A 10-alarm fire that reduced a luxury apartment complex in Waltham to a smoldering pile of rubble last month and caused $110 million in damage was intentionally set, authorities said, and cash rewards are being offered in the hopes of catching whoever sparked the blaze. The 264-unit building on the banks of the Charles River went up in flames during the early morning hours of July 23 and the roaring inferno damaged two other nearby structures and at least 20 vehicles, according to a joint press release issued by State Fire Marshal Peter J.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald

Everything failed in an instant. Severed lines snuffed out power to the command center directing the emergency response to the deadly Gatlinburg wildfires the night of Nov. 28 and plunged firefighting and rescue efforts into darkness and chaos. Sevier County began releasing records Wednesday documenting the confusion caused by the collapse of communications systems as fire swept into the city.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Knoxville News Sentinel

Nearly two dozen Palm Beach County firefighters are suing a publicly-traded company claiming a siren it produces for emergency vehicles robbed them of their hearing. In the lawsuit filed this week in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, current and former firefighters for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and West Palm Beach and Boca Raton fire departments say Federal Signal Corp.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palm Beach Post

Five firefighters were hospitalized after battling an electrical fire in the borough Wednesday afternoon. At 3:30 p.m., Fame Fire Company was dispatched to North Darlington Street at the corner of West Gay Street for a report of an odor of smoke. Fire crews arrived to find an active house fire. After firefighters entered the building, a distress call was sent out because Assistant Chief Mark Scanlon had collapsed and lost consciousness due to what is believed to be carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Coatesville Daily Local News

One firefighter recruit has been fired and three others resigned because of a noose found hanging over a black firefighter’s seat, Pompano fire officials say. An investigation into the noose, which was found at the Pompano Beach Fire Training Center, concluded Wednesday. Pompano Beach Fire Chief John Jurgle said he acted as soon as he heard last month about the racist symbol, which was directed at the only black recruit in a class of six.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun Sentinel

Dealing with difficult people just goes with the territory in emergency response. Events that precipitate a 911 call often do not bring out the best in people. Every firefighter has had to deal with the obnoxious drunk at closing time, the angry person with mental health issues, or the entitled person who demands to know: why did this happen to me? All emergency responders have slightly different ways of dealing with such people.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

VIDEO - A passerby captured the moment a St. Paul firefighter and two St. Paul police officers rescued a woman standing on the edge of a bridge on Tuesday. District Fire Chief Conrad Ertz pulled the woman off the ledge. He told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS helping people in their times of need is just part of the job.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSTP-TV ABC 5 Minneapolis/St. Paul

Despite serving a city with fewer than 100,000 people, the Brockton Fire Department is one of the busiest in the country. Brockton’s Squad A Rescue Unit responded to more calls in 2016 than any other heavy rescue unit in the country, according to Firehouse Magazine’s 2016 national run survey of 248 departments.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Brockton Enterprise

Houston firefighters may be stymied in their push to achieve a voter-approved pay raise this November in part by a competing referendum petition that even its organizers no longer view as crucial. The fire union again accused Mayor Sylvester Turner in a Monday press conference of failing to ensure a petition they submitted last month seeking "parity" in pay with police officers of corresponding rank is certified in time to appear on the ballot this fall.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Dan Miller works in a big city, but he knows all about small-town life. “I really like small-town Nebraska values,” Miller said. That’s part of what drew him to the fire chief position in Columbus. Miller grew up in rural Nebraska and still enjoys camping, fishing and hunting in his free time. Although he’s worked for the Omaha Fire Department since 1998, serving as a captain, chief of training and special operations and battalion chief, Miller still resides in Yutan, where he got his start in firefighting.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbus Telegram

A 23-year-old man, who was once part of a fire department explorer program, has been charged with multiple counts of arson in connection with eight different fires in San Bernardino County. The San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office filed the charges against Jarrod Anthony Samra, of Highland, on Monday.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: abclocal.go

San Antonio firefighters rescued a driver who was stuck on top of an SUV in high, rapid waters on the city's west side Monday morning. The incident happened on Pinn Road near Highway 151. The young man, who was on his way to work, ended up stranded on top of his SUV for 45 minutes. Firefighters attempted to extend a unit ladder to the young man.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KENS5.com San Antonio

Chicago Fire Department battalion chief saw one of his firefighters fall to his death seconds after the chief radioed crews to be on the lookout for openings in the floor that weren't secured or covered, according to a federal safety report. Daniel Capuano, 42 years old and a 15-year veteran of the department, fell through a 7-foot-square elevator shaft while fighting a fire in a former slaughterhouse in the 9200 block of South Baltimore Avenue in December 2015.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune

American Medical Response, the Colorado-headquartered ambulance business of Envision Healthcare Corp., will be sold to New York buyout firm KKR & Co. LP in an all-cash deal worth $2.4 billion, Envision said today. KKR plans to combine Greenwood Village-based AMR with its Texas-based portfolio company, Air Medical Group Holdings (AMGH).
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Denver Business Journal

Tensions between Fayetteville City Councilman Chalmers McDougald and the city fire chief flared Monday night in a council work session when Ben Major appeared to update council members on progress to increase firefighter diversity in his department. “It seems as though this department is really not willing to reach people,” McDougald said.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fayetteville Observer

At 10 a.m. on Monday, South Zanesville Fire Chief Russell Taylor met with engineers at the Owens-Illinois glass plant on State Street to discuss the possibility of a tank rupture. A few hours later, the bottom of a tank ruptured. "Basically like a volcano," Taylor said. Three hundred thousand tons of molten glass spilled into the facility, he said.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cincinnati Enquirer & Cincinnati.com

Oklahoma City's former fire chief has been sworn in as United States Fire Administrator. Keith Bryant was sworn in August 4 in the special ceremony at the Oklahoma City National Memorial by Federal Judge Timothy DeGiusti. Bryant will be responsible for leading fire and EMS services on the national level under the Trump administration.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOKH-TV FOX25

Twelve people, including one firefighter, were injured Sunday morning after a flammable liquid leaked from a shipping container in the Port of Long Beach, officials said. The spill of the unidentified chemical from the 6,000-gallon container was reported shortly before 9:30 a.m., a spokesperson for the Long Beach Fire Department said.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: abclocal.go

A city firefighter who resigned after hanging up on a 911 caller attempting to save a wounded friend has filed a lawsuit alleging he was terminated days into a new job with the Bernalillo County Fire Department when a commissioner expressed concern over his hiring. Matthew Sanchez was a 10-year veteran of the Albuquerque Fire Department when he fielded a call June 26, 2015, from a frantic teenage girl attempting to render aid to Jaydon Chavez-Silver.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albuquerque Journal

For 3 1/2 hours on July 18, when somebody called 911 in Cincinnati, they couldn't reach a dispatcher. Police, firefighters and paramedics don't know how many people needed help but didn't get it. It was the worst failure in years for the city's 911 emergency system. But it wasn't the only one. Since the middle of 2016, the system that residents count on to get help quickly for life and death emergencies has suffered a series of blackouts and breakdowns.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cincinnati Enquirer & Cincinnati.com