The park seems out of place, a flat swath of green grass and American flags tucked amid Savannah Highway's bustling corridor of strip malls, car dealerships and gas stations. Thousands of motorists flood past each day navigating the snarl of congestion that defines this stretch of road. As they hurry by, the spot where dozens of men once waged the battle of their lives becomes a mere flash of scenery on a suburban landscape.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charleston Post and Courier

Dany Cotton is used to receiving bad news in the small hours. As commissioner of the London fire brigade, she is one of three senior officers on the brigade’s rota who will answer a call alerting them to a major incident. Last Tuesday night it was Cotton’s turn on rota. She was six months into her job running the country’s largest fire service and had almost three decades as a firefighter under her belt.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Guardian

Two firefighters assigned to the city’s fire department heavy rescue truck are sent out several times a day on all kinds of calls, from helping out senior citizens injured in falls to victims suffering from heart attacks or are involved in a serious motor vehicle crashes. But the rescue truck soon won’t be going out on quite so many calls.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

In the 10 years since Charleston lost nine firefighters in the June 18, 2007, Sofa Super Store fire, the department has seen significant changes from the ground up and members say they are proud of the progress. Following the tragic fire, investigations conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and an independent review panel led by Gordon Routley—who wrote the Routley Report, laid the framework for changes that the department needed to consider.
- PUB DATE: 6/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

The branch of the Houston Fire Department responsible for ensuring building safety keeps inadequate records, does not examine buildings on a regular schedule and inflated its inspection numbers, all while blowing past its overtime budget, according to an audit released by the city controller's office Thursday.
- PUB DATE: 6/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

The government’s building safety experts warned last year that the drive for greater energy efficiency meant more and more buildings are being wrapped in materials that could go up in flames. In a report compiled before the Grenfell Tower disaster on Wednesday, the Building Research Establishment, which works for the Department of Communities and Local Government on fire investigations, said attempts to innovate with insulation were leading to an “increase in the volume of potentially combustible materials being applied” to buildings.
- PUB DATE: 6/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Guardian

Barrow Neurological Institute unveiled a mobile treatment vehicle Wednesday stocked with emergency-room and communications equipment that will be used to provide faster intervention for stroke victims in the Phoenix area. Officials with Barrow, which is partnering with the Phoenix Fire Department in the effort, said their goal is to reduce deaths and long-term disabilities from strokes through quicker intervention.
- PUB DATE: 6/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

How do you improve the relationship between police, firefighters and the public? The city of Columbus is trying something new. People from the community are helping make the next hires in the police and fire department. The city has hired nine community evaluators; a diverse group from across the city.
- PUB DATE: 6/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCMH-TV NBC 4 Columbus

Comstock Township Fire Chief Edward Switalski was hit and killed by a passing vehicle while responding to an “unknown accident” on eastbound I-94, Kalamazoo County authorities say. Oshtemo Township Fire Department Chief Mark Barnes said it all started with the Comstock Township Department of Fire & Rescue looking for two crashes on eastbound I-94 near mile marker 81 around 10:30 p.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WOOD-TV NBC 8 Grand Rapids

Volunteer firefighters who separated from the Salisbury Fire Department Station 1 in February are suing the city and its fire chief for the return of equipment and other items they say belong to them, including religious pictures and a 60-inch Christmas wreath. The firefighters also are seeking $494,316 in damages in the case filed recently in District Court.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Delmarva Now

FirstNet still must complete a great deal of work, but the organization is more confident about building its much-anticipated nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSN) than it has been during any stage of its previous five years in existence, according to FirstNet Chairwoman Sue Swenson. Swenson said that confidence is a reflection of two primary factors: 1.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgent Communications

Kevin Kolber, a battalion chief and 30-year veteran of the South Bend Fire Department, has died. Kolber, 58, of South Bend, died on Tuesday while visiting family. He was appointed to the department on Jan. 21, 1987, and spent his entire career at the central fire station. In the early 1990s, Kolber served as captain on Truck 1, and was promoted to battalion chief in 2003.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Bend Tribune

Relief could be in sight for about 2,500 property owners in southern Teller County, who since mid April have been without the services of their taxpayer-funded fire protection district. An impasse that started last year between volunteer firefighters and the board of the Four Mile Fire Protection District has reached a partial resolution, as the board hired a new fire chief Tuesday.
- PUB DATE: 6/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Gazette

At least 12 people are dead and dozens injured after a massive fire rapidly tore through a 24-story apartment building in west London in the early hours of Wednesday, police said. All 24 floors of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington were swiftly engulfed, trapping residents in their homes and reportedly forcing some to jump to escape the flames.
- PUB DATE: 6/14/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

At least six people are dead and dozens injured after a massive fire rapidly tore through a 24-story apartment building in west London in the early hours of Wednesday, police said. All 24 floors of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington were swiftly engulfed, trapping residents in their homes and reportedly forcing some to jump to escape the flames.
- PUB DATE: 6/14/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

PHOTO - A photo of two Amarillo Fire Department firefighters consoling young children after a wreck caught the eye of thousands, but the men captured in the photo say this is a routine part of their jobs. The wreck that Sam Berry, left, and Jared Davis responded to happened earlier this month on NE 24th & Grand St.
- PUB DATE: 6/14/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KFDA-TV Newschannel 10

It's been a dozen years since the notorious "dozing dispatcher" episode in Peabody. John Brophy, a firefighter working on the department's 911 dispatch desk, had fallen asleep, missing a call about a six-month-old baby who had stopped breathing. For that, he was fired. The following year, an arbitrator ordered that Brophy's punishment be reduced to a 30-day suspension, a ruling that was ultimately upheld by the state Appeals Court.
- PUB DATE: 6/14/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Salem News

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) today announced the participants accepted into the inaugural year of the IAFC Diversity Executive Leadership Program (iDELP). iDELP is a new program developed by the IAFC to bring together a group of current and future leaders to foster a diverse and inclusive leadership and workforce.
- PUB DATE: 6/14/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs

The rain started in Utica just as the speeches began during a rally Tuesday for city fire Chief Russell Brooks. Earlier, a natural gas leak shut down one of the roads leading to the rally on Leland Avenue. Former city Mayor Timothy Julian was unperturbed. “The rain can’t stop us. A gas leak can’t stop us.
- PUB DATE: 6/14/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Utica Observer-Dispatch

The unofficial results of the IAFC election have been returned and show that Chief Dan Eggleston, Albemarle County Department of Fire Rescue (Va.), has received the majority of the IAFC members’ votes and will become the IAFC's second vice president in July at Fire-Rescue International (FRI) in Charlotte, North Carolina.
- PUB DATE: 6/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs