to an investigation into the incident submitted Sept. 4 by a Seattle law group and released by the city Wednesday to The Bellingham Herald. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bellingham Herald
Like their colleagues in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Chicago, firefighters in Buffalo believe there's a link between hearing loss and the sharp, piercing sounds of the sirens that accompany them to fires.
But four years later, the lawsuits they filed against the siren maker are ending and no one on either side is claiming victory. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Buffalo News
Firefighters are supposed to wait for Dallas police before they go into a dangerous situation. It's a new policy.
"Gunshot with victim with shooter in vicinity. Do you see police?” says a dispatcher. Sunday night when firefighters responded to a home near Fair Park, they had a tough decision to make. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFAA.com
After what they called a "tough" budget process, the mayor and aldermen approved their FY19 budget.
One of the hotly debated items was restructuring the fire and police department, creating a public safety director who would oversee both fire and police departments.
Members of the fire department spoke to the mayor and aldermen in executive session where they expressed their desire for Chief Tommy Posey to remain their leader. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: gulflive.com
Calling 911 for medical problems in Minneapolis generates a big response. The city Fire Department dispatches a half-million-dollar fire engine with several firefighters, even for minor issues like a sprained ankle.
A smaller vehicle operated by the Minneapolis Fire Department may begin responding to some health emergencies around downtown next year, one way the department is dealing with its growing volume of medical emergency calls. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Star Tribune
Mayor Sylvester Turner has instituted a hiring freeze across the city government’s roughly 21,400 positions, ordering department directors seeking exceptions to meet with him or his chief of staff in person.
The directive, he wrote in a memo dated Friday, will be reviewed “at a later date this year. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
Firefighters on patrol are safer than at the station where they’re at risk of a heart attack when the alarm sounds, Mayor Tony George said Tuesday in further explanation of why he’s ordered the department to conduct community fire watches.
The department had been conducting the watches, but for the past 40 days stepped them up at the direction of the mayor by driving apparatus in the neighborhoods, not only to serve as a deterrent, but also to detect fires. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wilkes Barre Times Leader
Since 2005, the Orlando Fire Department has trained its paramedics on how to work with police officers to rescue victims from active shooter situations. In 2013, administrators began updating the department’s policy and buying equipment.
But the project wasn’t finished until after the June 12, 2016, shooting at the Pulse nightclub. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Propublica
Metropolitan fire chiefs from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom met last week for the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) annual Urban Fire Forum (UFF) aimed at reinforcing the critical role urban chiefs play in ensuring safe communities.
The forum was held at NFPA headquarters in Quincy, MA, and featured special guests such as the head of the U. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com
Martin Pang, who set fire to a Seattle warehouse in 1995 in hopes of collecting an insurance payout — a blaze that killed four firefighters in the worst loss of life in the department’s history — will be released from prison on Thursday.
Pang, now 62, set fire to a frozen-food warehouse owned by his parents in the Chinatown International District on Jan. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Times
An elderly man was found alive and apparently with a "sense of humor" inside of a D.C. senior apartment building five days after a fire broke out causing more than 100 residents to be displaced.
The man has been identified as 74-year-old Raymond Holton, according to sources.
Crews hired to evaluate the safety of the structure located Holton Monday morning sitting inside of his apartment in the building that caught on fire last Wednesday. - PUB DATE: 9/25/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA-TV 9 DC
