When Paul Pokorski was diagnosed with leukemia in 2008, his wife couldn’t help but wonder if the 34 years he spent working as a firefighter might have led to it.
“I’m a nurse and I kind of knew it was a possibility,” Ann Pokorski said. “But even the oncologists were iffy as to whether it had anything to do with it. - PUB DATE: 10/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Virginian-Pilot
A former Cleveland, Tenn., firefighter who was unlawfully fired can't collect on lost pay because he didn't try hard enough to find another job, a Bradley County chancellor says.
"This court is left with this case in a strange posture," Chancellor Jerri Bryant wrote in her Oct. 11 ruling against Joshua Keller. - PUB DATE: 10/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Times Free Press
Firefighters Thursday rescued a delivery truck driver who fell into an excavation about two feet in diameter and 50 feet deep at a construction site in the Beverly Crest area of Los Angeles.
The accident was reported about 8:40 a.m. in the 1600 block of San Ysidro Drive, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported. - PUB DATE: 10/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTTV-TV MyFox 11 Los Angeles
Would you dial 911 for a cut finger, menstrual cramps, a cough or shampoo in your eyes? One South Florida municipality has had enough.
The city of Hollywood is now charging people who call for an ambulance and are treated but not taken to a hospital. Hollywood residents will be charged $160, while non-residents will be charged $200. - PUB DATE: 10/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPLG-TV ABC Local10.com - Miami & Fort Lauderdale
Ron Coleman can tell you the instant he became a believer in home fire sprinklers.
It was the early 1970s, and Coleman was a battalion chief with the Costa Mesa, California, Fire Department. Responding to a call, he arrived at the scene of an already contained home fire and approached his weary-looking captain, Ray Gallagher, in the driveway. - PUB DATE: 10/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NFPA Journal
The Contra Costa firefighters union Wednesday apologized for the weekend arrest of two off-duty firefighters following its charity ball that left two police officers injured.
Around 5 a.m., just hours after the Second Annual Firefighters Ball at the Marriott Walnut Creek hotel had ended, Walnut Creek police responded to hotel security’s request to remove four drunk people, police said. - PUB DATE: 10/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times
A firefighter and his wife decided to reveal the gender of their baby in the most firefighter-esque way possible — by using a fire hose.
Firefighter Jimmy Cologgi, with the Brighton (N.Y.) Fire Department, and his wife Laura found out their baby’s gender with friends, family and fellow firefighters. - PUB DATE: 10/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
A labor of love that qualifies as hazardous duty.
Three firefighters were hurt Tuesday, including a volunteer fire chief, related to a fire and explosion in LaGrange County.
A 50-foot silo full of sawdust was the source of the trouble.
It turned into a dangerous situation for firefighters and at least one worker in harm's way. - PUB DATE: 10/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC 21alive.com
A new procedure went into effect last week that’s designed to make sure the fire department has adequate supervision during fires and other serious incidents.
Fire Chief Dale C. Herman said that battalion chiefs now have the ability to “elevate” firefighters to the role of captains on an as-needed basis. - PUB DATE: 10/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times
VIDEO - For the first time, we’re seeing video of the daring and emotional rescue of two children from a house fire in Mount Hope. The fire was so intense the children suffered critical burns and their older brother perished.
Video captured by a GoPro on one firefighter’s helmet shows just what fire crews were up against that early Monday morning last November. - PUB DATE: 10/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNSD-TV NBC San Diego
Public safety providers in central Ohio had the chance to experience the future of broadband for managing emergency incidents.
Using a dedicated public safety 700 MHz LTE broadband network — FirstNet — constructed exclusively for this event, public safety personnel from fire, law enforcement, EMS, public safety telecommunications and other agencies came together to learn what a dedicated high-speed data will mean for public safety agencies in the United States. - PUB DATE: 10/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
Firefighters performed a dramatic rescue dozens of feet above the ground, pulling a man from the window of a burning building in New York City's Upper East Side.
The New York Fire Department responded to the six-alarm blaze the started around 3:30 a.m. on Thursday, reports WABC, a local affiliate. The fire quickly ripped through all five floors of an apartment building and burst through the roof, killing one person and leaving another in critical condition. - PUB DATE: 10/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV 7online.com
Mayor Patrick Madden was looking to cut the proposed 28.2 percent property tax increase as the City Council reviewed the proposed 2017 budgets for the fire and police departments Tuesday night.
The two departments account for nearly half of the city's tentative $72.3 million budget, drawing the council's attention particularly on overtime costs. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Times Union
VIDEO - An Albany Firefighter earned the department's highest honor after saving a fellow worker's life.
Tawanna Maples was honored as the Albany Firefighter of the Year at Tuesday night's city commission meeting.
In June, she quickly administered the Heimlich maneuver when another firefighter began chocking at a firehouse. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOC-TV CBS 11 Savannah
Two Contra Costa firefighters and their companions were arrested early Sunday morning in a hotel room after a drunken attack that injured two Walnut Creek police officers, police said Tuesday.
The melee happened around 5 a.m., just hours after the Second Annual Firefighters Ball at the Marriott Walnut Creek hotel had ended. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times
Switzerland is easing an alcohol ban for volunteer firefighters and other emergency workers using heavy vehicles, saying it had led to staffing shortages when crises demanded quick action, especially in smaller towns lacking professional personnel.
Starting on Jan. 1, slightly tipsy volunteer firefighters and off-duty members of so-called professional "blue light" organizations responding to urgent situations will be no longer face punishment - provided their blood-alcohol level does not exceed 0. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Reuters.com
New disciplinary actions issued at the Austin Fire Department last week have brought the total of fire personnel who were suspended over traffic incidents this month to 16, a number the union president described as part of an “over-punishing environment” at the department.
Each suspension has been for only a matter of hours. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman
VIDEO - Riding in a ladder truck bucket 67 feet in the air, Newberry Township volunteer firefighter Cody Zinn kept repeating the same thing.
"Holy crap," said the 21-year-old as smoke from the home below reached high above his head.
Zinn, who has cerebral palsy, was surprised with the ride in the ladder truck by Don Young, the assistant chief of the department. - PUB DATE: 10/25/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today
A black Boston Fire Department inspector filed a lawsuit against the Boston Red Sox on Friday, six months after a black co-worker sued the team over an incident in which both men allege they were denied entry to Fenway Park to perform a safety inspection because of their race.
Rhoan Dalmar, a city fire marshal, filed the civil complaint in Suffolk Superior Court. - PUB DATE: 10/25/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Globe
A trail that will lead visitors to the site where 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots died fighting the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire is now nearly complete.
Arizona State Parks officials reported this week that the Yarnell park that will honor the fallen Hotshots is expected to be finished and open to the public by late November. - PUB DATE: 10/25/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Courier
