After four contentious years, the nuts and bolts of the contract dispute between the city and its firefighters’ union should be decided during a two-day arbitration hearing in the fall. The city and the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191 will meet on Oct. 18 in an “interest arbitration” proceeding regarding the overall firefighters contract.
- PUB DATE: 8/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

In emergencies, it’s said that seconds can be the difference between life and death. Gainesville Fire Rescue’s new downtown fire station, which became operational at noon Monday, will use new technology to help firefighters shave seconds off response times and save more lives, said GFR Deputy Chief JoAnne Rice.
- PUB DATE: 7/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Gainesville Sun

The union representing Houston firefighters sued Mayor Sylvester Turner and a City Council member on Monday, alleging the officials are improperly using public resources to oppose a "pay parity" ballot initiative. The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association accuses Mayor Turner and Council Member Dave Martin, who represents Kingwood, of campaigning against the ballot initiative, which would tie firefighter pay to that of Houston police officers of comparable rank and seniority.
- PUB DATE: 7/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

The Eighth Utilities District has settled a lawsuit filed by a former fire chief for $200,000, a source said Monday. No one involved with the case, including the former chief, Paul Litrico, would comment on the matter. The source spoke on condition of remaining anonymous. "Both sides have a confidentiality agreement not to disclose any details," Litrico wrote in an email.
- PUB DATE: 7/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant

A little girl was able to bring a welcome delivery to firefighters battling the deadly Carr Fire . Two-year-old Gracie Lutz arrived with warm breakfast burritos prepared by her grandma Lori. Chelsey Lutz tells KTVU her daughter Gracie has uncles and a grandpa working on the Carr Fire, "so we wanted to give back.
- PUB DATE: 7/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV Oakland, San Francisco, Bay Area

Jakob Eisenbeiss could see the roaring flames from four blocks away. He heard the cries of concerned neighbors as the flames consumed the house beside theirs, wondering if their home would be next. But Eisenbeiss could not afford to get distracted. He had a job to do. With his lieutenant at his side, he got to work.
- PUB DATE: 7/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Oregonian, Hillsboro Argus, Oregon Live.com

A second firefighter has died battling the Ferguson Fire near Yosemite National Park, officials said Sunday. The National Park Service has identified the firefighter as Brian Hughes, captain of the Arrowhead Interagency Hotshots. He was 33. The Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park firefighter died Sunday morning after being struck by a tree on the east side of the fire, where Hughes and his crew "were operating in an area with a large amount of tree mortality," park officials said.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCRA-TV NBC Sacramento

The FDNY’s $10 million minority recruitment drive has floundered, because hundreds of black and Hispanic candidates haven’t paid a $30 application fee, The Post has learned. Normally, candidates for NYC civil service jobs can’t take the exams unless they complete the application and pay the fee. About 45,000 people took the city’s firefighter exam last September through October.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

The cause of death for six family members killed in a fire at a motel near Benton Harbor has been ruled smoke inhalation. The fire started around 1:45 a.m. Saturday, July 28, in a room on the first floor of the Cosmo Extended Living motel, according to police. The six people killed in the fire, police said, were Kiarre Curtis, 26; Marquise Thompson, 10; Gerome Randolph, 7; Samuel Curtis, 5; Savod Curtis, 4; and Avery Curtis, 2.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mlive

It was supposed to be a routine training exercise: firefighters climbing a ladder to the roof of a six-story building in downtown Los Angeles, as though the structure were on fire. On that June morning in 2017, firefighter Kelly Wong made it more than halfway up the ladder, leaning against the Barclay Hotel at a 73-degree angle.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

A Ridgefield Park volunteer firefighter has been suspended after allegedly taking a firetruck on a joyride two weeks ago and striking a utility pole. The firefighter, Connor O’Grady, allegedly took one of the firetrucks out for a ride at about 10 p.m. on July 13 with a firefighter from Bogota steering the rear of the rig, according to Mayor George Fosdick.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Asbury Park Press

The Carr Fire in Shasta County exploded in intensity early Friday morning after it jumped the Sacramento River, killing two people and forcing Redding residents to flee in hasty evacuations as homes burned in the hills on the outskirts of the city. Cal Fire confirmed that a Redding firefighter was killed Friday morning, but few details were immediately available.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Press Democrat

Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña said Thursday his firefighters deserve raises, but he would be hard-pressed to maintain his department budget without reducing his ranks if voters approve a measure granting firefighters “pay parity” with police. “This is not a scare tactic,” Peña told a city council committee.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

A city firefighter who was fired after being involved in a deadly hit-and-run will soon get his job back. An arbitrator decided Edward Ackerman violated the Fire Department's code of conduct, but that a lengthy, unpaid suspension is punishment enough. Ackerman was fired 15 months ago and will not be awarded any back pay for that time.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Syracuse.com

City Hall and the union that represents its firefighters are at odds over an ordinance that could change the way public safety employees are compensated after an injury. At the crux of a lawsuit filed this week in Peoria County Circuit Court by the International Association of Firefighters Local 50 is the definition of a catastrophic injury.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Journal Star

Cadie-Marie Stapleton, 18, of Galena, has changed the course of history, becoming the first female volunteer firefighter with the Galena Fire Department since its establishment in 1877. Ever since Cadie-Marie was a young girl, she dreamed of following in her family’s footsteps in hopes of becoming a volunteer firefighter.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Joplin Globe

The Garden City Village Board voted Tuesday night to eliminate its paid fire department. The board voted 6-1, with trustee Stephen Makrinos dissenting, to abolish the paid department effective Aug. 27. All paid firefighters were placed on administrative leave and told not to report to work Thursday.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Newsday

After voluntarily shutting down in March due to outdated equipment discovered during an investigation by the West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Northfork Volunteer Fire Department reopened Wednesday morning, according to a news release from the fire marshal. Over the past four months, the department invested in new airpacks — the breathing apparatuses used by firefighters in structural fires — and sent all its trucks away for upgrades and maintenance, said John Adams, who began serving as chief of the Northfork VFD a little over a month ago.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charleston Gazette-Mail

The highest-ranking fire chief punished in the aftermath of a drinking and test-cheating scandal at Cal Fire’s academy in 2014 could get his job back. A San Francisco Superior Court judge this month ruled that former Cal Fire Assistant Chief Michael Ramirez should get another chance to return to work three years after the department dismissed him.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee

Tapping reserves. Reducing spending. Hiring more firefighters and police officers. Those are some of the measures the City of Newburgh is discussing to plug an expected hole in this year’s $44.6 million budget and then reduce fire and police department overtime that is on pace to fall far short of more than $700,000 in hoped-for cuts, Mayor Torrance Harvey said.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Times Herald-Record