After a 2011 civil grand jury report excoriated Oakland’s building services division, concluding that some inspectors were keeping property records in their desk drawers rather than a central database, the city purchased a multimillion-dollar software system to bring the department into the 21st century.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle

The state can cut city firefighters’ pay and benefits while a legal case against a state takeover of the city advances, an appellate panel ruled Thursday. In a written order, Appellate Division Judge Carmen Messano said a trial judge correctly ruled state-imposed cuts in compensation are not “irreparable harm” because money for lost wages or benefits would be available if the union succeeds in its case.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Press of Atlantic City

The reckless homicide conviction of a semitrailer truck driver accused of killing Hudson firefighter Chris Brown in a 2013 crash has been reversed by the 4th District Appellate Court. In its ruling issued Wednesday, the court found that the state's evidence against Mansur Shakirov fell far short of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that he caused the death of the 39-year-old Brown.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bloomington-Normal Pantagraph

Jennie Stout, a nurse in Ocala, Fla., was finishing an afternoon shift when she got a panicked call from home. Her 13-year-old daughter, Ashlyn, had tripped and fallen into smothered coals left over from burning leaves in their backyard, scorching her hands, knees, and shins. Ambulance paramedics on the scene when Jennie arrived said that Ashlyn should be sent by helicopter to a burn center in Gainesville for fast treatment.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Consumer Reports

On April 5, Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Thomas Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced legislation reauthorizing the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs. The bill, S. 829, extends the authorization for AFG and SAFER through FY 2023 and eliminates a “sunset” provision currently set to take effect in January 2018 that would eliminate the programs.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

All Orlando Fire Department emergency vehicles are now equipped with bulletproof vests and helmets specially designed for firefighters and medics responding to mass-casualty incidents and active violent crime scenes, and Orange County Fire Rescue is planning to do the same. After last year’s June 12 Pulse shooting that killed 49 and injured more than 63, Orlando-area officials and first responders gathered to brainstorm how to best address what OFD Chief Roderick S.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel

Raleigh Fire Chief John McGrath says his department will need 60 new firefighters, three platoon EMS coordinators, a training captain, an inventory specialist and three additional battalion chiefs to keep up with growing demand, but he’s willing to forgo it all for another year if it means his firefighters get raises.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News & Observer

A former fire academy administrator could avoid jail after allegedly falsifying test scores that were used to improperly certify thousands of Iowa firefighters, a scandal that has rocked the profession, court records revealed Wednesday. Filings show former Fire Services Training Bureau certification and accreditation manager John McPhee has agreed to plead guilty to felonious misconduct in office.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

Today the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) have announced the topic for the 2017 Safety Stand Down, which takes place June 18-24. MAYDAY, Self-Rescue, and Rapid Intervention will focus this year’s activities on those critical skills required of individual firefighters to recognize when they are in a MAYDAY situation; the skills they need as an individual to remove themselves from the situation (Self-Rescue); and ultimately on the team skills needed to rescue a trapped firefighter (Rapid Intervention).
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs

The city of San Luis Obispo will pay up to $70,000 — higher than the $50,000 previously estimated — for an investigator’s report into the roles of two high-ranking San Luis Obispo city officials in creating a spoof video that allegedly sexually objectified city firefighters. The video — shown at the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce annual dinner Jan.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Luis Obispo County Tribune

It was 1979 when U.S. District Judge John T. Curtin first ordered the desegregation of Buffalo's police and fire departments. Thirty-eight years later, the courts are closer than ever to ending their historic oversight. Satisfied that the city is abiding by most of Curtin's landmark decrees, the judge now handling the case recently ended much of his order.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Buffalo News

In many of central Ohio’s sprawling outer suburbs, neighboring township fire departments provide the services that keep the growing populations safe. But because tax deals between cities and developers often fuel suburban growth, townships say they’re losing millions of dollars in revenue they need to keep up with the increase in emergency calls.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbus Dispatch

West Haven Fire Department Deputy Chief Scott Schwartz has been out of work for more than a month, placed on paid administrative leave after a series of clashes involving him and a rank-and-file firefighter, according to several sources. Schwartz, who also is the city’s emergency management director, has not been suspended from that job.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Haven Register

Three days before a candle likely ignited a Oakland apartment house blaze that killed four people, inspectors ordered a dangerous extension cord removed from the same room where the fire started. The news, revealed in an interview Tuesday with Oakland Assistant Fire Marshal Maria Sabatini, raises the possibility that a resident of the second-floor room was using a candle because electricity was no longer available.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

Government inspections of railroads that haul volatile crude oil across the United States have uncovered almost 24,000 safety defects, including problems similar to those blamed in derailments that triggered massive fires or oil spills in Oregon, Virginia, Montana and elsewhere, according to data obtained by The Associated Press.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

In the operational command structure of the fire service, the ability for firefighters to contribute good ideas is difficult if not wholly impossible. Accused of jumping over the chain of authority, displaying bad behavior or simply being a poor follower, good firefighters are acutely aware of the lack of opportunity for input.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

Intense heat and strain appear to put firefighters at a greater risk of heart attack, a new study finds. The physical demands of firefighting may trigger the formation of blood clots and impair blood vessel function -- two factors associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke, researchers in Scotland report.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: HealthDay News

Questions loom about why a fire chief with a squeaky clean record was forced out of office last week. Action News Jax went through all 381 pages of now-former Nassau County Fire Chief Matthew Graves’ personnel record on Monday. Graves abruptly retired under pressure from county leaders on Friday. His letter of retirement said he’s had a “rewarding” career.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTEV-TV 47

A city councilman wants voters to approve a city charter change that would allow council to make major changes to the police and fire departments — or abolish them altogether. Mathew Davoli has proposed legislation that, if approved on the November ballot, would give council the power to scrap police and fire departments or contract with other agencies to provide those services.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Toledo Blade

A former Champaign-area paramedic who was set to become a fire chief in Alaska is facing criminal charges after prosecutors say he drugged and sexually assaulted a man who attended his going-away party. David J. Dunn, 43, of Savoy, was arraigned in the Champaign County Courthouse Monday for felony criminal sexual assault, according to the Champaign County state’s attorney office.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune