Unified Fire Authority officials should seek criminal investigations of their former chief and deputy chief for a dozen potential violations and attempt to get half a million dollars in reimbursement from them and three other former fire department administrators, said two state audits released Wednesday.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Salt Lake Tribune

President Barack Obama began meeting with prominent Democrats in early January to develop a strategy to keep his signature domestic policy, the Affordable Care Act, intact in the hands of a new administration. Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Republican Congressional leaders have been strategizing and meeting since the election to develop an alternative to the ACA.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: EMS1

A Tea family of six is now homeless after a devastating fire Sunday morning. Fortunately, they still have each other as no one was seriously hurt in the blaze. However, Tea Volunteer Fire First Assistant Chief Steven Oberle said there was a scary moment after a firefighter fell through the floor of the burning home.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KDLT-TV Sioux Falls

Four children were hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday morning after being rescued from a burning home in the Vermont Knolls neighborhood of South Los Angeles. Firefighters found the front of the home in the 800 block of West Manchester Avenue heavily involved with flames when they arrived about 10:51 p.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA-TV WB 5 Los Angeles

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash said a team that will review the forest fires that spread from the park into Gatlinburg and beyond has been activated and “should be here in the next week or two.” Fed by near-hurricane-force winds, the flames swept through Sevier County on Nov.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Knoxville News Sentinel

The final judgment in a long-awaited civil lawsuit against the Trenton Fire Department was released last week, ordering the city to pay nearly $1 million in damages and fees, according to the court document. The judgment stems from a 2014 lawsuit filed by former firefighter Jesse Diaz, who alleged that he overheard a racial slur made by a co-worker of his at the department in 2012.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Trenton Times

The Kern County Administrative Office has delayed, for now, a plan to reduce staffing at nine largely rural fire stations after the Kern County Firefighters union objected. "The union requested a 'meet and confer' on the staffing adjustment late last Friday afternoon. We've temporarily delayed implementation due to their request," County Administrative Officer Ryan Alsop said in an email Monday.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bakersfield.com

The goal of the SAFER grant program is to assist local fire departments with staffing and deployment capabilities to respond to emergencies and to assure that communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards. Local fire departments accomplish this by improving staffing and deployment capabilities so they may more effectively and safely respond to emergencies.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

The Mt. Olive Volunteer Fire Department confirms their fire chief Tracy O. Sanders, 44, has passed away following a wreck near Mudd Street and Highway 77 near Ohatchee Friday afternoon. Sanders was in a truck when she trying to turn left off of Highway 77 and her vehicle was struck from behind by a tractor trailer.
- PUB DATE: 1/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMC-TV Action News5

An unimaginable tragedy struck in a small community of a few dozen homes on Long Key Road in the Florida Keys Monday morning, when three workers from a private contractor tasked with fixing a roadway climbed into a hole in the ground and, ultimately, to their deaths. By the time a Key Largo firefighter climbed into the same hole near Lake Surprise in a desperate attempt to save the men, they were dead.
- PUB DATE: 1/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald

The Sept. 24 fire in a Canby Park rowhome will go down in Wilmington as one of the most traumatic events in city history. The tragedy ultimately took the lives of three firefighters and injured four more, leaving the department and community reeling. In the days that followed, city officials realized they had another "very serious" problem, said Mayor Mike Purzycki.
- PUB DATE: 1/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

Dogs have long been used to sniff out drugs and bugs and even bombs! But can these furry friends also identify the smell of cancer? A special program in San Antonio has been designed to help protect some of our most vulnerable heroes, firefighters. "Everything a firefighter does is a calculated risk," San Antonio firefighter Joe Arrington said.
- PUB DATE: 1/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CW39 Houston

A woman’s lawsuit over alleged sexual harassment and discrimination in the Farmington Fire Department is headed to a jury trial in U.S. District Court. Judge David Nuffer recently denied Farmington city’s motion for summary judgment against Sarah Mojazza, who sued the city in February 2014, saying a fellow firefighter sexually harassed her and that she was fired after she complained about it.
- PUB DATE: 1/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Ogden Standard-Examiner/StandardNET

VIDEO - Oklahoma City firefighters were called Sunday morning after a homeowner reported hearing some sort of "snorting" noise coming from his swimming pool. Emergency responders arrived and discovered a hole in the swimming pool's liner and a cow trapped in the water. Oklahoma City Fire Department Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson says firefighters used their pumps to remove about 5 feet of water from the pool so the cow wouldn't experience hypothermia.
- PUB DATE: 1/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOTV-TV CBS 6 Tulsa

VIDEO - Crews are working to clear a Zeeland Township fire truck that fell down an embankment while en route to a crash. The fire truck was heading southbound on 72nd Avenue near Chicago Drive when the driver lost control on the ice. The truck slid across the northbound lane and drove into a ditch before rolling on its side.
- PUB DATE: 1/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLNS-TV CBS 6 Lansing

California state firefighters will receive substantial raises of up to 13.8 percent this year, according to newly released details from a proposed contract that their union negotiated just before Christmas. The big pay raises have two objectives: Slowing turnover among mid-career firefighters and reducing wage compaction, a term that refers to shrinking gaps between salaries for entry-level firefighters and more experienced ones.
- PUB DATE: 1/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee

The Fond du Lac County fire service community is mourning the loss of one of its own. Rodney Menne, the former Town of Eldorado Fire Chief, was found dead at the fire department early Tuesday morning. His death doesn’t appear suspicious. Menne’s death won’t just leave a void at the fire department, but in the community as well.
- PUB DATE: 1/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAY.com

VIDEO - What does a “Chicago Fire” actor do when he’s trapped in an elevator? He calls the Chicago Fire Department. Actor Joe Minoso, who stars on the hit NBC show, said he was trapped in an elevator Wednesday. “Slightly embarrassed cause I know who I’m gonna have to call,” he wrote on Instagram. “But less than 15 minutes later the #chicagofiredepartment was there when I needed them.
- PUB DATE: 1/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC Chicago

A firefighter who helped pull bodies out of the rubble of the Ghost Ship warehouse over a month ago is speaking out about how the blaze has affected him. East Bay Incident Management Team Lt. Mark Tait helped remove the last 10 bodies from the warehouse, including two victims who were found to be embracing when they died in the late night blaze on Dec.
- PUB DATE: 1/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV Oakland, San Francisco, Bay Area

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is accepting applications for the 2017 James M. Shannon Advocacy Medal to recognize outstanding advocacy efforts that further NFPA’s mission of helping to save lives and reduce loss with information, knowledge and passion. The James M. Shannon Advocacy Medal honors an individual or group that shares the values of former NFPA President Jim Shannon.
- PUB DATE: 1/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse