A Hartford firefighter, who was shot in April after a drug deal went bad, was terminated on Friday, according to a department spokesman. After an investigation by the department, Jimmy Ngo, who has no criminal record and was with the Hartford Fire Department for six years, was fired effective immediately, Captain Raul Ortiz said.
- PUB DATE: 7/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFSB-TV CBS Channel 3

Clarence Edward Wilburn II, a longtime firefighter and paramedic who traveled to Ground Zero and served as a first responder in the wake of 9/11, died Wednesday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio in South Tole- do. He was 58. He had pulminary fibrosis, thought to be a result of breathing the dust, smoke, and ash at Ground Zero, his younger brother, Jim, said.
- PUB DATE: 7/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Toledo Blade

With California expecting a surge in oil transports by rail, San Diego firefighters will soon receive a new hazardous materials vehicle specially designed for oil tanker derailments, explosions, leaks and potential terrorist acts. San Diego is among 12 areas of California scheduled to receive one of the vehicles this fall from the state, which will also pay to train the city’s 17-member hazardous materials team to use the vehicle.
- PUB DATE: 7/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune

Local, state and federal agencies are preparing for the worst this August, as peak fire season coincides with one of the biggest tourism events Oregon has ever seen. The 2017 total solar eclipse - an event that won't return to Oregon until 2169 - is coming on Aug. 21, typically a dangerous time for wildfires.
- PUB DATE: 7/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oregonian

Jay Redmond said it was the longest minute and a half in his life. Redmond is a captain in the Concord Fire Department, and those 90 seconds happened while he was on duty in the early morning of Jan. 4. Redmond used the department's radio system that night to contact three firefighters in the West Concord Fire Station, and when there was no answer, he was concerned.
- PUB DATE: 7/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Concord.WickedLocal.com

A volunteer firefighter accused a career firefighter of an assault when they should have been fighting a house fire Sunday afternoon. Firefighters quickly controlled a smoky blaze on Ruatan Street in Berwyn Heights, Maryland, but afterward, a volunteer complained about being pushed by a Prince George's County Fire and EMS officer during an argument.
- PUB DATE: 7/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC Washington

PHOTOS - A massive four-alarm fire broke out early Friday at a huge apartment complex under construction in Oakland, engulfing the six-story, mixed-use building and raising concerns about a teetering crane that appears to be on the verge of collapsing. Crews responded when the fire broke out around 4:30 a.
- PUB DATE: 7/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

A firefighter was lowered down a 200-foot elevator shaft Wednesday — six times the distance of any practice run — to help rescue four men trapped in an elevator at a Brooklyn Con Edison plant. Firefighter James Dowdell, 32, was lowered to the top of the elevator inside the Hudson Ave. building in Vinegar Hill about 7:40 a.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

Fires sparked by illegal fireworks Tuesday night forced Fresno Fire Department crews to suspend responses to medical emergencies, as Fresno, Clovis and Fresno County reported a 65 percent increase in fire responses this year compared to 2016. In assessing a Fourth of July weekend that strained fire departments, officials said firefighters from the three agencies received 325 calls for service and responded to 98 vegetation fires, two vehicle fires, two apartment fires and three residential fires.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fresno Bee

Detroit firefighters and emergency technicians are being fitted for body armor, although union officials say the ballistic vests that were purchased last month aren’t right for the job because they don’t protect against stabbings. Detroit Fire Commissioner Eric Jones told The Detroit News in May he had secured funding to outfit his employees with the protective gear.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Detroit News

An Indianapolis firefighter accused of shooting his neighbor during an altercation in Johnson County last month will not be charged. Dean Keller, 49, was accused of shooting his neighbor, Jeffery Weigle, 59, four times in the chest, sending him to the hospital in critical condition. In a release sent out Wednesday, the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office said Keller had acted in self-defense and would not be charged in the shooting.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WRTV-TV ABC 6 Indianapolis (The Indy Channel)

A volunteer firefighter has been released from a La Porte jail after slamming his pickup truck into a child's bedroom Tuesday night. Blake Stevens was suspended from duty from the La Porte Fire Department, and said he is going to resign. Stevens also offered an apology to the family whose home he crashed into, and to any firefighter he said he's embarrassed by the crash.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: abc13.com

Four firefighters in Martin County, Kentucky, were injured when a shell exploded on the ground. It was all caught on camera. Everyone said they're lucky the damage wasn't any worse. The second annual Inez Independence Day Celebration had been off to a high-flying start Sunday night until the accident.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSAZ-TV NBC 3

PHOTO/VIDEO - A new Richland fire truck’s engine blew up destroying the truck and sparking a blaze along Interstate 82 Monday afternoon. The city purchased the truck about a month and a half ago, Battalion Chief Ron Duncan said. Before the fire department started using it, a firefighter drove it to a Dodge dealership in Hermiston for service.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tri-City Herald - Metered Site

Grace Cuenin isn’t usually part of the Henrico Division of Fire’s Engine 13 unit. However, when the team needed to temporarily fill a space on a recent shift, it happened to be her turn to join. Cuenin worked with fellow firefighters Michelle Greep and Nichole Beall for the entirety of their 24-hour shift two weeks ago.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Richmond.com

Justin Sticker motions toward his right cheek and forehead, parts of his face that were replaced with titanium plates after a car accident almost took his life 21/2 years ago. He can recall the date - Nov. 12, 2014 - but little else from a night that put him in a coma for 16 days and left him with a collapsed lung, a bleeding brain and a catalog of broken bones.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Beaumont Enterprise

Officials from three fire agencies surrounding Santa Rosa who envision becoming a single firefighting agency were among scores of fire officials who met Saturday to hammer out a vision for improving Sonoma County’s complex and uneven firefighting delivery service. There is a fall deadline from Sonoma County supervisors to come up with a long-range plan streamlining the county’s nearly 40 fire agencies.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat

In theory, no one should ever be injured or killed during fire service training exercises. Training, by definition, should take place in a controlled environment, with specific goals, objectives and outcomes. Of course, this is a fallacy. Training fires are still fires. Creating training scenarios that mimic actual fire response will necessitate also including some of the risk associated with emergency response.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

A police and fire station shuttered earlier this year by the city of Springfield are reopening this month amid pressure from local unions. Fire Station No. 5 opened on Saturday — less than two weeks after the city announced plans to postpone its reopening from July 1 to Aug. 7 due to staffing and equipment issues — after calls from union leaders for it keep the promise it made to voters who expected coverage to resume after an income tax increase was approved at the polls in May.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield News-Sun

Buffalo Fire Commissioner Garnell W. Whitfield Jr. retired this week from the position he has held since 2010, citing health concerns, the need to assume more responsibility for caring for his aging parents and hoping to spend more time with his family. "I've been wonderfully blessed to have had this opportunity," Whitfield said.
- PUB DATE: 7/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Buffalo News