The family of firefighter Kevin Bell, who died while fighting a house fire last year, will sue the city, claiming among other things that the lieutenant who entered the burning house with him may have left Bell behind to die because of "personal animus" between the two men. At a press conference Thursday in the office of their attorney, Paul Levin, Bell's widow and his brother said they hope the lawsuit will provide answers to why Bell was left behind last October and why no one searched for him for eight minutes even though a "mayday call had been made. - PUB DATE: 11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: hartford courant
An influential advisory committee backed a proposal Wednesday to streamline Sonoma County’s tangled mix of 40-plus fire agencies and request about $9.5 million in annual funding, ending a 14-month study that explored ways to reshape the county’s complex fire services network.
About three dozen fire officials from throughout the county hammered out the final decisions at an almost four-hour meeting that touched on the most sensitive issue — the identity of local fire agencies. - PUB DATE: 11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Lights flashing and siren blaring, the ambulance stopped at a red light, checking for traffic. The firefighter at the wheel eased forward. Halfway through the intersection, his partner saw the truck.
“I said, ‘This is going to hurt,’ ” Montgomery County firefighter Robert Sito, 27, told accident investigators later that day at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda. - PUB DATE: 11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the washington post
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) is partnering on a project with the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and Drexel University in Philadelphia to research the occurrences and effects of violence against firefighters and EMS responders.
The study will examine the circumstances surrounding these acts and determine ways to mitigate workplace/on-duty incidents of violence against responders. - PUB DATE: 11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse
The ACLU has filed a sex discrimination charge with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights and the E-E-O-C on behalf of Former Harmony EMT and Firefighter Kimberly Perreault.
"I just think that the board and the chief should be held accountable for their actions,” said Perreault.
Perreault had been with the volunteer fire district for 12 years working primarily as an EMT. - PUB DATE: 11/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLNE-TV ABC 6
Federal officials have rejected a call to toughen the fire-resistance of railroad tank cars that carry highly flammable crude oil, hundreds of which pass through the Chicago area each day. The U.S. Department of Transportation is standing by its decision issued last spring that new and retrofitted tank cars be required to withstand being engulfed in a pool of burning liquid for 100 minutes without exploding. - PUB DATE: 11/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: chicago tribune
A Denver Fire Department report following the July death of firefighter John Whelan calls for numerous changes including a dedicated safety officer, better internal information flow, and a variety of warnings to firefighters about the kind of lightweight skylight Whelan fell through on June 28.
The veteran firefighter stepped through a fiberglass skylight on a warehouse roof in North Denver as he helped deal with a dumpster fire. - PUB DATE: 11/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCNC-TV CBS 4 Denver
The town of Carmel wants to slash its 2016 fire-protection contract with the Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department by 32 percent as part of the fallout of a probe into up to $5 million of missing funds from the department. In addition, a Journal News investigation has learned: Several municipalities have severed ties with Buckshollow Emergency Equipment Corp. - PUB DATE: 11/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Journal News (Lohud.com)
When it comes to fire safety, we all know the saying, “Stop, Drop and Roll.” But you may not have heard this one, “Close your bedroom door at night.”
An NBC 5 investigation found new research showing how sleeping with the bedroom door closed could provide lifesaving time to escape a house fire — a message not often promoted by the nation’s leading fire safety groups. - PUB DATE: 11/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAS-TV NBC 5 Dallas - Fort Worth
A state court on Monday said the City Commission did not engage in nepotism by promoting the mayor’s son over another qualified firefighter.
Firefighter Daniel Dunn, in a complaint to the Civil Service Commission, said he was bypassed for the promotion in 2013 in favor of Ernie Troiano III because Troiano is the son of Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. - PUB DATE: 11/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: press of atlantic city
The American West needs a new kind of firefighter that fights fires that aren't only wild or urban, but burn in the space between.
This was the main finding from a group of researchers who studied the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire, Colorado's second most destructive wildfire and one that has come to epitomize the transformation of wildfires into massive urban disasters. - PUB DATE: 11/10/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: colorado springs gazette
Jessamine County paramedic John Mackey, who was struck by a car last week, died Monday, and his former supervisors remembered him as a caring professional.
"He was a great employee, a dependable employee," said Jerry Domidion, former director of Jessamine County's Emergency Medical Services. "He was fun to be around and he took his job seriously. - PUB DATE: 11/10/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: lexington hearld-leader
Fire Director James Stewart has rankled some in his ranks by naming a recently hired payroll clerk — who also happens to be his future daughter-in-law — to serve in his stead while he takes a vacation this week.
Tawan Baxter, who was hired as a chief clerk Aug. 24, was named acting fire director as of 8 a. - PUB DATE: 11/10/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Newark Star-Ledger/NJ.com
Two days after visiting a San Bernardino County fire station, a 5-year-old boy used what he learned to save himself and his grandmother from their burning home. On Monday, he was honored for his heroism.
Nathaniel Stocks, 5, is credited with saving the life of his grandmother and their Chihuahua Saturday morning using skills he learned at a fire department field trip. - PUB DATE: 11/10/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: redlands daily facts
A widow from Sudan who had lived in the United States for about eight years fell to her death Saturday after a fire broke out in a high-rise apartment building.
The fire was caused by “careless discarding of smoking materials,” Grand Island Fire Division Chief Tim Hiemer said.
The woman was seen hanging out a window on the ninth floor. - PUB DATE: 11/10/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: omaha world-herald
With flames swirling all around them, four firefighters trapped on a narrow Lake County ridge during the first hour of what would become the state’s third-most-catastrophic wildfire made the last-ditch decision most avoid at all costs: Seek refuge in emergency fire-resistant shelters.
“The ground was on fire,” Cal Fire firefighter Niko Matteoli said. - PUB DATE: 11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the press democrat
Joey Tanner’s ascension through the firefighting ranks seems inevitable.
His grandfather was chief of the Johnsonville Fire District. When he retired, Tanner’s father took the job, which he still holds. Joey Tanner’s brother is a deputy chief in Florence.
“We’re kind of working in the fire service our whole career,” the 52-year-old Tanner said Friday, hours after being announced as Horry County Fire Rescue’s newest chief. - PUB DATE: 11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: myrtle beach online
Chronic problems at the Detroit Fire Department are catching up to homeowners in the form of higher insurance rates.
Detroit already has the highest rates in the state. Now, they’re rising again for many, after a group that analyzes communities’ fire protection for insurance companies downgraded the city. - PUB DATE: 11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: detroit news
Unfortunately, too many firefighters and officers are not getting it. And "it" is that firefighters face an increased cancer risk compared with the general public.
In its 2013 whitepaper "Taking Action Against Cancer in the Fire Service," the Firefighter Cancer Support Network reported that in 2006 researchers at the University of Cincinnati published their meta-analysis of 32 studies of cancer among firefighters. - PUB DATE: 11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firerescue1
Many residents are keeping an eye on East Contra Costa Fire District's financial struggles, but one of them recently took the scrutiny to a new level by chiding its chief for purchasing $23.96 worth of chocolate chip cookies.
"She just didn't think we should be buying treats for the firefighters," said Chief Hugh Henderson of the woman who took him to task after spotting four $5 boxes of cookies among the groceries he was loading into his truck from the Safeway store in Discovery Bay. - PUB DATE: 11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: contra cost times
