Two men charged in a deadly blaze that broke out during an underground music event at Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 36 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter, paving the way for a preliminary hearing of the evidence in the case.
The defendants, Derick Almena, 47, and Max Harris, 27, briefly appeared in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland to enter their pleas. - PUB DATE: 9/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate.com)
Surveillance cameras are being installed at Las Vegas fire station entrances to monitor activities and visitors, a plan Fire Chief Willie McDonald announced nearly five months ago amid allegations of sex inside firehouses.
This comes as city officials investigate another complaint alleging sexual activity in a firehouse last month. - PUB DATE: 9/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal
A captain with the Fort Wayne Fire Department died overnight. Jeremy Bush, president of the Fort Wayne Professional Firefighters, told NewsChannel 15 that Captain Eric Balliet was leading a training exercise at a commercial structure Wednesday night.
Balliet was a 19-year veteran of the fire department. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WANE-TV CBS 15 Fort Wayne
Gov. Gina Raimondo has vetoed a bill that would automatically give firefighters a lifetime tax-free accidental-disability pension if they develop a heart condition.
Supporters of the bill – sponsored by Sen. Frank Lombardi, D-Cranston – argue it should be presumed that firefighters who have a stroke or heart disease suffered the ailment in the line of duty. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPRI-TV Providence 12
For Dallas firefighters and paramedics, saving lives is a calling. But what happens when one of their own needs saving?
The recent suicide of one of Dallas Fire-Rescue’s nearly 1,900-member force is bringing uncomfortable conversations to the forefront.
Earlier this year, the 37-year-old firefighter was arrested on a DWI charge. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHOU-TV CBS 11 Houston
Investigators believe an unidentified vandal who dumped oil outside two officials' homes may have been motivated by the dissolution of Medina Township's fire department.
Medina Fire Chief Bob Painter on Monday found about three gallons of oil dumped on the driveway outside his home. Painter's son nearly crashed his motorcycle when he ran over the oil slick, Medina Township Police Chief David Arbogast said Tuesday evening in a news release. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland Plain Dealer & Cleveland.com
Imagine serving a very small community on a tiny budget with a crew of less than 15 people and an average age of about 22.
Now imagine a catastrophic storm sweeping through and ravaging that community while destroying all your equipment and even your personal vehicles.
Sounds like enough to make the average person throw up their hands and give in, but the young members of the Plum Grove Fire Department never quit as the flood waters from Hurricane Harvey continued rising, and certainly not when members of the community were also stepping up to help those in need. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com
This past April, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, M.D., announced that the HHS will provide $485 million in grants to help states combat opioid addiction. The funding has been allocated to all 50 states over two years through the State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis Grants provided in the 21st Century Cures Act. - PUB DATE: 9/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
Mayor Dennis Hanwell and City Law Director Gregory Huber are asking City Council to consider instituting a mandatory retirement age of 65 for the city's police and fire chiefs.
The age restriction would also be considered for all city police officers and firefighters, pending discussions with the safety forces' unions. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland Plain Dealer & Cleveland.com
As his motorcycle careened out of control on a southern Indiana highway, Brandon Anderson said a silent prayer and prepared for the worst.
The lieutenant with the Fishers Fire Department and a high school buddy were on their way to Lake Cumberland in Kentucky on a summer day in 2016 when a truck in the right lane of U. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Indianapolis Star
Officials at a Cecil Township fire department accepted the resignation of its chief Tuesday following outrage over his posting of a racial slur on social media, according to a statement posted on the township website.
Ron Zombeck, president of Cecil Township Volunteer Fire Company No. 2 in Muse, said that the resignation of Paul Smith was accepted at noon Tuesday in light of outrage over a Facebook comment by Smith in response to the Pittsburgh Steelers' decision not to take the field Sunday for the national anthem. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Cranston’s deputy fire chief, who is also the department’s union president, faced a Kent County judge Tuesday on charges that he punched and assaulted a fellow firefighter while on duty.
Paul Valletta, 59, of Warwick, was arrested by Rhode Island State Police on Sept. 10 following a heated incident at the Scituate Avenue firehouse the day before. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJAR-TV NBC 10 Providence
In early September, the Trump administration announced plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The policy was originally introduced in 2012 by the Obama administration.
In short, the policy has made it possible for nearly 800,000 immigrant children, known as dreamers, to live in the U. - PUB DATE: 9/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
A former Mosinee Fire Department EMT has died - 14 years after he suffered crippling injuries when his ambulance rolled over, according to the fire department.
Matt Deicher died Saturday.
The ambulance rolled over on state Highway 39 in Marathon County in July 2003 as Deicher and two other EMTs were transporting a patient to the hospital. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAOW-TV ABC 9-Wausau
Brad Goodroad found a love for fighting fires while working construction.
He developed an interest after talking to another construction worker’s father, who was a full-time firefighter. Growing up in a small South Dakota town with a volunteer fire department, Goodroad hadn’t ever considered firefighting as a full-time job. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sioux Falls Argus Leader
Twenty years after the city of New York turned its back on Tracy Allen Lee, the FDNY emergency medical technician was honored Monday for the selfless act that ultimately took her life.
In November of 1989, Lee was barely two years into her career when she treated a patient with Aids while responding to a call. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPIX-TV PIX 11
A Superior Court judge questioned new East Greenwich Town Manager Gayle Corrigan Friday about the circumstances surrounding her hiring and her decision to fire a firefighter because he lacked paperwork showing he was certified.
Judge Susan E. McGuirl asked Corrigan if she knew the Town Council planned to name her acting town manager before the council made the move in executive session June 19. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Providence Journal
The man who fatally shot a Prince George’s County firefighter answering a 911 call died last week, according to his attorney and his sister.
Darrell Lumpkin, 63, had suffered a stroke and was in the hospital for a few weeks before being released, said Lumpkin’s attorney, Brian K. McDaniel. About a week later, Lumpkin died of a heart condition, McDaniel said. - PUB DATE: 9/26/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post
As Buster Snow watched flames jump from his burning SUV to the back of his and his neighbor's adjoining home, the 42-year-old Wilmington man wondered where the fire department was.
He remembers seeing ambulance workers and police officers watching the fire that afternoon, but Engine No. 3, the Wilmington Fire Department pumper engine stationed less than five blocks from his home, was nowhere in sight. - PUB DATE: 9/25/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wilmington News Journal (Delaware Online)
State overseers of the city have asked a a Superior Court judge to reconsider his shutdown of a move to lay off 50 city firefighters, saying the city can’t afford their salaries.
The state filed its motion last week, asking Judge Julio Mendez to reconsider his late August ruling preventing the layoffs. - PUB DATE: 9/25/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Press of Atlantic City
