It's rare that Sharon Johnson misses church on Sunday mornings. But last Sunday was a painful exception. "My whole face was swollen, and I needed to go to the hospital," the 58-year-old from Fort Worth said. A nasty toothache had her calling MedStar for help. But instead of sending an ambulance, they sent something else.
- PUB DATE: 4/12/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFAA ABC Dallas-Fort Worth

San Luis Obispo fire Chief Garret Olson and City Manager Katie Lichtig received a written reprimand and were fined for their participation in a spoof video played at the city’s Chamber of Commerce annual dinner on Jan. 21, the city announced Monday. Complaints alleged that they violated city workplace-related policies.
- PUB DATE: 4/12/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Luis Obispo County Tribune

Today, Natasha Rivera honored her father, firefighter Manny Rivera, at a Trenton City Hall ceremony for those who died in the line of duty. Tomorrow, she takes the oath of office as a Trenton firefighter. "It's a lot right now," Rivera said of the two days of emotion her family is experiencing. "A lot of it is because of him.
- PUB DATE: 4/12/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Trenton Times

A group of city leaders led by Mayor Jeff Williams has banded together to oppose a voter proposition seeking to establish a civil service system for firefighters, warning that it could lead to reduced response times and cuts in city services. In recent days, pamphlets from a political action committee called Safety First Arlington PAC have landed in Arlington mailboxes, contending that adopting Proposition 2 would put the city’s firefighters “under labor union control” and add costs that could prompt cuts to the police force and street repairs.
- PUB DATE: 4/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Three off-duty Georgia firefighters were injured, one of them fatally, when the car in which they were traveling was struck by a suspected DUI driver Monday evening in Venice, authorities have confirmed. The three-vehicle crash took place about 10 p.m. at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Washington Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
- PUB DATE: 4/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KABC-TV ABC 7 Los Angeles

VIDEO - A witty parody video by the New Gloucester Fire Rescue has gone viral. The video about recruitment called “I Got Hose,” inspired by the song “Area Codes” by Ludacris and Nate Dogg, was posted Friday on the fire department’s page on Facebook. The video has been viewed over 311,000 times and has almost 5,000 shares.
- PUB DATE: 4/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGME.com

The Layton Volunteer Fire Department, with more than a half-century of history in the tiny Long Key community around mile marker 68.5, will soon become history. “We’re just running out of people, especially younger people,” said Philip “Skip” Haring, Layton city administrator and lieutenant of the volunteer department that formed in the late 1950s.
- PUB DATE: 4/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FL Keys News

Cincinnati firefighers are making a plea to the city council to get new bulletproof vests. "It makes sense to me," Councilmember Christopher Smitherman said. "It's unfortunate that it's the new reality." Last October, the city made the first step, buying more than 180 bullet vests for firefighters in anticipation of the Ray Tensing trial.
- PUB DATE: 4/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCPO-TV ABC 9 Cincinnati

Tragedy has struck Montgomery County's firefighting community this weekend. Fire and rescue officials confirmed that Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Fighter Charles Gentilcore passed away suddenly yesterday while on-duty at his fire house. CPR was performed on the 52 year old and he was rushed to Holy Cross Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHAG-TV NBC 25 Hagerstown

The one thing he’s not going to miss is his pager. For the past 42 years, whether it was a scanner or pager, it was either on or close by to Rochester Fire Chief Norm Sanborn Jr., unless he was on vacation. Whether it was in the middle of a cold winter night or a warm summer holiday, the unpredictable life of the firefighter was always just a tone away.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seacoast Online

Kinloch firefighters say they won’t show up for work until the district board is overhauled. Assistant Fire Chief Tim Rhodus said 19 volunteer firefighters went on strike Saturday because they say they have been disregarded by board leadership. “The entire district, all of its members, have just taken a leave of absence today as a strike against the administration and their blatant disregard, lack of respect and racial discrimination for the firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A city firefighter was met with gunfire after stopping to help a driver who crashed Saturday afternoon in South Baltimore, police said. The fire department commander was not hit, and the driver — a 38-year-old whom police said stole the car — ran away. He was arrested by police after a short foot chase.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baltimore Sun

After a 2011 civil grand jury report excoriated Oakland’s building services division, concluding that some inspectors were keeping property records in their desk drawers rather than a central database, the city purchased a multimillion-dollar software system to bring the department into the 21st century.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle

The state can cut city firefighters’ pay and benefits while a legal case against a state takeover of the city advances, an appellate panel ruled Thursday. In a written order, Appellate Division Judge Carmen Messano said a trial judge correctly ruled state-imposed cuts in compensation are not “irreparable harm” because money for lost wages or benefits would be available if the union succeeds in its case.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Press of Atlantic City

The reckless homicide conviction of a semitrailer truck driver accused of killing Hudson firefighter Chris Brown in a 2013 crash has been reversed by the 4th District Appellate Court. In its ruling issued Wednesday, the court found that the state's evidence against Mansur Shakirov fell far short of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he caused the death of the 39-year-old Brown.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bloomington-Normal Pantagraph

Jennie Stout, a nurse in Ocala, Fla., was finishing an afternoon shift when she got a panicked call from home. Her 13-year-old daughter, Ashlyn, had tripped and fallen into smothered coals left over from burning leaves in their backyard, scorching her hands, knees, and shins. Ambulance paramedics on the scene when Jennie arrived said that Ashlyn should be sent by helicopter to a burn center in Gainesville for fast treatment.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Consumer Reports

On April 5, Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced legislation reauthorizing the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs. The bill, S. 829, extends the authorization for AFG and SAFER through FY 2023 and eliminates a “sunset” provision currently set to take effect in January 2018 that would eliminate the programs.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

All Orlando Fire Department emergency vehicles are now equipped with bulletproof vests and helmets specially designed for firefighters and medics responding to mass-casualty incidents and active violent crime scenes, and Orange County Fire Rescue is planning to do the same. After last year’s June 12 Pulse shooting that killed 49 and injured more than 63, Orlando-area officials and first responders gathered to brainstorm how to best address what OFD Chief Roderick S.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel

Raleigh Fire Chief John McGrath says his department will need 60 new firefighters, three platoon EMS coordinators, a training captain, an inventory specialist and three additional battalion chiefs to keep up with growing demand, but he’s willing to forgo it all for another year if it means his firefighters get raises.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News & Observer

A former fire academy administrator could avoid jail after allegedly falsifying test scores that were used to improperly certify thousands of Iowa firefighters, a scandal that has rocked the profession, court records revealed Wednesday. Filings show former Fire Services Training Bureau certification and accreditation manager John McPhee has agreed to plead guilty to felonious misconduct in office.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier