The treasurer of the Akron firefighters union has been charged with felony theft and is in jail in North Carolina, arrested as he fled Akron after the charges were filed on Thursday. Joe Ruhlin, 40, treasurer of Local 330, is accused of stealing perhaps as much as $100,000 from the union. The exact figure has not been determined because the union and investigators have just begun combing the books.
- PUB DATE: 3/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Akron Beacon Journal

The city has agreed to a $250,000 settlement in a lawsuit by a volunteer firefighter accusing Lynden and its assistant fire chief of discrimination and creating a hostile work environment. Damon Winters, a volunteer firefighter, filed the lawsuit against the city and Assistant Chief Robert Spinner in U.
- PUB DATE: 3/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bellingham Herald

A fire on Sunday morning destroyed a three-story building that was home to a diner and apartments in Butler. Emergency dispatchers said the fire was reported shortly after 9 a.m. at a building on Center Avenue that houses Hutch's diner and two floors of apartments. One firefighter was reported caught in a flashover by the rapidly spreading flames and exited through a window and onto the roof of a neighboring building, where other firefighters helped him to safety.
- PUB DATE: 3/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTAE-TV ABC 4 Pittsburgh

Firefighters at Fort Bragg’s Fire Station No. 7 have been complaining for years that their building is deplorable — even sickening. The roof leaks. Exhaust from the engine trucks wafts into sleeping quarters. Carpets are soaked with water when it rains. Holes in walls are covered by steel sheets. The problems have been documented by building inspectors, federal occupational safety regulators and Fort Bragg leaders since at least 2014, yet the building continues to fall into disrepair.
- PUB DATE: 3/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fayetteville Observer

She was blue when her neighbor found her at lunchtime, unconscious and slumped in an overstuffed leather chair. Minutes later, her studio apartment is crammed with people in uniform who have been summoned to save her. Getting there after the 911 call had been excruciating, even with light afternoon traffic: an 11-block drive with sirens wailing, followed by a cramped ride in a slim elevator that crept slowly toward the ninth floor, as if powered by AAA batteries.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Times

A construction worker called 911 as he frantically honked his horn to warn other workers away from a fire at an unfinished apartment building in Overland Park — one of 69 calls reporting a massive blaze and flaming embers raining down on nearby homes. The 911 dispatch recordings, released to The Kansas City Star on Thursday, reveal workers’ and residents’ frantic pleas for firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star

Pushback from Belle Haven residents forced Menlo Park’s fire district to drop a plan to seize two residential properties to expand its station. About 50 residents packed Tuesday night’s meeting of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, held inside a small classroom at its 300 Middlefield Road fire station.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mercury News

A fire chief in Kansas finds himself the target of anger and frustration over, of all things, stickers. Sedgwick County certainly isn’t the first fire department to wrestle with a "stickergate" controversy. I’m guessing most departments have had at least one. That helmet and apparatus decals could set off a department-wide dust up is not surprising.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

VIDEO: A Kansas City firefighter is anxious for an arrest, after someone broke into his home and stole his belongings while he was on duty. The break-in happened Tuesday night around 9 o’clock in a South Kansas City neighborhood near Little Blue Road and Breckenridge Avenue. The victim, Sammy Belgiere, is an 18-year veteran and captain with the Kansas City, Mo.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDAF-TV Fox 4 Kansas City News

Talk about big shoes to fill. Standing at 6’9", City of Miami Fire Chief Maurice L. Kemp is not only literally a towering figure at the department, but the 32-year vet is a respected leader within the city of Miami. After more than decades of service with the City of Miami Department of Fire Rescue, Chief Kemp is retiring.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFOR-TV and WBFS CBS 4 Miami

Memories come in all shapes and sizes. Chris Fields has a trunkfull, packed away from a 31-year career as an Oklahoma City firefighter. From fighting infernos to rescuing pets, Fields has done it all. "You roll up and prepare yourself for what you're going to see," Fields says. But nothing could have prepared Chris for April 19, 1995.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox 6 Now

Lawyers for the city and the firefighters’ union will present their arguments before the state Appellate Court on May 24 on whether an issue over eight demoted fire captains goes to arbitration. Union President Daniel Daugherty said the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191 has been waiting for the case to move forward in the state Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in Rochester since last fall.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

At least 10 homes in Nassau County, Florida, were destroyed in a wildfire caused by a man who was burning books Wednesday. Only a few minor injuries to emergency personnel have been reported in what's being called the Garfield Road Fire, according to the Florida Forest Service. But it has burned an estimated 350 to 400 acres near Bryceville, about 20 miles west of Jacksonville.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

Selectman Raquel Welch told the board Monday evening that she wanted to speak with the fire chief about firefighters washing their personal vehicles at the Fire Station. Welch said when she drives past the station on nice days, she sees people washing their private vehicles. “It’s not a car wash,” she said.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun Journal

The lawsuit filed by a fired firefighter against the city and its fire department is still ongoing, despite both agencies denying his request for permission to present a late claim. Former American Canyon firefighter/paramedic Carlos Teruel, 34, says he was let go shortly before his probationary period expired and since officials declined to tell him why, assumes it can only be because he took time off to care for his sick wife and small children.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Vallejo Times-Herald

A Town Meeting Day vote caused an entire volunteer fire department to resign. At Unity, New Hampshire's Town Meeting Day on Saturday, a 65 to 38 vote ruled in favor of an article giving selectmen the authority to appoint the fire chief and firefighters. Selectboard members said the article was petitioned by many residents, which is why it appeared in the town warrant.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC5: Burlington, VT and Plattsburgh, NY

Friends, family and colleagues are mourning the unexpected death of a wildland fire expert who died while attending the IAFC Wildland-Urban Interface conference Sunday. Christina Randall, who gave an insightful interview for the latest Fire Chief Digital edition, was an expert in mitigating wildland and WUI fires and a member of IAFC’s Wildland Fire Policy Committee, IAFC stated in a press release.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

The fire chief who has been on paid administrative leave for more than two months has been reinstated. In a 3-0 vote Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen reinstated Fire Chief Peter Martell and took him off paid administrative leave, which he has been on since Jan. 10. On Jan. 10, Chief Martell was chastised by Stephen J.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram

Dressed in full gear and carrying an American flag, Ventura County firefighter Rudy Marin completed the Los Angeles Marathon Sunday as he raised money for a memorial honoring his fallen colleagues. Marin was one of thousands who made the 26.2-mile trek from Dodger Stadium near downtown L.A. to the Santa Monica shoreline.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA-TV WB 5 Los Angeles

A former Branford firefighter convicted of federal embezzlement charges has filed a state complaint alleging the city illegally rescinded a conditional employment offer after learning about his past criminal charges. A Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities complaint dated March 2 and filed by Andrew Konspore said the City of New Haven violated state statute when it withdrew its conditional offer of employment in September.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Haven Register