An off-duty firefighter who sprang into action during last fall's massacre at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas -- where a gunman killed 58 people and injured hundreds -- spoke about his harrowing experience yesterday to a room full of Massachusetts firefighters and urged those struggling after bouts of trauma to get professional help.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald

The city plans to spend $3.2 million to adjust the pay of more than 6,000 employees next year. The one-time allocation will boost salaries to bring workers in line with their peers, or to ensure that managers aren’t making less than people they supervise. Public safety staff – especially firefighters – have asked the city to deal with the problem for more than a decade.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Virginian-Pilot

Questions arise in the Detroit Fire Department after a woman was electrocuted by a downed power line. Should Detroit firefighters stay with downed power lines until utility crews arrive with a fix? Protocol says yes, but a recently-issued policy says no. Now, a woman is dead after touching an unattended line in an alley.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: fox2detroit.com

Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday he's ready to hand over control of police and firefighters' pensions -- but only if state lawmakers agree to some minor changes to the controversial spinoff. The governor conditionally vetoed the bill (S5) on Thursday, calling for "technical changes" to protect the pension fund and New Jersey taxpayers.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NJ.com

Cedar Hammock firefighter Michael Dunn started wondering what happened to his patients after an overdose call. "We would get these calls and save their lives and essentially jump back into the fire truck and leave for the next one,” said Dunn. He wanted to give people the resources they need to get clean.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: abcactionnews.com

A veteran firefighter from a community south of the New York state capital has died after responding to two fires the previous day. Hudson volunteer firefighter Mark A. Graziano, 47, was found unresponsive at his home shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, less than 12 hours after he responded to a fire call that was his second in the 24 hours preceding his death.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

In Chula Vista, firefighters and paramedics respond to low-priority 911 calls even though less than one percent of those calls require emergency medical services. By not sending firefighters to those calls, the Chula Vista Fire Department believes it can respond to high-priority calls faster. The department is currently considering sending only ambulances to what are officially known as level three calls.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune

Fire Chief Mike Beyerstedt will keep his job after an internal investigation over a head-butting incident reported at Central Fire Station downtown. The city released a short statement Wednesday morning: "The administration has completed its investigation of the incident involving Fire Chief Mike Beyerstedt and two other firemen from the department.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun Herald

Wildland firefighters operate in a difficult environment where a variety of factors including topography, vegetation and quickly changing weather and fire conditions can lead to great risk of injury or death from burnovers or entrapment. There are various models that provide firefighters with estimates of safe separation distance: the distance between themselves and the flames necessary to reduce the risk of burn injury.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: U.S. Fire Administration

The Chicago Fire Department has already been accused of creating a hostile work environment where women are sexually harassed with impunity by their superiors and a “code of silence” covers it up. Now, the department faces yet another embarrassing incident — this time involving an allegation of violence in the workplace against a woman.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times

The city of Pensacola has motioned to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit filed by a former city fire chief. In late 2016, Joseph Glover filed a federal lawsuit against the city and the mayor alleging he was investigated, suspended and fired in retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint. In a filing last week, attorneys for the city called for a summary judgement in their favor.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pensacola News Journal

The Colorado Springs City Council will vote whether to place a collective bargaining issue on the ballot next year for the city's firefighters, council President Richard Skorman promised Tuesday. Scores of firefighters stood shoulder to shoulder in council chambers Tuesday, clad in navy blue shirts.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Colorado Springs Gazette

Fire icon Chief Alan Brunacini, otherwise known as Chief Bruno, made an impact on the fire service in more ways than one. And while he may be gone, he is most definitely never forgotten – especially by two former International Association of Fire Chiefs Fire Chief of the Year award winners. Chiefs Bruce Varner and Thomas Kuntz learned from Chief Bruno, along with many other mentors during their fire service career, that educating the community, putting the customer first and having empathy are some of the many keys to success as a fire chief.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

CHI's Nebraska Heart Hospital is celebrating two milestones, and they have to do with a Nebraska firefighter. He came to them with a failing heart, and now doctors said not only is his heart fixed for now, but it could heal itself so he wouldn't need a transplant. The staff at NHH said it could work on future heart patients, too.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOLN-TV CBS 10/KGIN-TV CBS 11 Lincoln-Grand Island

Authorities have revealed the cause of a fire on a Harlem movie set that killed a firefighter in March. Fire Marshals determined that heat from a boiler ventilation pipe ignited nearby combustible materials and caused the fire in the basement of a building on St. Nicholas Avenue. Firefighter Michael Davidson was trapped and killed.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV 7online.com

Pay inequities among firefighters and sheriff’s deputies have left some leaders earning less than the people they supervise or less than others in comparable positions. While pay disparity has been a problem for all city employees, it’s more pronounced in public safety, where dozens hold the same rank and expect to earn the same amount as their peers, said Vice Mayor Jim Wood, who was a police officer in the 1980s.
- PUB DATE: 5/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot/HamptonRoads.com

Trailblazing FDNY Lt. Adrienne Walsh is making history — again. Walsh, 51, on Monday became the first woman to serve in a position of rank in one of five of the department's elite rescue companies. Serving as a lieutenant in Rescue Company 1, which covers Manhattan, Walsh is joining one of five highly technical emergency response units that race to large fires or other high-risk situations where specialized training, skills and equipment are required.
- PUB DATE: 5/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

A bright red firetruck, a firefighter in full gear, and a fireman’s pole are visible through the picture windows of the brick building, along with lockers full of equipment and a waiting stretcher. Instead of a fire-company name or logo, however, the lettering on the building in Rockville, Md., announces that this is not a real, live firehouse – but a recruitment center.
- PUB DATE: 5/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Philly.com

St. Joseph County Undersheriff Mark Lillywhite said 66-year-old Patricia Frye was killed instantly around 7:30 p.m. Saturday when her motorcycle was rear-ended by the driver of a minivan while stopped at the intersection of Broadway and U.S.131 in Three Rivers. Her husband, 55-year-old Mike Frye, chief of Fabius & Park Townships Fire Department, was also struck and airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo and is currently listed in critical condition.
- PUB DATE: 5/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WWMT-TV Kalamazoo 3

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s (NFFF) Everyone Goes Home® program is conducting a needs assessment to build effective suicide prevention and awareness programs. The NFFF has partnered with Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas, a leading suicidologist with experience in developing innovative programs for first responders.
- PUB DATE: 5/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: National Fallen Firefighters Foundation