Residents of Yarnell who lost their homes in the 2013 blaze have no legal right to sue the state for failing to save their homes, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. In an extensive decision, the court rejected the contention of the homeowners' attorney that the state, which was trying to contain the wildfire that started on public lands, had some duty to also protect the structures.
- PUB DATE: 3/31/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Courier

VIDEO - A firefighter was hospitalized after crews rescued an 82-year-old man from a burning apartment building on Tuesday afternoon. Brockton Fire said the man was removed from a third floor porch of a building at 685 Oak St. using a ground ladder around 4 p.m. "The fire was blowing out on the second floor porch and some of the bystanders said there was somebody up there," recalled Brockton firefighter Ben Denny.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NECN.com

A federal court awarded father and son, Michael Dolan Sr. and Michael Dolan Jr, thousands in damages for their arrest in an alleged theft from the New Hyde Park Fire Department that they volunteered for. Both were arrested and cuffed in 2012 when they were charged with felony grand larceny, accused of stealing smoke detectors from the fire department.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FiOS1 Long Island

PHOTOS - A New Braunfels church group returning from a choir retreat Wednesday afternoon was involved in a major collision near Garner State Park resulting in at least 13 confirmed fatalities. The bus and a Dodge dually pickup truck collided head-on at 12:23 p.m. on U.S. 83 North, just south of Ranch Road 1050 when the truck crossed the center line, according to Lt.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MySanAntonio.com

Four former firefighters with the city of York want almost $1.4 million in unpaid overtime, damages and interest, claiming in a lawsuit they were not paid overtime for years. The lawsuits, filed March 22 in York County civil court and obtained exclusively by The Herald, seek not just back overtime pay, but “three times the full amount of the unpaid wages, plus pre-judgment interest.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Herald Online

The Sedgwick County Fire Chief has apologized to his staff after forcing them to remove memorial stickers from some of the department’s trucks. Fire Chief Tavis Leake sent an email to staff members on Monday in reference to the removal of “Bubba” stickers. The stickers were placed on several fire trucks in 2007 after firefighter Bryon Johnson was killed in the line of duty.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSN-TV News 3

Hillsborough County needs 25 new fire stations in the next 25 years to keep up with the thousands of people moving here each year, Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Jones told county commissioners Wednesday.The county is already failing to meet emergency response benchmarks, Jones warned, and it will only get worse as Hillsborough grapples with one of the fastest-growing populations in the country.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times

The state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Allentown firefighters, finding that their union can negotiate the minimum number of firefighters on a shift because it has a direct impact on safety. In a unanimous decision Tuesday that affects municipalities with professional fire departments across Pennsylvania, the court rejected Allentown's argument that shift staffing was an issue for managers to decide because of its impact on city finances.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Allentown Morning Call

FirstNet board members today voted unanimously to authorize FirstNet CEO Mike Poth to finalize the 25-year contract this week—an award to AT&T, although the carrier was not mentioned during the special board meeting—to build and maintain the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN). “This is a very, very special day,” FirstNet Chairwoman Sue Swenson said during the board meeting.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgent Communications

A recent "forensic audit" ordered by the selectmen and conducted by the town account found nothing substantial against Fire Chief Peter Martell. He had been placed on paid administrative leave for 10 weeks awaiting the results of the audit. On Jan. 10, Chief Martell was chastised for spending $33,814 of town money, funds approved by town meeting, for a 2017 Ford Expedition without consulting selectmen and for submitting an electric bill from his home address along with two Fire Department bills.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Palo Alto’s four battalion fire chiefs will get pay raises of 15.5 percent under a labor deal the City Council approved Monday. Three council members, Eric Filseth, Lydia Kou and Greg Tanaka, objected to the raises. Filseth commended the Fire Department’s good work, but characterized the raises as “excessive” especially because of escalating fire service costs.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mercury News

Fire officials across Ohio are backing a proposal by Gov. John Kasich to abolish the industry-controlled agency that regulates manufactured homes, saying the commission does too little to protect manufactured home residents from deadly fires. The Ohio Fire Chief’s Association last week sent a letter to Ohio lawmakers expressing support for a provision in the state budget that would do away with the Manufactured Homes Commission and fold its responsibilities into the Ohio Department of Commerce.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Dayton Daily News

A firefighter was assaulted by a man while on the scene of a travel trailer fire just north of Tulsa early Wednesday. The man was identified as 48-year-old Michael Fisher. The incident happened in the 6200 block of North Wheeling at around 3 a.m. The Turley Fire Department was called to the fire involving a 5th wheel trailer being used for storage.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOTV-TV CBS 6 Tulsa

People were hanging out windows and running barefoot for their lives early Monday morning as a fire raged through a three-story West Oakland residential building with a history of complaints, killing at least three people and sending another four to the hospital, authorities said. Three were confirmed dead and one was still unaccounted for on Monday night, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

Milan or Hartford? That was the choice Reginald Freeman was faced with when the job of Hartford fire chief was offered to him more than a year ago. "I was poised to go to Italy for 14 months," said Freeman, who was the fire chief of Lockheed Martin's aeronautic headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas, at the time.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant

More than half of firefighters' line-of-duty deaths are caused not by external dangers such as flames or building collapses, but from cardiovascular reactions to the physical stress of the job, experts say. Hanover Park Fire Chief Craig Haigh believes his department can help bring down those numbers as the main test subjects of a 21-month national research project.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Herald

The chief of the Lake Arrowhead, TX, Volunteer Fire Department said his worst nightmare came true this weekend when he received a call that his fire station was on fire Saturday night. Fire Chief Mike Hall was just two bites into dinner when his cell phone rang around 7 p.m. "The ambulance crew called and asked 'Are you alright?' and I asked why and they told me the fire station is on fire," Hall said.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Several people were arrested and detained Friday after a Clayton County firefighter found his stolen car at an alleged chop shop, Channel 2 Action News reported. The firefighter’s car was stolen outside Fire Station No. 1 in Morrow, where he works. He used an app to find his car, the news station reported.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Knights Valley resident Bud Pochini runs his welding business, owns a Christmas tree farm and helps coach high school softball. And for the past 25 years, he has been a mainstay of the Knights Valley Fire Co. volunteers. Fallen trees, neighbors’ medical emergencies, car crashes. Some of the calls are so grim the assistant fire chief wonders why he sticks with it.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Petaluma Argus Courier

The city of Charleston has a plan in the works to create a new Department of Public Safety to oversee the police and fire departments, and Police Chief Greg Mullen could be promoted to lead it. The concept was announced in a written release Friday. Next week, Tecklenburg plans to ask the City Council's Public Safety Committee to study the feasibility of such a department.
- PUB DATE: 3/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Post and Courier