After finding common ground with the city, the fire union Local 825 has withdrawn its prohibitive practice complaint regarding safety and labor concerns related to Office of Emergency Management Deputy Director Rick Fontana, who the bargaining unit alleged had been performing the duties of Fire Department employees. - PUB DATE: 10/13/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Haven Register
A former Oklahoma firefighter is suing his former department after he says he was wrongfully terminated.
Greg Chapman was a firefighter with the Tulsa Fire Department for nearly 20 years when a Facebook comment brought his career to a halt.
According to FOX 23, Chapman commented on a viral video of a police officer threatening to take a man’s child away after mistaking him for a fugitive. - PUB DATE: 10/13/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KFOR-TV NBC 4 Oklahoma City
Recent examples of fraud, mismanagement and embezzlement inside Delaware volunteer fire companies have precipitated state action which on Wednesday will take form as a task force focused on their financial management.
Delaware's 60 volunteer companies — encompassing fire protection for the entirety of the state excluding Wilmington — are self-regulated entities required only to submit an annual report to the State Fire Prevention Commission. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: DelawareOnline.com
Some police and fire departments are bucking a trend to conceal dispatch communications from the public, acknowledging that radio encryption has the potential to backfire and put first responders in danger.
Agencies with digital radio systems have turned off the encryption to their main dispatching channels and others have decided not to turn it on. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTIC-AM CBS Connecticut
Slatington Borough Council terminated its fire chief Monday night.
Council members voted 6-1 to remove Keith Weaverfrom the volunteer position he has held for 13 years.
Councilman Bryon Reed was the only member to go against the motion made by Councilman Jon Rinker to strip Weaver of his rank.
“Termination for insubordination for Weaver taking the ladder truck out of town when he was not supposed to,” Rinker said about his motion. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lehighton Times News
VIDEO - A firefighter was seriously injured in a house fire on Tuesday that forced a fire crew that was searching the building to retreat outside.
Toronto Fire Service said they received a call about a fire that broke out in a two-storey home on Dufferin Street near Alma Avenue, north of Queen Street West, shortly after 9 a. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBC News Toronto
The widow of a Denver firefighter is trying to recover an estimated $70,000 in pension benefits lost due to a simple bureaucratic error 15 years ago.
“The whole process was poorly managed and poorly executed,” said Julie Drennan. Her husband, Charles Drennan Jr., a division chief with the Denver fire department, was shot and killed Sept. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCNC-TV CBS 4 Denver
A firefighter lost part of a finger while helping to battle a two-alarm fire on Milwaukee's north side, officials said. The fire was reported late Monday night at a duplex near 4th Street and Concordia Avenue. Flames then spread to a neighboring duplex.
Police told WISN 12 News the firefighter was injured while using a saw on the roof. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WISN-TV ABC 12 Milwaukee
Karen Nicholson, of Edgewood, had the steadfast support of the members assigned to the Joppa-Magnolia Volunteer Fire Company's Hanson Road firehouse during her youngest son's more than three-year battle against leukemia.
Now, she and her family are working to repay that support with a campaign to raise $5 million to upgrade the firehouse. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
San Francisco is a tourist mecca, of course, but many of those visitors don’t realize it’s one of the country’s most dangerous places for ocean swimming. Locals know of the 50-degree water and perilous riptides. Tourists think Baywatch.
“I wish I was joking when I say this, but many tourists really view the entire state of California as what they’ve seen on Baywatch,” says Jonathan Baxter, San Francisco Fire Department public information officer. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Forbes.com
It is no secret that firefighting is a dangerous job or that fighting fires can have a negative impact on health. It is well known that firefighting is related to higher rates of several types of cancer, which is clearly linked to exposures on the fireground to the byproducts of combustion.
These byproducts, combined with the physical exertion of firefighting, also are clear triggers linked to the risk of cardiovascular events. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
Strength in other divisions at Samsung helped offset the financial hit the company took in the third quarter as a result of its unprecedented Galaxy Note 7 recall. But if a new claim pans out and a “safe” Note 7 issued as a replacement did in fact catch fire aboard an airplane earlier this week, Samsung’s initial recall might just be the beginning. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post
One South Hadley firefighter received burns on his face and another suffered concussion symptoms in an explosion during Massachusetts Fire Academy training that District 1 Fire Chief Robert Authier described as "a close call for everybody."
Both firefighters have been released from the hospital after sustaining the injuries in the explosion involving propane gas on Tuesday evening. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield Union-News & Sunday Republican
The U.S. Fire Service is adding 112 names to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
The solemn ceremony Sunday caps a weekend of events supporting the families of 79 firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2015, and 33 who died in previous years.
They include 22 New York City firefighters who died from illnesses linked to the Sept. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBFF-TV Fox 45 Baltimore
Honolulu’s fire chief says immediate changes were made in the wake of recent accidents — one of them deadly, the other serious.
It’s the first time Chief Manuel Neves has directly answered questions about safety since Wednesday, when we revealed witness video that shows a firefighter falling out of a helicopter rescue basket that got snagged on a utility line. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHON-TV FOX 2
The volunteer firefighter hailed as a hero for ending a deadly shooting rampage at a South Carolina elementary school minutes after a teen opened fire also carried a gun on campus, a violation of South Carolina law.
No one is suggesting charging the Townville hero, but Jamie Brock's quick actions at Townville Elementary have some legislators calling to change state law. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The State
On a recent breezy morning, the smell of smoke filled the air as Hartford firefighters prepared to battle a basement fire. Teams from a ladder company and two engine companies rotated through the department training academy's "smoke house," where on this day firefighters must locate and rescue victims inside the home. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant
A North Las Vegas Fire Department captain hailed as a hero for rescuing a baby died Wednesday night from a medical episode after returning home from fighting a three-alarm fire, officials said. The death of 43-year-old Yaphet Miller, a 22-year veteran of the department, was determined to be work-related because his last shift was spent fighting the blaze, officials said. - PUB DATE: 10/7/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Sun
Interim D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham says miscommunication led to a delayed police response, as a District firefighter and paramedic struggled with a woman who attacked them with a knife.
“The fire department clearly needed some assistance, and that information wasn’t clearly communicated to the (police) officer in the field,” said Newsham, in a WTOP interview. - PUB DATE: 10/7/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOP-AM 1500 Washington
The city is handcuffing efforts to negotiate pay raises for police because of an outdated city charter provision that requires wage parity with firefighters, according to a lawsuit filed by the officers’ union Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court. The St. Louis Police Officers Association, which represents the majority of the officers, asks that a judge declare invalid a part of the charter requiring that officers and firefighters earn comparable wages. - PUB DATE: 10/7/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
