VIDEO - It has been a rough month for first-responders in rural Berkeley County. A few weeks ago a firm hired to assess 26 volunteer departments released its findings from an independent fire study and determined, what a lot of those departments already knew, they are underfunded, understaffed and under pressure.
- PUB DATE: 2/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Berkeley Independent

Roughly two-thirds of the firefighters in South Tucson have now indicated they will resign by the end of the month, leaving residents of the small city wondering if there will be enough personnel to adequately respond to emergencies. A former South Tucson firefighter claimed that due to the mass resignations there are two days next month where only one Fire Department employee is scheduled to work on a specific shift.
- PUB DATE: 2/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Daily Star

On Feb. 9 passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (H.R. 1892) which funds the federal government through March 22 and raises government spending limits. H.R. 1982 also contains several provisions which address challenges facing the fire and emergency service. H.R. 1892 contains some of the most significant EMS reimbursement reforms that Congress has enacted in several years.
- PUB DATE: 2/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs

Sixty years ago, Firefighter Donald Blaskovich left a theatre where "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" was staged to witness an all-too-real living hell. The 85-year-old FDNY retiree, a member of the now defunct Engine Company 13, is the last firefighter alive to have fought the deadly blaze at the Elkins Paper Company on Wooster St.
- PUB DATE: 2/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Mayor Jean Stothert said she first saw the "soda can" alert when she watched our KETV report. Some firefighters place pop cans on top of a printer that activates when emergency calls come in--causing the pop cans to fall to the floor making a loud noise. "When I saw the cell phone video, I was very disappointed firefighters want to give the idea to the public their safety is at risk," Mayor Stothert said.
- PUB DATE: 2/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KETV-TV ABC 7 Omaha

One firefighter was killed and four other firefighters were injured while battling a house fire Monday evening in Lawrenceburg. Multiple fire departments from across the region began fighting the fire around 4:30 p.m. at a home in the 500 block of Hood Lakes Road. The home collapsed and a county-wide mayday protocol was established, meaning a firefighter is in danger or injured, just before 8 p.
- PUB DATE: 2/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKRN-TV ABC 2 Nashville

It's long past midnight in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and firefighter Mark Merrell of Engine 255 is explaining to me why medals aren't important and being called a hero doesn't matter all that much. "What you try to achieve is for somebody to say, 'you're a good fireman.' That's probably the biggest compliment you can get," he says.
- PUB DATE: 2/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV 7online.com

Horry County firefighters are leaving and moving to other departments like Myrtle Beach with complaints of too much overtime and low pay, according to Rob Mullaney, president of the Horry County chapter of the International Association of Firefighters. “A lot of the problems are staffing,” he said. “Our turnover rate is ridiculous and you’re losing a lot of mid-level and senior guys to departments, starting over at departments because the benefits are better, the pay is better, the longevity with the pay is better.
- PUB DATE: 2/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MyrtleBeachOnline.com

In an interview with JET 24 Roger Gilbert Junior confirms that he has officially resigned as Fire Chief of the Spartansburg Fire Department. Gilbert says he has been a Spartansburg volunteer firemen for 25 years, starting as a junior fireman. He spent five years as assistant chief, before being elected chief a year ago.
- PUB DATE: 2/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJET/WFXP YourErie.com

Samuel Eaton isn’t afraid of many things. A battalion chief for the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, the 52-year-old has made a career of charging into burning buildings and coming out in one piece. But thinking toward his upcoming birthday, he’ll tell you he’s deeply concerned. Eaton lost one of his best friends, a retired fire captain in the department, last year at 53.
- PUB DATE: 2/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald

PHOTO - Five firefighters were injured when their truck careened through the wall of a building while responding to a blaze in Queens Sunday night, according to FDNY officials. Members of Engine Co. 303 were responding to a report of a fire when their truck struck the side of an auto-parts warehouse at Liberty Avenue and 150th Street in Jamaica, officials said.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

The girls might as well have been invisible, coated in soot in a room flooded with smoke. Three stories of flames had been beaten down by Engine 7, just enough for Capt. Nick Adsero and firefighter Brent Duckworth to skirt past a broken sliding glass door and into a burning living room at the Olin Fields Apartments.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Everett Herald

The mayor of a small Pennsylvania town is standing by its volunteer fire company's re-election of a registered sex offender as its fire chief. Chief Roger Gilbert Jr. was convicted in 2001 of sexual intercourse with a 4-year-old girl and is listed in the state's Megan's Law database, The (Corry) Journal reported Saturday .
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WRAL.com

During the Super Bowl, Verizon aired a one-minute ad highlighting a series of remarkable stories from first responders and the people they rescued. The ad was thoughtful, well put-together, and drew attention to the sacrifice and courage of first responders in a most excellent way. The spot ended with a flawless Verizon plug: “They answer the call.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: BGR

After describing the recent lawsuit filed by the city of Spearfish as a “grand misunderstanding” a month ago, the Spearfish Volunteer Firefighters’ Association filed a countersuit Wednesday seeking damages for unlawful seizure, theft of property and assets, and more by the city. The association had 30 days under civil procedure to answer, or provide a written response, to the lawsuit filed Jan.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Black Hills Pioneer

Ex-firefighter Tanja Vidovic won a $245,000 judgment against the city in December after jurors decided Tampa Fire Rescue discriminated against her because she was pregnant and fired her in retaliation for complaining about it. The city’s costs don’t end there, though. Tampa’s bills in the federal sex discrimination lawsuit are continuing to mount, and right now could theoretically cost the city more than $3 million.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times

Mill Valley fire Chief Tom Welch acknowledges that tougher fire prevention regulations for vegetation might face some opposition, but he vows to persist after his experience as a North Bay fire victim. In the aftermath of the devastation in Sonoma and Napa, Mill Valley fire officials say it’s time to refocus their energy on vegetation management.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Marin Independent Journal

A state fire marshal’s review of the blaze that killed San Antonio firefighter Scott Deem found firefighters and commanders made several mistakes while fighting the major fire at Ingram Square Shopping Center. San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said firefighters approached the blaze like a residential fire, rather than a commercial one, and failed to use a hose or rope when they entered the building to look for people possibly trapped inside.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Conexion SA

Former Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Chief Jeffrey Collins and a pair of other high-ranking officers in the department were forced out of their jobs because of a “civil conspiracy” being carried out by the county government, a lawyer representing the officers said Thursday. The lawyer provided no details about the nature of that conspiracy, but she did say her firm has given the county notice that it intends to sue on behalf of the former officers.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palm Beach Post

Nearly four months after his arrest, charges against a retired Griffin Fire Department Battalion Chief were dismissed Thursday, Pike County District Attorney Benjamin Coker said in a statement. Emory Leroy Rickerson was arrested Oct. 10 after he refused to remove his car so Georgia State Patrol troopers could access the crash scene on Ga.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution