California’s firefighting agency is running out of money in the midst of a disastrous and deadly fire season and needs another $234 million to make it through the middle of next year, officials said Thursday.
Ken Pimlott, director of the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said in a letter to legislators that the agency is down to its last $11 million after spending $432 million in July and August alone. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle
The Town of Surfside Beach denied allegations that fire officials discriminated against volunteer firefighter Christopher Gallagher after a captain and fire chief allegedly said, “We’re not hiring someone who can’t read.”
Gallagher filed a lawsuit in June against the town alleging he did not receive a promotion to fire engineer due to having dyslexia, documents show. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MyrtleBeachOnline.com
The assistant fire chief at the Kanosh Fire Department was charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a firefighter under his command in Millard County for the past three years.
Austin Corry, 26, appeared in 4th District Court in Provo on Thursday afternoon, facing two counts of rape and two counts of object rape, all first-degree felonies. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Herald
On Sept. 10, a powerful regulatory agency will begin the process of deciding an issue that has split the community of Julian — whether to disband its 34-year-old volunteer fire department in favor of the County Fire Authority assuming control and staffing.
The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which has countywide jurisdiction but is independent of county government, will hear the pros and cons during what promises to be a lengthy hearing. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune
A Tyler hospital, an affiliated ambulance company and an Oklahoma agency have agreed to pay about $21 million to settle a federal kickbacks lawsuit, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The former East Texas Medical Center, its former subsidiary Paramedics Plus and the Oklahoma agency Emergency Medical Services Authority agreed to settlements totaling $20,949,000, according to the federal government. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tyler Morning Telegraph
An explosive wildfire spewing flames 300 feet into the air roared into a second northern California county on Thursday after forcing closure of a stretch of the Pacific Coast’s primary interstate in both directions.
Scores of homes and seasonal residences were threatened by the Delta Fire, and some mandatory evacuations were ordered. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today
Two York City firefighters badly hurt when they plummeted four stories as the burned-out Weaver Piano & Organ building collapsed in March have sued a local engineering firm.
Assistant Fire Chief Greg Altland and wife Lisa Altland, as well as Firefighter Erik Swanson and wife Donna Swanson, on Tuesday, Sept. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: York Dispatch
A fast-moving wildfire in northern California forced the closure of dozens of miles of the Pacific Coast’s primary interstate in both directions and suspended Amtrak service into Oregon on Wednesday night.
The human-caused Delta Fire is burning on both sides of Interstate 5 north of Lakehead in California’s Shasta County, which, earlier this summer, was ravaged by the deadly Carr Fire near Redding. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today
Firefighters who died from cardiac arrest were much more likely than those who died of other causes to show signs of both atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease at autopsy, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Journal of the American Heart Association Report
An emotional Hillary Sanford received pay and benefits last week that were more than two years overdue when the Brooksville City Council voted to settle her wrongful termination case.
Brooksville Fire Chief David Freda fired Sanford — a captain in the department — in 2016, and an arbitrator later ruled the move unjustified. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Tribune and TBO.com (Tampa Bay Online)
The City of Newburgh’s fire department will receive a third grant from a federal program after the depletion of funds from the second grant forced the city to lay off five firefighters at the end of July.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney announced Wednesday the Federal Emergency Management Agency approval of Newburgh’s application for $1. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Middletown Times Herald-Record
A new fire chief is on the job in Fairfax County.
Chief John Butler, a retired Marine and former fire chief in Howard County, was sworn in Tuesday. He was chosen to help fix the past problems of bullying and harassment.
Before a large crowd, John Butler, Fairfax County's first African America fire chief, spoke about his childhood in Liberia. - PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA-TV 9 DC
Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña on Tuesday warned of dire consequences — including possible layoffs of more than 800 firefighters and deferred maintenance or upgrades on aging equipment, if voters approve the firefighters’ pay parity initiative on the November ballot.
Peña’s warning came during a City Council Committee on Budget & Fiscal Affairs meeting to provide city leaders with their first look at how the Houston Fire Department might handle the costs of the ballot measure, which proposes to raise firefighter pay to that of their police peers. - PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
Mayor Tony George has resurrected a Community Fire Watch program in an attempt to increase public safety, but firefighter union officials say it’s a waste of money and is making conditions more dangerous.
George confirmed he is enforcing a fire watch program started during former mayor Tom McGroarty’s administration in which firefighters hit the streets in fire engines during their down time to check on abandoned and vacant structures. - PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice
Inmates sent to help fight wildfires are back behind bars in Idaho after one inmate was charged with raping a woman working at a base camp in Utah, authorities said Tuesday.
The Idaho Department of Correction is reviewing the way they select, train and deploy those inmates, spokesman Jeff Ray said.
Most Western states have similar programs that allow low-level offenders to be temporarily released to help fight wildfires. - PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Twin Falls Times-News
Garden City officials voted Tuesday night to approve a settlement of more than $1.1 million for a dozen paid firefighters, clearing the way for the village's plan to rely on an all-volunteer force.
The village board had voted July 25 to abolish the 90-year-old paid fire department after village officials said having volunteer firefighters would save the village about $2 million annually. - PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Newsday
A volunteer firefighter died in the line of duty after suffering a medical emergency at the scene of a head-on crash early Saturday afternoon on state Route 404.
Assistant Fire Chief Danny Lister was working at the scene of the crash between Route 309 (Starr Road) and Old Queen Anne Road in Talbot County when he suffered a medical emergency, the Queen Anne-Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Company Inc. - PUB DATE: 9/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: My Eastern Shore
Local authorities have taken to social media to offer their prayers to several firefighters who were severely injured in an overnight fire.
According to LaGrange Fire Department Deputy Chief John Brant, four of their firefighters had to be taken to the Grady Memorial Hospital burn unit after receiving second and third-degree burns. - PUB DATE: 9/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMAZ-TV CBS 13 Macon
Randy Brooks' son had a request three years ago: What could his dad do to make wildland firefighting safer?
To Brooks, a professor at the University of Idaho's College of Natural Resources who deals with wildland firefighting, it was more of a command.
His son, Bo Brooks, is a wildland firefighter who a few days earlier during that 2015 fire season fled a wall of flames that killed three of his fellow firefighters in eastern Washington. - PUB DATE: 9/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News
A 42-year-old man was arrested in connection to a string of attacks involving FDNY vehicles that were vandalized with swastikas in Manhattan.
The FDNY said Jem R. Ibrahimov, of Manhattan, was apprehended around 8:30 a.m. Saturday while allegedly vandalizing Engine 93/Ladder 45/Battalion 13, a firehouse that was targeted on two separate occasions. - PUB DATE: 9/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV 7online.com
