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National Fire News

Connecticut Police: Man with knife tried to steal fire truck

A local man was to appear in court Thursday after West Haven police say he tried to steal a fire truck that was responding to a medical call. Wayne Gagne, 63, was also in possession of a knife with an eight-inch blade during the Wednesday night incident, police spokesman Sgt. David Tammaro said Thursday in a press release.
- PUB DATE: 1/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Haven Register

Former Fairbanks Fire Chief Warren Cummings dies of breast cancer

Mayor Jim Matherly confirmed former Fairbanks Fire Chief Warren Cummings died Tuesday night after a hard fought battle with breast cancer. Cummings became a firefighter in 1972 and worked his way up through the ranks until he was named fire chief in 2000. He retired in October 2015. “The fire service in Alaska has lost a great leader,” said a post on the City of Fairbanks Fire Department Facebook page.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fairbanks News-Miner

Victory for Ohio firefighters, governor signs presumptive cancer bill

After a nearly decade-long legislative fight, Ohio firefighters won their battle to help their colleagues who are battling cancer. Ohio Governor John Kasich was surrounded by firefighters as he signed the Palumbo Act at the state capitol early Wednesday afternoon. The law, renamed after Mike Palumbo, a Beachwood fire captain currently battling brain cancer, presumes firefighters diagnosed with certain types of cancer developed the disease as the result of numerous exposures to toxic chemicals at fire scenes.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WEWS-TV IBS 5 Cleveland

Colorado chief, deputy chief placed on leave following $1.2M accounting mishap

Boulder Rural Fire Rescue's chief and deputy chief have been placed on administrative leave following a $1.2 million accounting mishap, although officials won't say whether the disciplinary action is related to the shortfall. Both Chief Bruce Mygatt and Deputy Chief Jeff Webb are on leave from the department, Boulder Rural Fire Board President Kurt Gattman confirmed Wednesday.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boulder Daily Camera

Layoffs hit California fire department as grant money expires

The expiration this month of a $5 million grant that funded 15 firefighter positions at the Chico Fire Department will result in several layoffs by the end of this week, Fire Chief Bill Hack said Wednesday. Come Saturday, five firefighters will have been laid off, reducing the amount of front-line firefighters at the Fire Department from 65 to 60, Hack said.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chico Enterprise-Record

Oregon firefighter's daughter, 8, dies after tree falls on home

A firefighter's 8-year-old daughter was killed by a falling tree Tuesday night while she was sleeping in her bedroom in Otis, Lincoln County fire officials said. Zaylee Schlecht, the daughter of North Lincoln Fire and Rescue District firefighter Ryan Schlecht, was in her bedroom with her younger sister when strong winds toppled a tree onto her home about 11:15 p.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oregonian

3 firefighters escape blaze at Massachusetts fire station

A fire broke out early Wednesday inside a Concord Fire Department station as firefighters were sleeping inside the building. The flames started inside Station 2 in West Concord just before 1 a.m. Chief Mark Cotreau said three firefighters who were sleeping on the second floor were awakened by smoke detectors and saw a haze of smoke.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCVB-TV ABC 5 Boston

South Carolina probationary firefighter dies in motor vehicle accident

Marion Rural Fire Department mourns the loss of one of their own. Monday night, Amy and Freddie Dimmery, both volunteer firefighters with the Marion Rural Fire Department, were t-boned on Highway 76. Amy, didn’t make it and her husband suffered serious injuries. Chief of the Marion Rural Fire Department, Billy Wallace, was on the scene along Highway 76 Monday night and like the rest of the department, he is taking the loss to heart.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMBF-TV NBC Myrtle Beach

Florida commissioner faces backlash for 'ambulance scofflaws' email

City Commissioner Susan Chapman is under fire this week for sounding a siren about ambulances using Orange Avenue. In an email last Friday with the subject line "Ambulance scofflaws," Chapman chided two specific ambulances driving to and from Sarasota Memorial Hospital for repeatedly using Orange Avenue to bypass the Lift Station 87 construction that has shut down a portion of Osprey Avenue.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Herald Tribune.com

Wildfire-fighting plan to protect sagebrush will continue, official says

A new wildfire-fighting plan to protect a wide swath of sagebrush country in the Western U.S. that supports cattle ranching and is home to an imperiled bird will likely continue after the Obama administration ends, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday. Jewell spoke after receiving her last update at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise where managers oversee the nation's firefighting resources.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Idaho Statesman

