Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner agreed to a 7 percent pay increase for police officers just weeks before a Houston referendum vote to determine whether firefighters deserve comparable pay for similar ranks. Turner announced some of the details of the pay raise at Wednesday's city council meeting. The two-year agreement with police will cost the city $52 million and goes into effect July 1, 2019.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTRK-TV ABC 13 Houston

Rensselaer Fire Chief Bill Hummel resigned Wednesday just hours before volunteer firfighters are set to bring concerns about training and proper equipment to city officials. City volunteer firefighters and county officials say both the chief and an assistant chief have stepped down. While the mayor and the chief have not returned calls for comment, the volunteers believe the resignations are a direct response to growing tensions between volunteers and career firefighters within the city.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNYT-TV 13 Albany

As Anaheim Fire Chief Randy Bruegman’s retirement approaches, he discusses the future of firefighting and allows that if departments fail to change it could mean fewer men and women prepared to battle infernos. Along with more mega wildfires and tornadoes of flame never seen before in modern history, the chief points out that 85 percent of calls are for emergency medical service.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Prosecutors are recommending an 89-year prison term for the “serial arsonist” who set a fire in her nail salon that resulted in the deaths of two Kansas City firefighters. Thu Hong Nguyen, 46, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday by Jackson Country Circuit Court judge Joel P. Fahnestock. She was convicted of murder, arson and assault in the Oct.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star

Verizon said Tuesday that it is not slowing down or degrading the wireless services of North Carolina residents who have been affected by Hurricane Florence, after a report surfaced accusing the company of "deprioritiz[ing]" mobile data plans. A hurricane victim identifying him- or herself as a Verizon customer posted to reddit Monday saying that it has been days since it has been possible to check Facebook or email from a mobile device in a small town in eastern North Carolina.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Greensboro News & Record

The current collective bargaining agreement between the City of San Antonio and the San Antonio Professional Fire Fighter’s Union expired four years ago. Right now, the first responders are operating on an evergreen plan, keeping the most current contract in place and allowing time to negotiate. But the city says that's not happening.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KENS5.com San Antonio

The pressure in natural gas pipelines prior to a series of explosions and fires in Massachusetts last week was 12 times higher than it should have been, according to a letter from the state's U.S. senators to executives of the utility in charge of the pipelines. Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey sent the letter Monday seeking answers about the explosions from the heads of Columbia Gas, the company that serves the communities of Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, and NiSource, the parent company of Columbia Gas.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC Boston

ISO has been developing grades of fire suppression capabilities for communities under our Public Protection Classification program for many years. We recognize there are often questions about the PPC process. This article is designed to help provide a better understanding of our PPC, along with information about some ways fire chiefs can get help with the related process.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

Joplin's finance director says critics are trying to force her out of her job, and the city manager says city employees who continue to stir rumors and act disrespectful could face disciplinary action. City Manager Sam Anselm holds fire and police employees responsible for repeated incidents in which he said untruths have been spread and employees have acted out against other city employees, such as the finance director, and the City Council.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Joplin Globe

Citing a campaign of harassment, antagonism and bullying, Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District Chief Dennis P. Reilly, is stepping down from the position he has held since 2012. In a letter dated Sept. 14 to the SBFPD Board of Directors, Reilly announced his intention to relinquish his duties effective on or about Oct.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lake News Online

On Sunday, Fire Chief Teddy Stamatis had just left his home to go shopping when a fire call came in for a working fire at the Macclesfield Rural Fire Department's station. On arrival Stamatis found heavy fire showing in the firehouse. He was able to get one of the apparatus bay doors open and remove one of his tankers to safety.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Norwich Township Fire Chief Jeff Warren was happy to be wrong. He thought the number of people enrolled in his fire department’s collaborative program with National Church Residences was around 100. Actually, it’s already grown to 120. Not far off, but he still underestimated it, which meant more people were getting help than he figured.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbus Dispatch

More than 17 years after the Sept. 11 attacks, EMTs sickened at the World Trade Center are still fighting for unlimited sick time due to resistance, they say, from Mayor de Blasio. Lawmakers and union leaders ripped de Blasio Monday for his opposition to legislation that would expand unlimited sick time — already available to NYPD officers and FDNY firefighters, and to first responders from outside the city — to another about 4,000 city workers, including FDNY EMS workers.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

First responders were honored Friday at a U.S. Postal Service stamp ceremony in Montecito. The firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel who assisted during the Thomas Fire and Jan. 9 mudslide were specifically recognized as a new, commemorative "First Responder" Forever stamp was dedicated.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSBY.com

A city firefighter's decision to alert the state that volunteers are behind on mandated training prompted the fire chief to forbid the crew of 18 volunteers from rushing into burning buildings. "The training will be upgraded," Mayor Daniel Dwyer said. "We will do it in a couple of weeks." Dwyer said a "disgruntled" firefighter contacted the state's Public Employees Safety Health Bureau to complain about the lack of training, which led to Chief Bill Hummel's decision to sideline the volunteers.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albany Times-Union

Sixteen years after the 343 New York City firefighters who died in the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11 were honored at an annual ceremony in Colorado Springs, another wave of victims of the terrorist attack is being added to the memorial wall. Nineteen of the 271 union firefighters whose names were read out at this year’s Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial on Saturday in Memorial Park died of illnesses or conditions associated with the aftermath of the attack when firefighters were called upon to dig through the toxic rubble at what came to be known as ground zero, at first hoping to rescue survivors, then hoping to at least find remains.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Colorado Springs Gazette

A Utah firefighter battling the largest wildfire in California history was killed last month when thousands of gallons of flame-suppressing liquid were dropped from a Boeing 747 mistakenly flying only 100 feet (30 meters) above the treetops, according to an official report Friday. The pilot and a supervisor flying ahead in a small guide plane led the giant modified jetliner nearly into the trees on Aug.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Salt Lake Tribune

It's one of the few bright spots to come out of Thursday's disaster in Lawrence. As his neighbors were evacuating, off-duty Lawrence firefighter Lt. Dave Amero ran house to house, shutting off the gas. Amero said he realized there was a problem when his wife told him their house reeked of gas. "I just started running around, shutting off meters.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston 25 News

Few Californians will have any idea why they’re being asked to vote this fall on workplace conditions in the private ambulance industry. But the backstory is a reminder of how ballot measures are the ultimate Plan B for those who don’t get satisfaction from the Legislature. The track record for such efforts is mixed.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

A Lawrence teen was killed today after a chimney from a house explosion fell on the car he was in during a series of about 70 explosions and fires in the city and in nearby Andover and North Andover this afternoon that has kept emergency crews working late into the night. Leonel Rondon, 18, was pronounced dead at Mass General Hospital at approximately 8:30 this evening, officials announced.
- PUB DATE: 9/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald