A veteran San Francisco firefighter died Sunday after returning from an early morning fire alarm call, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
Battalion Chief Terry Smerdel, a 26-year veteran of the department, was found unresponsive by coworkers in his office, Chief Joanne Hayes-White said in a news release. - PUB DATE: 9/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNTV-TV NBC 11 Bay Area
When the winds kicked up as Hurricane Irma made its way up Florida's west coast, rescue workers watched helplessly as the 911 calls piled up on a computer screen.
They weren't allowed to respond. Winds were so high that emergency services in many areas were suspended to protect the rescuers.
"It just stinks. - PUB DATE: 9/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN
A union rep who tried to help a fellow EMT cited for hanging a noose in an ambulance was rewarded with a racist letter calling her the N-word and threatening her life.
Paramedic Keisha Brockington, 41, was stunned and sickened on Aug. 29 after finding the hate-filled missive in her locker at the FDNY EMS Station 22 on Staten Island. - PUB DATE: 9/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News
At 87, retired Lexington Fire Major Orville Cook leafed through a scrapbook of newspaper clippings Sunday, reminiscing about his work on dramatic fires and rescues and when the city’s Station 6 “was at the center of everything.”
The fire station at 501 South Limestone Street had its centennial celebration Sunday. - PUB DATE: 9/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lexington Herald-Leader
Kate Rodeman sat among friends and family as the letter she wrote to the man who killed her husband was read to a courtroom full of people.
"When you killed my husband, you turned my life into pure chaos," said Justin Conklin, the Lansing firefighter who read the letter on her behalf. "His death did not only break my heart, it broke all of me and more. - PUB DATE: 9/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Five children died Thursday morning in a mobile home fire in the Butte community near Palmer.
The fire also left two adults homeless.
Alaska State Troopers said the remains of the children — all girls, between the ages of 3 and 12 — were recovered by 10:30 a.m. The state fire marshal's office is investigating the cause of the fire while the state medical examiner is conducting autopsies on the victims. - PUB DATE: 9/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Alaska Dispatch News
A group of first responders exposed to smoke from a Crosby, Tex., chemical plant fire after Hurricane Harvey are suing the owner of the plant for more than $1 million, saying that they vomited and gasped for air in the middle of the road in a scene the suit describes as “nothing less than chaos.”
The responders allege that the plant owner, Arkema, minimized the dangers of exposure to the fire and failed to warn the responders manning the perimeter of the mandatory 1. - PUB DATE: 9/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post
Intense wildfires plaguing much of the West have rekindled controversy over logging restrictions and fire management practices that critics say have created explosive fire seasons.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, took to the floor of the Senate on Thursday to describe the toll the fires have taken. - PUB DATE: 9/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report
If you are the fire chief commanding volunteers and you feel you have to make every emergency response because you believe that you are the best suited to take care of the public’s emergency service needs – there is something wrong with that picture. If you don't have the confidence in your people that they can perform the task you assign them and you expect them to perform, you may be the problem. - PUB DATE: 9/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi is retiring after 32 years of service, including the last five as the city’s top firefighter.
His last day on the job will be Nov. 11.
In his resignation letter, Berardi expressed great pride in being able to serve as chief and thanked City Manager Troy Schulte, the City Council, Kansas City residents and his staff for their support. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCTV-TV CBS 5 Kansas City
Clackamas County firefighters performed a dramatic rescue Wednesday morning of a resident trapped in a Happy Valley home fire.
Firefighters responding Wednesday at 3:46 a.m. to reports of a fire in the 9000 block of Top O 'Scott Steet were met by two people who had escaped the home but reported that a third was trapped on the second floor, according to a news release from Clackamas Fire District No. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Oregonian, Hillsboro Argus, Oregon Live.com
A member of the Indianapolis Fire Department was seriously injured battling an overnight house fire.
According to IFD, crews were called out to a double residence, two-story structure in the 1400 block of Charles Street just before 1:30 Thursday morning.
Upon arrival, heavy fire was spotted from the front of the structure. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WISHTV.com Channel 8
The city of Kenner announced Wednesday (Sept. 6) that Fire Chief John Hellmers has been placed on administrative leave while he is under investigation.
Kenner Chief Administrative Officer Deborah Foshee's press release did not say what sparked the investigation. But the city will not comment any further on the matter until the completion of the probe. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Orleans Times-Picayune & Nola.com
A hundred Spokane and Spokane Valley firefighters today (Wednesday) received new tools that will allow them to save lives while they’re not on duty. They’re participating in a national pilot project designed to help save the lives of people who suffer cardiac arrest in their homes or other private places. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Spokane Public Radio
A wet winter and spring in the Western U.S. brought predictions that the 2017 wildfire season would be mild. It was anything but. It ended up one of the worst in U.S. history in land burned.
The smoke, the flames, the aching lungs, the evacuations. They're summertime facts of life in the U.S. West, where every wildfire season competes with memories of previous destruction. - PUB DATE: 9/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report
Hundreds of Florida’s emergency responders are returning home to prepare for Hurricane Irma just days after they headed to Texas to help with the Hurricane Harvey relief. ome firefighters and paramedics face the task of jumping from one disaster to preparing for potentially another as their home state readies for a possible hit. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel & SouthFlorida.com
A Charleston firefighter resigned his post after he said he felt slighted by the chief's response to a July rescue.
Cameron Day, 32, rescued a woman from a historic home at 48 Smith St. the afternoon of July 14, as flames and smoke consumed the building. Former tenants of the building said the woman had run back into the house after learning her cat, Banjo, was left behind. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charleston Post and Courier
A woman who was hiking over the weekend in the Columbia River Gorge said Tuesday that she happened across a teenager who threw "a smoke bomb" into Eagle Creek Canyon, igniting the now 10,000-acre Eagle Creek fire.
Liz FitzGerald, 48, of Portland said she's fairly certain that she heard the teenager's friends -- including a boy who was video-recording with his cellphone and some girls in the group -- giggle as the firework dropped down a cliff and into the trees below. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Oregonian, Hillsboro Argus, Oregon Live.com
City Council tonight approved an agreement that will expand the Rockford Fire Department’s mobile integrated health program, could reduce congestion in area emergency rooms and decrease the number non-emergency ambulance rides.
Chief Derek Bergsten said under the program, Rockford firefighter paramedics will provide what is sometimes called “paramedicine. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Rockford Register Star
A Raytown Fire Department station was burglarized on Labor Day while firefighters were raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Police were dispatched to the station at 6020 Raytown Trafficway about 2:30 p.m. A Fire Department employee discovered that his wallet and other items were taken from his bedroom at the station while he had been participating in the fundraiser. - PUB DATE: 9/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star
