Apartment fires that originate on exterior wooden balconies or walkways, and subsequently advance rapidly up exterior walls into the soffit and into the attic are becoming more commonplace. The Omaha (Neb.) Fire Department experienced eight such fires between October 2011 and June 2012.
Post-incident analyses for these fires showed that in each case the fire was well-advanced before the first fire unit arrived. - PUB DATE: 3/3/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
A long-time U.S. Fire Administration educator died unexpectedly Wednesday.
Dr. Cortez Lawrence was transported to the hospital after falling ill, where he later died, according to FirefighterCloseCalls.com. Dr. Lawrence, a fire educator specialist, has worked at numerous public safety and fire organizations. - PUB DATE: 3/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
The fire commanders at the scene of the airplane crash Monday in Riverside had to make a decision: Did rescuers have a realistic chance of safely entering the home the plane hit and saving anyone as the flames burned fiercely?
Fire Chief Michael Moore said the flames initially were burning on the exterior of the house, so after a quick assessment, the answer was yes. - PUB DATE: 3/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News
A house fire in Riddle killed four children early Wednesday morning, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said. Another child and two adults were taken to a Portland hospital for treatment of serious injuries.
The fire broke out shortly after 2 a.m. in the 700 block of East Third Avenue, deputies said. - PUB DATE: 3/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oregonian
Volunteer firefighters from the Salisbury Fire Department threatened to separate from the city last week to form their own company.
The threat highlighted a long history of tension between volunteers and career firefighters in the city, but similar struggles are common to any fire department that incorporates career and volunteer firefighters. - PUB DATE: 3/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Delmarva Now
The city of Springfield lowered the passing grade on a written exam to become a firefighter, a change that concerns union leadership.
Every prospective firefighter for the Springfield Fire Division must pass a written exam. Before, the minimum score was 70. Now, the passing grade is 66, which the city said is to expand its pool of potential candidates. - PUB DATE: 3/2/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHIO-TV Dayton
There is a gaping hole in the fabric of the Spring Valley community after the unexpected death of longtime Fire Chief Terry Shafer, who died Saturday, Feb. 25 while on a weekend trip with his brothers. He was 62.
Shafer joined Spring Valley Fire in 1979 and began wearing the white chief’s helmet in 1986. - PUB DATE: 3/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Rivertowns
A Superior Court judge said he will decide soon whether to block the state’s overseers from cutting the city’s Fire Department to save the city money.
The city’s firefighters are suing the state and met for the first time Tuesday in court before Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez. Attorneys for both the city’s firefighters and state overseers predicted dire outcomes if the judge doesn’t rule in their respective favor, with the union raising public-safety concerns and the state invoking bankruptcy. - PUB DATE: 3/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Press of Atlantic City
The parents of a University of Connecticut student who was killed in October after being run over by a campus fire department vehicle are suing the driver and the state over "the negligence and carelessness" that led to the young woman's death. Abraham and Shiny Chemmarappally, of West Hartford, filed the suit Feb. - PUB DATE: 3/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant
When the weather’s nice on the weekends, Jennifer Chisholm watches children flock to the end of her street in the Chimney Hill neighborhood.
Two antique fire trucks are often parked in front of the house at the corner of Rosemont and Bunyan roads.
“It’s a main street, so everybody’s like ‘Wow,’ ” she said. - PUB DATE: 3/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot/HamptonRoads.com
VIDEO - A firefighter in China was caught in dramatic footage as he rappelled from the ninth floor of a hospital and kicked a suicidal woman back inside.
The distraught woman in Ruzhou City opened an eighth-story window and sat on the ledge, where she caught the attention of passers-by and hospital staff, Asia Wire reported. - PUB DATE: 3/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post
A CareFlite medical helicopter on the way to pick up a patient came "very close" to striking a drone aircraft Monday near Denton, the company's top executive said.
The helicopter had just taken off at about 5:30 p.m. when the incident occurred about four miles south of Denton Regional Airport, said CareFlite Chief Executive Officer Jim Swartz. - PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC Dallas Fort Worth
Three people were killed and two others are in critical condition after a small plane crashed into a California home on Monday, authorities said.
Two dwellings were destroyed when the plane went down in Riverside at about 4:45 p.m, Fire Chief Michael Moore said.
All of the victims had been flying in the aircraft, he said. - PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News
When Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief David Coatney rode out on an ambulance for a shift in southern Dallas on the night of New Year's Eve, his paramedics responded to a hectic 10 calls in 12 hours.
"I thought that was an anomaly because of New Year's Eve," Coatney said. "But then when I pulled the data, I found that was a normal shift for them. - PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Dallas Morning News
The former South Thomaston fire chief has been ordered by a judge to account for approximately $15,000 that went missing from the town’s fireman’s association after it was allocated to help buy a new fire truck.
Justice William Stokes, in his Feb. 14 ruling, ordered that former Fire Chief Wayne Brown, along with former firefighter Colin Grierson, to come up in the next month with a detailed list of “any and all withdrawals and/or disbursements from the [South Thomaston Firemen’s] Association’s funds. - PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bangor Daily ews
Soot, grit and grime once were the height of fashion at American firehouses. Strutting around in a singed helmet and smudged turnout gear let the world know that you were one tough firefighting son of a gun.
“For some it’s still like the red badge of courage,” said Herington, Kan., fire chief Ken Staatz. - PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star
Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed is on leave from her job for the second time this year. A spokeswoman refused to say late Monday afternoon whether Reed’s absence is performance related. There is no current administrative investigation of the chief, she added. Reed did not return a phone message.
“The city does not comment on the leave status of employees,” said Erica Derryck, a spokesman for Mayor Libby Schaaf. - PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times
Ron Savage, an anchor at Fox 2 News and on-call firefighter, died suddenly today after collapsing while training with the Milford Fire Department, said Fire Chief Thomas Moore. He was 63.
"Ron was a dedicated member of the Milford Fire Department since 2014 and this loss will truly be felt," Milford Fire Chief Thomas Moore said in a statement emailed to the Free Press. - PUB DATE: 2/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: HomeTown Life
The West Burlington Fire Department's profile picture on Facebook has changed overnight after losing one of their own.
The Eastern Iowa Fireground Photos is reporting on their Facebook page that firefighter James Franciskovich, 52, and two others were headed to the State Fire School in Ames, Iowa on Friday evening, Feb. - PUB DATE: 2/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WQAD 8
West Sacramento’s Deputy Fire Chief Rebecca “Becky”’ Ramirez never saw a female firefighter growing up and certainly never considered a career in the field.
In fact, when she and her husband, Adam Ramirez, were taking classes at a San Bernardino County-area community college, she encouraged him to enroll in a firefighting course offered there. - PUB DATE: 2/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee
