A former Oklahoma City Fire Department assistant chief and member of the “Original 12” died Friday. Carl Holmes, 90, began his service with the department in 1951 as one of 12 black firefighters hired that year. Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson said in a time of racism and discrimination, Holmes and the other men were faced with profound challenges and worked to excel past the normal expectations associated with the job, with many rising through the ranks of the department.
- PUB DATE: 11/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NewsOK.com

The Orlando Fire Department plans to hire 25 paramedics, a move opposed by the city’s firefighters union but which Chief Roderick Williams says will help the agency handle the increased demands of a growing city. It would mark a shift for OFD, which currently doesn’t employ civilian paramedics. All of its firefighters are either emergency medical technicians or paramedics.
- PUB DATE: 11/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel

Suiting up for another tour of duty, Sean O'Rourke barely gets into his turnout gear when the first alarm comes into the station house of Tower Ladder 138 and Engine 289 in Corona, Queens. Climbing behind the wheel of the tower ladder truck, O'Rourke is the muscle driving the giant truck answering the call of the smell of gas at a home.
- PUB DATE: 11/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV 7online.com

A fire crew attended a boy with autism’s birthday party after none of his classmates showed up. FOX News reported that Holden Bridges, 7, invited his entire class to his birthday party, and began crying when he realized no one was coming. “He kept saying his friends were just getting ready, going to get presents, that’s why they were late,” Holden’s mom Amanda said.
- PUB DATE: 11/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

A former volunteer is facing multiple charges after allegedly embezzling federal money from a volunteer fire department. Kathy Gwinn, of Hurricane, is charged with federal program theft, embezzlement and stealing federal monies. According to federal court documents, Gwinn embezzled more than $75,000 through checks she wrote to herself from the Teays Valley Volunteer Fire Department, while she was a treasurer at the department.
- PUB DATE: 11/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSAZ-TV

The city of Salisbury has filed a lawsuit against a group of volunteer firefighters who broke away from the Salisbury Fire Department. The suit is seeking a halt to the spending of taxpayer and charitable funds and the return of property and improperly spent money. The case filed in Wicomico County Circuit Court names Company 1 and 11 of its officers individually.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Delmarva Now

Professional Firefighters of Kokomo Local 396 and the city of Kokomo likely are moving headlong into a court saga, after city officials denied a grievance filed by the union relating to collective bargaining efforts. The Kokomo Board of Public Works last week denied the union’s grievance, saying in a findings-of-fact document no articles or sections in the previous agreement between the two sides were violated.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kokomo Tribune

A fire department is working to reduce the negativity surrounding mental health issues by changing firefighter culture with peer support teams. News-Herald reported that the Euclid Fire Department’s peer-to-peer support program is made up of firefighters who are trained in active listening and crisis intervention, and Ohio Association of Professional Fire Fighters director of operations Lt.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

A litany of complaints levied against St. Tammany Parish District 12 Fire Chief Stephen Krentel, whose wife was killed in a mysterious, high-profile slaying in July, will be the subject of a full scale investigation by the district's board of commissioners, a civil service panel determined Monday (Nov.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Orleans Times-Picayune & Nola.com

No firefighters were harmed in the making of this calendar. Worth noting because, well ... bare skin ... razor-sharp claws ... things can go wrong. "The cats were all well-behaved — pretty mellow and chill," said Burbank Paradise Fire Department firefighter Chris Parnell, one of the men featured in the Firefighters & Felines 2018 calendar from Cat Network of Stanislaus.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Modesto Bee

In a mobile home park where the Eastern Plains meet the Denver suburbs, the Sable Altura fire station sticks out like a sore thumb from its modest surroundings. Its fire engines are state-of-the-art — shiny trucks you’d find at one of the big metro fire departments 20 miles west. The trouble is: Years after replacing its run-down vehicles with the help of grant dollars, the ever-shrinking district can’t afford to hire firefighters to operate them.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Denver Post

As an enrollee the World Trade Center Health Program, Utica fire Chief Russell Brooks says medical costs associated with illnesses certified as related to his time responding during the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City are covered by the federal government. But would that remain the case if he is granted workers compensation benefits? The question has been an undertone in the ongoing dispute between him and the City of Utica for benefits pertaining to his diagnosis for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Utica Observer-Dispatch

The Mesa Fire and Medical Department will allow private businesses to sponsor health and safety messages on its fire trucks. "We're going to be very particular about who we work with," said Deputy Chief Forrest Smith. ABC15 got a first look at how the messaging will appear. Each truck will feature two small decals with bold text over a logo.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNXV-TV Channel 15 ABC

An Orlando Fire Department paramedic who was one of the first to respond to the Pulse massacre is now out of a job. Detectives said Joshua Granada recorded a medical call and then played it to co-workers who weren't on the call. Orlando fire officials said Granada, who worked out of Station 10 on Vineland Road, responded to the Doubletree Hotel across from Universal in August.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WESH-TV NBC 2 Orlando

Survivors and family members of victims joined local officials and historians yesterday as the city commemorated the 75th anniversary of the deadly Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire, which killed nearly 500 people and led to sweeping changes to U.S. building and fire codes. Marshall Cole, who was a 16-year-old tap dancer when the popular nightspot went up in flames, told those gathered that the tragic events of Nov.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald

A homeowner and his nephew were found guilty Wednesday of aggravated arson and murder in the death of a 28-year-old Hamilton firefighter. Lester Parker, 66, and William Tucker, 49, of Richmond, Kentucky, face 15 years to life in prison when they are sentenced. The jury reached the verdict shortly after resuming deliberations about 9 a.
- PUB DATE: 11/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WXIX-TV FOX 19 Cincinnati

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