The job of a firefighter isn’t what it used to be. Take Charlottesville, Va., for example, where in just the past 18 months the fire departments in the city and surrounding Albemarle County have searched the wreckage of a plane crash in a hard-to-reach wooded area, performed water rescues after spring floods, responded to the derailment of a passenger train carrying Republican members of Congress and, most memorably, provided medical assistance during white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, including one incident that left three people dead last summer. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Governing.com
According to a majority panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, a group of Pittsburgh firefighters did not prove that a different design for a fire truck siren they say permanently damaged their hearing would have been safer.
On Aug. 20 in a 2-1 decision, Superior Court judges Mary Jane Bowes and Paula Francisco Ott upheld a granting of summary judgment to Federal Signal Corporation and dismissing the case brought by firefighters Ronald M. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pennsylvania Record
A longtime township fire chief in Pickaway County who was fired this month has sued to get his job back.
Porter “Chip” Welch had been chief of the Scioto Township Fire Department in the northern part of the county since 2005. Township trustees met on Aug. 16 and fired him. Trustee Ralph Wolfe told The Dispatch that no one from the township could comment. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbus Dispatch
For the seventh year, the IAFC received a grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation to fund another year of the Fire Service Executive Development Institute (FSEDI). FSEDI is a program developed by the IAFC to provide new and aspiring chiefs with the tools they need to have a successful and productive tenure. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs
Communications were snarled and police, fire and medical responders were overwhelmed by 911 calls, false reports and the number of victims during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, according to a report released Monday by U.S. and local authorities. The report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Clark County Fire Department and Las Vegas police provided an overview of first responders' actions on Oct. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Sun
Dallas firefighters complained Monday about a delay in police emergency response over the weekend that left firefighters to deal on their own with a knife wielding suspect.
“It was one of those runs where you think it’s going to be the last run you ever make,” said Dallas Firefighters Union President Jim McDade. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAS-TV NBC 5 Dallas - Fort Worth
Gary municipal officials are admitting that just over $8.1 million in city funds from an account specifically intended to cover expenses for Emergency Medical Services needs were actually spent on other things.
City officials have been reviewing since spring the city’s 224 Fund – intended for the Fire Department’s use in maintaining ambulances and paramedics -- when it was discovered that the actual amount of money officials thought was in the fund did not match up with bank records. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
The union representing the city of Dayton’s firefighters said residents will be in danger if the city does not increase staffing.
For years, the city has been “browning out,” or temporarily closing stations based on staffing.
Fire Station 10 was open Monday, but it was closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHIO-TV Dayton
A New Mexico firefighter is being hailed a hero for what he did while off duty at a convenience store.
In a moment of terror, he used his body to shield a woman from gunfire.
The video, posted by the Española Police Department, is going viral with more than 16,000 views in just a few days and dozens of comments praising him. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KRQE-TV CBS 13
It started as a quiet day, and firefighters at Jacksonville Fire Station 1 decided to use that to do some training. But things changed quickly. To take advantage of downtime Sunday, firefighters decided to conduct an elevator training at a parking garage near the Jacksonville Landing, fire officials said on Facebook. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFTV-TV ABC 9 Orlando
An arbitrator has ruled that city firefighters are entitled to out-of-title pay for shifts worked in which they took on the role of the department’s demoted captains.
Daniel Daugherty, president of the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191, said arbitrator Richard Curreri ruled that the city will have to compensate firefighters who responded to calls while assuming the responsibilities of captains. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times
Eight children were killed after a fire sparked in an apartment building in Chicago, fire officials said.
The blaze ignited just before 4 a.m. on the second floor of a building on South Sacramento Avenue, according to Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago.
The first call to authorities came when a woman who came home from work smelled the fire, he said. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News
A Stockton fire crew had to act quickly after a man tried to take off with their fire engine early Saturday morning while they were fighting a fire.
When engine 7 drove up to Jill Circle around 4:30 Saturday morning, fires were blazing at multiple spots on the street but another issue flared up as well. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTXL-TV Fox 40 Sacramento
There’s no guarantee that a different strategy would have resulted in a different outcome — that the victims would be alive today if something as mundane as an administrative spreadsheet had one more agency added.
But in each of four fatal fires over the last 11 years, the structure of mutual aid calls for volunteer fire departments just beyond Peoria city limits has resulted in scenarios that appear to contradict the most basic tenets of firefighting. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Peoria Journal Star
An arbitrator overturned the demotion and suspension of the former firefighters' union president in relation to actions at a New Year's Day 2017 fire that killed three people, displaced 49 tenants and destroyed a building.
The decision by the American Arbitration Association said there was no evidence that Chad Cunningham ignored orders or violated rules and ordered he immediately be returned to his former rank as lieutenant and be awarded back pay. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MassLive
The parents of a toddler killed when he became pinned in a door at a Scottsdale fire station have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city.
The suit does not seek a specific damage amount in the death of 16-month-old Joey Reiss. However, a previous notice of claim filed against the city of Scottsdale had sought $9 million. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix
Detroit police announced an arrest Thursday in the shooting death of Detroit firefighter Jack Wiley Jr.
Detroit police said they arrested an 18-year-old man near the Southfield Freeway and Ford Road in Dearborn, said Capt. Michael McGinnis.
"What his motives (were) ... I have no idea," said McGinnis. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Detroit News
Lawmakers will hold a hearing Friday on data throttling during the Mendocino Complex Fire after Santa Clara County’s fire chief said his department’s firefighters were put in danger when Verizon slowed the speed of their wireless transmissions while they were battling the blaze.
The Select Committee on Natural Disaster, Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding, led by Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, and Assemblywoman Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, will hold the hearing to probe wireless provider policies for restricting cell phone plans during emergencies like wildfires. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle
On Savannah Highway, out beyond the car dealerships and across the street from a barber college, lies one of the most significant projects for the city of Charleston and its firefighters.
The site is an empty L-shaped lot for now. It’s bordered by a doughnut shop, a park and a quiet residential neighborhood where neatly subdivided homes line gentle, swooping streets along a curve in the Stono River. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charleston Post and Courier
A nationwide telecommunications company that slowed internet service to firefighters as they battled the largest wildfire in California history says it has removed all speed cap restrictions for first responders on the West Coast.
Verizon Senior Vice President Mike Maiorana says the service restrictions were removed as of Thursday and include Hawaii, where emergency crews have rescued people from areas flooded by Hurricane Lane. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News
