Philadelphia firefighter Joyce Craig gave the ultimate sacrifice — her life — in helping save others from a house fire in West Oak Lane in December 2014, becoming the city’s first female firefighter to die in the line of duty.
That is why getting a headstone for her grave took 3½ years.
“We didn’t want to put just any headstone there,” said Lisa Forrest, a captain in the Fire Department and president of Club Valiants, an association for black firefighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians. - PUB DATE: 7/16/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Philly.com
Andre Esposito, chairman of Utica’s Civil Service Commission, believes the board has a tough decision to make within the next few months.
The commission is considering a request from Mayor Robert Palmieri to authorize an open competitive exam to vet candidates for Utica’s next fire chief. This would open up the test to internal and external candidates for a fire department historically led by internal promotion. - PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Utica Observer-Dispatch
Verizon Wireless and a Kansas-based construction company said Thursday that they were responsible, through an as-yet-unnamed subcontractor, for work being done at the site of a massive natural gas explosion Tuesday that rocked Sun Prairie’s downtown, killing a volunteer firefighter and critically injuring another. - PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wisconsin State Journal
A $156,360-a-year deputy district chief has been demoted –– and faces a lengthy suspension along with a paramedic-in-charge for their participation in, yet another timekeeping scam in the Chicago Fire Department.
Sources identified the demoted deputy district chief as Edgar Ignacio Silvestrini, who was in charge of the fire department’s Medical Administration Regulatory Compliance section. - PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times
An inferno that has burned from California into Oregon over the past week and is believed to have killed one person should be fully under control by Sunday, officials said.
The Klamathon Fire, which started July 5 in Siskiyou County, was 75 percent contained Thursday evening at 36,500 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. - PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SF Gate
A major upgrade called Smart 911 was launched Thursday to help improve Cincinnati’s 911 operations in the wake of a teenager's death.
“This will be able to save lives,” said Cincinnati Councilwoman Amy Murray. When someone calls 911 from a cellphone key information will now be displayed on the dispatcher’s screen about the caller if they've signed up for the program. - PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLWT-TV NBC 5 Cincinnati
City Councilor Bob Hamel is facing criticism for his remarks at a Monday night meeting during a prickly exchange with the head of the union that represents city firefighters.
It is the height of budget season in Laconia, which has a tax cap in place, and the council and fire department have clashed in recent weeks over the cost of overtime for firefighters. - PUB DATE: 7/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Manchester Union Leader
Fairfax County’s next fire chief will be a veteran firefighter who has led Howard County’s fire department for the past four years and served two combat tours as a Marine, the Board of Supervisors has announced.
John S. Butler is set to take over the 1,400-strong department in September, replacing Richard Bowers, who retired in April. - PUB DATE: 7/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post
Fire destroyed a Safeway grocery store in Phoenix Wednesday evening, engulfing the building in flames for more than an hour and producing a tower of smoke that could be seen for miles.
Phoenix fire officials said a roof on the building apparently had collapsed during a storm that brought a heavy downpour in the area prior to the fire. - PUB DATE: 7/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix
Houston Fire Department leaders on Tuesday proposed a sharp hike in ambulance fees, floating several new charges they hope will prevent repeat callers from using the city’s emergency medical services as a convenience.
Ambulance transport fees would rise 70 percent, to $1,876; the accompanying $14.36-per-mile fee would not change. - PUB DATE: 7/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
A team of coding students from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have developed an app that can turn your smartphone into a smoke detector. 'Smoke Detective' is programmed to allow a smartphone camera to detect smoke from a fire, then sound an audible and visible alarm upon detection. - PUB DATE: 7/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTAE-TV ABC 4 Pittsburgh
One firefighter was killed and several other people, including police officers, firefighters and civilians were injured in an explosion in Sun Prairie Tuesday night.
The explosion happened at 7:05 p.m. at the intersection of Main and Bristol streets after police said they were called to the area around 6:20 p. - PUB DATE: 7/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison
Joe Pfeifer had a date in mind for retiring from the job he has done for 37 years. It would be the second Wednesday after Labor Day. After schools were back. Sept. 12.
He could hardly wait.
Then he decided, no, he wouldn’t delay.
“Do some sailing,” he said. “Decompress.”
So this will be his last week with the Fire Department, retiring as an assistant chief from the agency where he started as a 25-year-old from Queens in 1981. - PUB DATE: 7/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Times
President Donald Trump on Monday signed legislation to set up a national registry for firefighters to help track links between exposure to fumes and cancer.
The Firefighter Cancer Registry Act requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to set up a database in order to study possible links between cancer and the fumes and toxins firefighters are exposed to. - PUB DATE: 7/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NJ.com
A Hillsborough County firefighter was flown to the hospital as a trauma alert after falling out of his fire truck, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
Hillsborough Fire Rescue says that around 5:28 p.m. Tuesday, they received a radio alert that one of their own was injured. Eric Seidel with Hillsborough Fire Rescue says the firefighter left HCFR Station 28 at 4551 Sun City Center Boulevard and was in the process of responding to the scene of a fire when he received the injuries. - PUB DATE: 7/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFTS-TV ABC 28 Tampa Bay
About 20 ranking officers at Harford County volunteer fire stations lost those ranks after failing to submit new required certifications July 1.
Roughly 200 officers completed their certifications on time, said Rich Gardiner, a spokesman for the Harford County Volunteer Fire & EMS Association. He declined to release the names of those who did not qualify. - PUB DATE: 7/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baltimore Sun
A state commission has opened an investigation into the Houston Fire Department’s safety standards after the firefighters’ union accused the department of failing to protect its members from carcinogens to which they are routinely exposed. Texas Commission on Fire Protection investigators will examine whether HFD complies with state laws requiring departments to clean protective clothing, called bunker gear, and maintain a standard operating procedure to do so. - PUB DATE: 7/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
City officials here and those of a fire district that serves part of the city both say a dispute over their longtime agreement could have dire budget consequences.
In December, the city canceled its 23-year-old pact with the Robertson Fire Protection District, saying the contract’s rising cost was jeopardizing other city services. - PUB DATE: 7/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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
