Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena gave City Council a bleak assessment Tuesday of his department's readiness to respond to significant rainstorms and even to daily fire and medical calls, saying a ramshackle fleet and inadequate training are putting the safety of both citizens and firefighters at risk.
The Houston Fire Department must double its annual spending on engines, ladders and ambulances, the chief said, and must ramp up its purchases of water rescue apparatus and the training to enable personnel to operate them. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
More than a dozen wildfires raged across Northern California on Tuesday morning, with the biggest ones scorching the state's famous wine country, killing at least 11 people and burning more than 1,500 homes and businesses, authorities said.
The fires were burning in California's wine country destinations -- Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties -- as well as Yuba County, north of Sacramento, with flames ripping through the lush, picturesque landscape. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN
Huntsville Fire and Rescue is treating Station 17 in the Hampton Cove area for brown recluse spiders, confirmed Captain Frank McKenzie on Monday.
McKenzie said two firefighters have been bitten.
To combat the spiders and keep crews safe, he explained the department moved firefighters, necessary equipment, and firefighters' personal items to Station 19 on Old Big Cove Road on October 5th. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHNT-TV News 19 Huntsville
We're at that time of year when cities and towns across the country take some time to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the performance of their duties.
Memorials to the fallen are just one of the ways we remember those who gave everything to protect life and property, and one firefighter from a small community about an hour north of New York City has waited long enough to receive his due. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com
Earlier this month, 41-year-old Robert Pattison went to introduce himself to his fellow firefighters at Engine 55 at Joy and Southfield in Detroit. Second Battallion Chief Shawn McCarty calls it a tradition for firefighters.
"It's not mandatory, it's voluntary," he says. "You come in bearing gifts. The usual gift is doughnuts, but you are allowed to bring whatever you want to bring in. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox 2 Detroit
Channel 2 Investigates has learned Houston fire Chief Sam Pena will make a case to city leaders Tuesday to purchase about $12 million in new emergency equipment to update the HFD's ailing fleet.
Specifically, Chief Sam Pena will ask for 10 more evacuation boats, four more rescue boats and six to seven more high water vehicles. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston
“We only need to look back over the past few weeks to witness the tremendous contributions of firefighters called to respond to hurricanes, tragic events in Las Vegas as well as the wildfires burning across the western United States,” said Dr. Don Wright, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as he addressed those gathered at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service on Sunday morning. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Frederick News-Post
A volunteer Burke County firefighter was killed after being hit by a car while trying to clear debris from a road in Morganton Sunday night.
According to a spokesperson with the Triple Community Fire Department, firefighters were dispatched to a tree that was blocking the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 70 East near the Drexel intersection just before midnight. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBTV-TV Channel 3
More than two months after the city expected to announce the hiring of a new chief to lead its troubled fire department in the wake of the Ghost Ship disaster, it remains unclear how soon the position will be filled.
One of the finalists, Los Angeles Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Butler, told the Bay Area News Group on Friday he was offered the job at the end of August but turned it down because the compensation package would mean a pay cut. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times
The Cleveland Division of Police is investigating a deadly crash involving a car and a fire truck.
The crash happened around 12:20 a.m. Monday in front of the Cleveland Division of Fire station at St. Clair Ave. and E. 103rd St.
A ladder truck was returning from a fire when a car hit the truck head-on. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJW-TV MyFox Cleveland
Wind-whipped wildfires roared to life Sunday night and early Monday across Wine Country, burning buildings, forcing hundreds of evacuations and injuring several people, reports CBS San Francisco.
The Atlas Peak fire was the largest, quickly growing to more than 200 acres near Napa.
Meanwhile, a fire near Calistoga had burned several buildings, sent several people to the hospital to be treated for burns and prompted mandatory evacuations along several roads. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS News
Emergency responders in Las Vegas have spent years training to respond to a mass casualty event such as Sunday night’s massacre, officials said Thursday.
“We knew what to do,” Clark County Fire Department Chief Greg Cassell told reporters. “It was much grander than we ever envisioned. However, we were able to handle it because of our people, our training, our professionalism and our equipment and our relationships. - PUB DATE: 10/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal
As he pulls up to late night fire calls, Bill Weimer looks around and where he used to have 12 brothers by his side ready to put their lives on the line, he might only have five now.
For Weimer, and so many other volunteer chiefs, this is now commonplace and something they have, begrudgingly, learned to deal with as volunteer firefighter numbers continue to decline. - PUB DATE: 10/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pocono Record
A woman tried to stab a Tucson fire captain in the chest early this morning as he and other crewmembers were outside an apartment answering a 911 call, officials say.
The captain’s thick protective jacket kept him from being wounded, Capt. Andrew Skaggs, said in a news release.
The incident happened about 2:30 a. - PUB DATE: 10/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Daily Star
The NFPA Standards Council has received a New Project Initiation Request from the fire service asking NFPA consider developing an ANSI Accredited Standard to establish the minimum requirements for the effective contamination control of fire department personal, their personal protective equipment (PPE), accessories, and equipment. - PUB DATE: 10/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: National Fire Protection Association
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said he is “favorably disposed” to a bill that would provide medical coverage for volunteer firefighters who develop cancer from the job.
The bill passed the state Senate and Assembly this year and awaits the governor’s signature.
Gov. Cuomo, speaking in Watertown Wednesday following his $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award announcement, said that the bill has not yet reached his desk, but it’s one he’s more inclined to support. - PUB DATE: 10/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times
The owner of The Spartan Box, a gym in the Ingram Square Shopping Center, has been arrested for numerous felony charges, including murder and arson, after an investigation concluded he was responsible for setting a fire that claimed the life of one firefighter, and severely injured another.
According to the Bexar County District Attorney's Office, Emond Johnson is the man that has been arrested and charged with a first-degree felony count of murder, two first degree felony counts of arson and bodily injury, two second-degree felony counts of arson, and two third-degree felony counts of family-related assault charges. - PUB DATE: 10/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KENS5.com San Antonio
Costa Mesa firefighters could receive their first pay raise in 8 years and contribute more toward retirement under a new agreement between the city and their union.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Oct. 3, to move forward with the proposed 4-year contract with the Costa Mesa Firefighters Association, which expires June 30, 2021, at the first of 2 public hearings. - PUB DATE: 10/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orange County Register
After more than a year on the job, 12 Atlanta firefighter paramedics didn't have the proper paperwork to prove they’d passed all the necessary training, according to an audit obtained by Channel 2 Action News.
Those 12 were pulled off the streets and put back in training.
Paul Gerdis, with Atlanta Professional Firefighters, said only 12 of the 25 who graduated in the class of 2016 passed the paramedics test. - PUB DATE: 10/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
An off-duty firefighter from Auburn is being credited with saving the life of a teen girl who was wounded among the mass shooting in Las Vegas Sunday night.
Dean McAuley with Valley Regional Fire Authority was at the Route 91 concert with several friends enjoying the Jason Aldean concert.
"We started moving toward the center of the stage. - PUB DATE: 10/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000
