For the first time in city history, the Spokane Fire Department will be led in part by a woman.
“Since 1884,” said Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer. “It’s exciting. It’s progressive.”
On Monday, city officials announced Trisha Wolford would work as the department’s assistant fire chief. The position was previously held by Schaeffer, who was promoted to fire chief in May following the retirement of Bobby Williams, who worked as fire chief for 28 years. - PUB DATE: 11/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Spokesman-Review
After the first of two explosions rocked the Verla International factory at 10:15 a.m. Monday, dozens of firefighters – some paid, most volunteers – raced to the scene on Temple Hill Road.
They found chaos. Employees poured out of the burning building. They were using multiple exits, and many didn’t speak English, said Chris Sweeney, chief of the Vails Gate Fire Department. - PUB DATE: 11/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Times Herald-Record
New charges have been filed in connection with the October 2015 arson fire that killed two Kansas City firefighters.
Thu Hong Nguyen, the 45-year-old woman accused of starting that fire, now faces a new arson charge for allegedly setting a 2013 Lee’s Summit blaze for which the cause previously had been ruled to be undetermined. - PUB DATE: 11/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star
Have you ever struggled to defend yourself after a simple conversation or suggestion you have given as a manager to improve an operation or a process? Has that conversation taken on a life of its own? Has a conversation like that ever been perceived as discipline?
I have found that in today’s environment, there is often confusion between the activity of management and the action of discipline. - PUB DATE: 11/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
Fifty-foot flames flaring down Agua Caliente canyon in the earliest hours of Oct. 9 were about to devour the Mission Highlands neighborhood and race into the backyards of Boyes Hot Springs. That’s when Glen Ellen Cal Fire Capt. Sean Jerry studied the situation from a crest on High Road and said, “OK, this is what we’re going to do. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Emergency crews responded to the scene of an explosion and fire that killed one man and injured more than 30 people, including firefighters, at a manufacturing plant in New York's Hudson Valley.
The explosion happened at around 10:15 a.m. Monday in the north section of Verla International -- a business that makes cosmetics, primarily nail polish. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV 7online.com
In Onalaska, the volunteer fire department is dealing with an emergency of its own.
Brothers Chris and Craig Franklin say small town politics are putting everyone in jeopardy.
"Now I am standing here, watching everything fall apart," said Chris. "I'm worried for my safety, my family's safety, and the safety of all the citizens of Onalaska. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5
Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle says the six people killed overnight in a house fire in rural Dixon included two parents, four children, a cat and a dog.
Sheriff VanVickle says at this time no names or ages are being released. The school district where the children attended has been notified.
Neighbors tell 23 News the area in unincorporated Lost Nation is a very close community where everyone knows each other. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WIFR-TV CBS 23 Rockford
It takes years of study and a fortune in tuition to earn a college degree, unless you take the kind of shortcut former Tarpon Springs Fire Chief Rick Butcher did.
Instead of cracking the books, Butcher simply went online and bought his BS degree from Almeda University, one of the world’s most notorious diploma mills. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFLA.com
Hamilton homeowner Lester Parker and his nephew William “Billy” Tucker, took the stand Monday in their own defense in the arson and murder trial for the 2015 death of Hamilton firefighter Patrick Wolterman.
Parker, 68, and Tucker, 46, of Richmond, Ky., are charged with arson and murder in the fire at Parker’s Pater Avenue home that killed Wolterman on Dec. - PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Journal-News
A federal judge on Friday had questions about why Mayor Kasim Reed dismissed Atlanta’s fire chief in 2015, asking attorneys representing the city if the decision was based primarily on the contents of the chief’s controversial book or his insubordination.
Fire chief Kelvin Cochran was terminated after he wrote and distributed a book that some considered anti-gay. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An Orange County sheriff’s helicopter practicing firefighting techniques in Huntington Beach last month inadvertently dumped water on a woman standing outside a plumbing business, generating questions about whether the department is as yet skilled enough to fight fires.
The errant dumping occurred Oct. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orange County Register
A Northern Arizona University professor was arrested Oct. 30 and indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on five counts of felony stalking – one involving a student -- and three counts of giving false information to law enforcement.
Melissa Ann Santana, 36, who worked as an associate professor of interior design, is accused of habitually stalking and harassing two firefighters from the U. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Daily Sun
The file cabinets in Joe Bob Betzel's barn tell a story. It’s the two-decade story of a legal battle contending the City of Dallas underpaid its cops and firefighters.
“It’s been over 25 years for me, so that’s like a career,” said Betzel, the retired Dallas firefighter who led the fight.
On Tuesday, the Dallas City Council unanimously approved a nearly $62 million settlement. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFAA-TV ABC 8 Dallas - Fort Worth
A billboard complaining about overtime Gwinnett County firefighters are required to work is turning some heads in Lawrenceville.
Former firefighter Michael Flanagan signed the contract for the billboard at Hwy. 316 and Ga. 20, but says there are actually 40 people behind it. The rotating sign asks the county to stop mandatory overtime for firefighters complaining $15 million has been spent over three years. - PUB DATE: 11/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSB Radio
VIDEO - At least 20 people have been injured in a massive, multi-alarm fire at a senior living community in West Chester.
Numerous residents have been displaced. Fire officials have refused to say if there were any fatalities.
The blaze was reported at 10:46 p.m. Thursday at the Barclay Friends Senior Living Community on the 700 block of North Franklin Street. - PUB DATE: 11/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPVI-TV 6 ABC.com
Following the Thanksgiving holiday, Utica fire Chief Russell Brooks will take the city to court.
Brooks has sought to be recognized by the city for compensatory benefits due to a medical condition he says is a product of his response to ground zero in New York City following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. - PUB DATE: 11/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Utica Observer-Dispatch
In the early hours of the most destructive firestorm in California history, officials in Napa and Sonoma counties knew their local first responders would be overwhelmed and turned to a statewide mutual-aid system designed to swiftly brinThey got help, but they didn’t get what they asked for — not nearly. - PUB DATE: 11/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle
In August 2015, a firefighter broke protocol and went outside his chain of command to email then Division Chief Jace Kohan.
In a regimented organization like Tampa Fire Rescue, chain of command is part of daily operations. But Kohan told a judge and seven-person jury Wednesday that firefighter Mark Pattison wasn’t reprimanded for his email, or even scolded. - PUB DATE: 11/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Bay.com
A North Carolina county has given a rural volunteer fire department an ultimatum after its refusal to take down a Confederate flag waving over its station.
The Charlotte Observer reports that Montgomery County commissioners have decided to restrict funding for the Uwharrie Volunteer Fire Department if it will not take the flag down and end a dispute that has simmered for months. - PUB DATE: 11/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charlotte Observer
