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National Fire News

FDNY medic spends off days patrolling Mexican border

A Bronx first responder is not content to spend his vacations relaxing — instead, he patrols the Mexican border with a heavily armed vigilante group. “Our main goal is to stop narcotics trafficking,” said FDNY emergency medical technician Andy Poliakoff, whose time off is spent in the desolate Sonoran Desert hunting for Mexican drug runners.
- PUB DATE: 2/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

‘Urgent care on wheels’: Fire departments rescuing patients from costly ER trips

In the 15 minutes after firefighters and a nurse knocked at Thelma Lee’s Maryland townhouse, they checked her blood pressure, told her what foods would keep her blood sugar from skyrocketing and set up an appointment — and a ride — to visit her primary-care physician. They also changed the battery in her chirping fire alarm and put a scale in her bathroom so she could monitor her weight.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post

FDNY brass call alleged hazing ‘sexual assault’ in leaked audio

FDNY brass read the riot act to firefighters at the Midtown firehouse where an African-American rookie claimed he was hazed by naked smoke-eaters — calling the reported incident “a sexual assault” and a “cover up,” bombshell audiotapes obtained by The Post reveal. The officers warned the members of Ladder 35/Engine 40 — nicknamed “The Cavemen” — that “if this gets out to the media, there are guys gonna lose their jobs.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

Michigan Leads Effort To Shift Workers Away From Pensions

Struggling under the weight of pension and health care obligations, Michigan lawmakers appear ready to take another whack at public employee benefits — a move that reflects renewed determination to shift workers to 401(k)-style retirement systems, even if it happens in baby steps. Other states have made more modest changes, but the latest push shows that conservatives want to approve big reforms 20 years after Michigan became the first state to close pensions to future state workers.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WWJ-TV CBS Detroit

911 tape: Oregon sheriff's deputy calls fire department 'dodos'

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office is reviewing the handling of a Jan. 15 incident in which a phone recording shows a deputy refers to an assault victim as "a speed bump" and the Clatskanie Fire Department as "dodos." Beyond the unidentified deputy's "sarcastic, unfeeling comment," the incident also is being reviewed for its broader implications for the handling of public safety in Clatskanie, said Columbia County Sheriff Jeffrey M.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Oregonian, Hillsboro Argus, Oregon Live.com

Faces of four Bravest to grace every FDNY firehouse to encourage recruiting

The faces of four real-life Bravest will be smiling from the facades of every firehouse in the city on Monday — part of a new recruitment tactic put in place by the Fire Department. For the first time ever, banners will be draped across firehouses in an effort to encourage potential new recruits to sign up for the firefighter entrance exam this spring.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

Questions Surface after Rhode Island Dept. Throws Out Recruit List

The Fire Department will have to go an extra two months understaffed after the city abruptly - and without offering an explicit explanation - took the unusual step of scrapping a new list of screened and tested recruits. The entire process now has to be repeated. The delay in holding a training academy means the department, which is short three firefighters and coping with long-term illnesses and injuries, risks running up costs, according to Chief Oscar Elmasian.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com

Ahead of Super Bowl, critic charges Houston Fire Dept. cut corners on hotel inspections

Fans flooding into Houston for Super Bowl LI could land in hotels and motels that have not been fully inspected, a local critic of the Houston Fire Marshal's office said Thursday. Randall Kallinen, a civil rights attorney who has represented fire inspectors, said the department scaled back inspections about a year ago in favor of self-inspection forms that could be filled out by the facilities.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Texas volunteer fire chief flown to burn center after accident

The Kleberg County Volunteer Fire Department's Fire Chief was flown to a San Antonio burn center Wednesday afternoon. According to the Department, Patrick Guzman, who is also a bus driver with Ricardo ISD, was doing maintenance on a school bus in the bus yard when the radiator ruptured. We're told Guzman suffered second degree burns on his arms and chest.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KZTV-TV CBS Action 10 News

California FD audit: Two firefighters worked ‘almost 70 percent of the time they are living’

Sacramento firefighters worked more than a quarter-million overtime hours in 2015, with some firefighters working thousands of extra hours, according to a new city audit released Thursday. The Sacramento Fire Department spent more than $13 million on overtime pay in 2015, in addition to more than $44 million in regular pay, based on the report by City Auditor Jorge Oseguera.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee

Update: 'Rare circumstances and operational errors' caused Massachusetts firefighter training explosion, report finds

VIDEO - "Rare circumstances and operational errors" caused an explosion during a training exercise in October that injured two of the town's firefighters, investigators have concluded. While the report does not explicitly fault any state or local fire personnel for the explosion, it does indicate operators of a fire simulator did not use the equipment properly and did not follow one safety protocol.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MassLive.com

Wingspread VI Report Sheds Light on Fire Service Challenges

Last fall, close to 50 members of the fire service and major fire service organizations gathered at the Johnson Foundation Inc. at Wingspread complex in Racine, WI, to evaluate the fire service and examine both long and short term challenges. Wingspread VI was the 50th anniversary of the Wingspread Conference, which began in 1966 at the same location with 11 members on the committee.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Atlantic City fire union may refile lawsuit against state of New Jersey to avoid layoffs

The city’s firefighters union withdrew a lawsuit against the state Wednesday after the state delayed implementing changes to the union’s contract. But the union’s attorney said the suit may be refiled as early as Thursday if the state doesn’t drop demands to cut 100 firefighters and make other changes.
- PUB DATE: 2/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Press of Atlantic City

Indiana Fire Chief Wants His Arrest Record Expunged

A southern Indiana fire chief arrested for battery is not going to face criminal charges and now he wants his arrest records erased. Eyewitness News first broke the story about Cannelton Fire Chief Christopher Herzog in late December. Herzog was charged with felony battery after he allegedly pushed a police officer while fighting a fire.
- PUB DATE: 2/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVW-TV Fox 7 Evansville

FDNY, city agree to add fifth firefighter at five firehouses

Five more FDNY engine companies are getting their “fifth man,” officials said Wednesday. As part of a contract agreement between City Hall and the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the department on Wednesday ensured that five more engine companies — one in each borough — will be getting a fifth man to work on fire engines when responding to fires.
- PUB DATE: 2/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

Massachusetts town terminates fire chief accused of misusing clothing allowance

Dighton’s Board of Selectmen moved Wednesday to terminate the town’s fire chief as he faces criminal charges. Fire Chief Antone Roderick, Jr. was suspended by the board in November amid accusations he used public funds to buy personal items, specifically clothes for his girlfriend. Chairman Dean Cronin said it’s alleged Roderick used his own and other firefighters’ clothing allowances to buy almost $239 worth of women’s clothing.
- PUB DATE: 2/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPRI-TV Providence 12

Update: Impact of test scandal could reach 560 Iowa fire departments

Fire departments in nearly every pocket of Iowa have members who were awarded nationally recognized certifications by the state fire academy despite failing their tests, according to documents released Wednesday. The Fire Service Training Bureau has sent letters to 560 departments, a majority of those in the state, to notify them that "one or more firefighters on your department may have been" erroneously granted certificates in recent years and will be expected to undergo retesting.
- PUB DATE: 2/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Des Moines Register

Emerging trends in EMS grants

The top three emerging trends in EMS grants reflect the shift in health care toward value amid political uncertainty. EMS organizations will need to adapt, innovate and build new programs. This is a different approach for EMS providers who are widely seen as transport for emergent and non-emergent patients to the hospital.
- PUB DATE: 2/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

Illinois firefighter's house burns, killing wife, 2 children

The volunteer fire department in this Morgan County village was mourning for one of their own on Tuesday after an early-morning fire swept through a firefighter's home, killing his wife and two small children. Jonathan Austif, a U.S. Marine veteran and a volunteer firefighter for about four years, was injured when he jumped out of a second-story window after fire broke out at his home at 409 Main St.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield State Journal-Register

Wisconsin fire chiefs oppose easing of rules on sprinklers and electrical codes

Proposed changes to state regulations that would reduce requirements for electrical protections and sprinklers in new homes, college dorms, hotels and other buildings fly in the face of reason, state firefighters and building inspectors said during a public hearing Tuesday in Eau Claire. The proposal would halt nationally required expansion of devices used to prevent fires and electrocutions in new building projects.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

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