Missouri firefighter watches live streaming video of thieves breaking into his home

VIDEO - While a Kansas City firefighter was on duty, two men kicked in his front door and stole his belongings. It happened Saturday morning as two men broke in to the home while a camera was rolling. Police are still searching for those two, who they believe have been targeting other homes in the area.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WREG.com

Insurance company sues New York fire department over 2014 station fire

They’re supposed to be fighting blazes, not starting them — especially in their own firehouse. Members of the Goldens Bridge Fire Department in Westchester accidentally ignited a 2014 fire that wiped out their headquarters, a Manhattan federal lawsuit says. Their insurer filed the suit to force them to foot the bill for the damages to the tune of $9 million.
- PUB DATE: 1/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

4 Texas children die when pesticide, water mix creates toxic gas

Four children died after someone at their home sprayed water on a previously applied pesticide, causing a reaction that produced toxic phosphine gas, officials in Amarillo, Texas, said. At least five other people were hospitalized in Monday's incident. Fire Capt. Larry Davis said a family member had used water in an attempt to wash away the pesticide -- aluminum phosphide -- which had been applied under the home.
- PUB DATE: 1/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

Arkansas fire chief calls it quits early, says the mayor is a dictator

Billy Burns has been the fire chief in Stuttgart for the last four years, but Burns said he’s spent the last two years trying to find a way to retire early. Burns claims working for Mayor J.W. Green is insufferable, saying he’s had no control of his department. Friday was Burns’s last day on the job at the Stuttgart Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 1/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KATV-TV ABC 7 Little Rock

How Dallas police and firefighters' deep distrust of City Hall makes a pension fix difficult

The biggest barrier to solving Dallas’ multibillion-dollar pension crisis isn’t just the money, it’s also the troubled relationship City Hall has long had with its own police and firefighters. The two sides have never been so far apart at a time when it’s never been more critical they come together. Any deal to fix the public safety workers' deeply troubled pension system must go to the state Legislature for approval, and lawmakers have consistently insisted on one thing: cooperation.
- PUB DATE: 1/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Dallas Morning News

Questions about the deaths of 19 Arizona hotshots may never be answered, attorney says

It’s been more than three and a half years since 19 firefighters were killed battling the Yarnell Hill fire, and their families still have lingering questions. “We don't know why the Granite Mountain Hotshots weren't provided with proper communications equipment,” said attorney David Abney. “We don't know why they weren't equipped with proper fire shelters that were rated to deal with a wildfire.
- PUB DATE: 1/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPHO-TV CBS 5 Phoenix

Seattle engine and ladder truck collide injuring eight firefighters

PHOTOS - Police are investigating a crash involving a Seattle fire engine and a ladder truck that sent eight firefighters to the hospital Sunday morning, damaged the storefront of a massage business and smashed the ladder truck so badly that it’s out of service. Alice Kim, spokeswoman for the Seattle Fire Department, said the trucks were responding to an automatic fire alarm when the crash occurred just before 8 a.
- PUB DATE: 1/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Times

Woman arrested for hitting New Mexico firefighters with stolen truck

It wasn’t the fire alarm, but rather thieves that brought Fire Station 9 to life early New Year’s Eve morning. Albuquerque police said a trio had been cruising around in two stolen Ford F350 trucks, and they had their eyes on another one that belonged to a firefighter who works at the station near Menaul and Eubank NE.
- PUB DATE: 1/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albuquerque Journal

Arizona Appeals Court: Mother of Yarnell firefighter cannot sue for son's death

The mother of one of the firefighters killed in the Yarnell Hill blaze has no right to sue the state for her son's death, the state Court of Appeals ruled Friday. In a unanimous opinion, the judges said Marcia McKee presented no evidence that the actions of the state that 2013 day amounted to "willful misconduct'' by anyone involved.
- PUB DATE: 1/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: YourWestValley.com

150-year era ends with firefighter's retirement from Wisconsin department

When Marc Behrend was “on the nozzle” with the lead hose at a fire during his 28-year career with the Madison Fire Department, his fellow crew members marveled at his calm, confident demeanor and lightning-quick reactions as he worked his way through a burning building. Behrend, who will retire Friday just one day shy of his 56th birthday, earned the most coveted job among firefighters because he snuffed out fires like he stopped hockey pucks as a goalie for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team, leading the Badgers to two NCAA titles in the 1980s.
- PUB DATE: 1/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wisconsin State Journal

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