An urgent message not to cross the dangerous currents on Brays Bayou, which quickly rose during the Memorial Day storms, may not have reached Houston firefighters whose boat capsized, killing three civilians, according to a city report.
The report, released on Monday by the Houston Fire Department, details the rescue attempt, one of many made on May 26 that occurred in the immediate aftermath of an unusual stationary storm system that stranded thousands of Houstonians in their homes and vehicles. - PUB DATE: 12/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: houston chronicle
One of my earliest fire service mentors told me, "If the fire service is ever going to get the credit its due from the public, sometimes it's going to have to blow its own horn." Recent events have proven this advice to be both very wise and very accurate.
In the past weeks, there have been terrorist attacks of one form or another in several locations around the world. - PUB DATE: 12/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firechief.com
A little girl in New York with burns over 75 percent of her body has only one wish for Christmas this year -- enough cards to fill her aunt's card tree. Two years ago, Safyre Terry's father and three younger siblings were killed in a fire caused by arson. She was found next to her father, who used his body to shield her from the flames. - PUB DATE: 12/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPIX-TV PIX 11
Volunteer Fire Department is unable to cover calls after 12 members resigned Monday night.
Clint Fichter, a consultant for the City of Neola, confirmed that the firefighters quit.“It caught us off guard,” he said.
The department has four members currently, and the City Council is set to review eight applications, Fichter said. - PUB DATE: 12/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: omaha World-Herald
VIDEO - Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi responded Sunday night to an article published by The Kansas City Star.
The article, headlined "Firefighters killed in alley shouldn’t have been there," touches on the Oct. 12 fatal fire that killed two Kansas City Fire Department firefighters.
John Mesh, 39, and Larry Leggio, 43, were killed during a two-alarm fire response on Independence Boulevard. - PUB DATE: 12/8/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSHB-TV NBC 41 Kansas City
Portland officials may take disciplinary action against employees after a homemade sign was posted last week in front of a Munjoy Hill fire station telling residents that it had been closed.
The city had periodically taken the station’s ambulance out of service during the overnight hours, when call volumes are the lowest, to reduce spending on overtime, apparently prompting some rank-and-file members to place a sign in front of the Munjoy Station at 134 Congress St. - PUB DATE: 12/8/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: portland press herald
Standing in the shadow of the towering rebuilt World Trade Center, scores of firefighters and police officers, led by Mayor Bill de Blasio and two United States senators from New York, rallied on Sunday to press Congress to extend a 9/11 health bill. The bill would pay for medical care for emergency medical workers and others, including police officers, firefighters and construction workers who risked their lives on Sept. - PUB DATE: 12/8/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the new york times
While researchers were lauded for their work and clinicians were praised for their initiatives, the two gaining the most applause at a National Fallen Firefighters Foundation conference here last week were a son and a wife who shared their stories about losing a loved one to a heart attack.
Organizers of the Heart to Heart seminar included brief case studies of young firefighters who suffered fatal heart attacks, but hearing the personal stories from survivors moved the audience to tears. - PUB DATE: 12/8/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse
The office of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, which recently won the conviction of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on corruption charges, has taken over the inquiry into the Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department and its missing millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. Bharara’s involvement comes as The Journal News has learned of the extensive financial ties between Putnam County law enforcement and a company owned by Michael Klein, the department’s former treasurer, who resigned in late September as the investigation heated up. - PUB DATE: 12/8/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Journal News
A firefighter in south suburban Matteson died while performing CPR on a shopper at Wal-Mart.
The firefighter, identified as 49-year-old Mark Zielinski, was called to the store at 21410 S. Cicero Avenue in Matteson Friday afternoon for a medical emergency.
He had been with the Matteson Fire Department for 13 years, after spending many years working for the fire department in Harvey. - PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGN-TV 9 WB Chicago
The city says it will prosecute firefighters for not reporting to work when called to fill in for absences, as tensions between the firefighters union and city grow.
Two engines and two ladders were not staffed Saturday night because too few firefighters were available, said city officials.
“Firefighters who would have been eligible for callbacks tonight have refused,” according to a statement from Evan England, the spokesman for Mayor Jorge Elorza. - PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: providence journal
Unacceptable.
That’s what a federal agency says of firefighters being positioned near the walls of a burning building that is in danger of collapsing, just to protect an adjacent building.
Larry Leggio John Mesh Larry Leggio John Mesh
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John Mesh
Yet that’s exactly what happened when two Kansas City firefighters were killed more than seven weeks ago, according to interviews and analysis by The Kansas City Star. - PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the kansas city star
Troopers are looking for the driver who hit a Rockingham County emergency responder and kept on driving. The hit-and-run crash happened Saturday night just before 9:00 on US 29 South.
Trooper Danny Burgess says Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department Chief Gary Brown was helping a driver involved in another crash when he was hit by the unknown driver. - PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFMY-TV CBS 2 Greensboro
Tom Kolenda said his family struggled for two decades to move forward since the tragedy that became known as the “Bricelyn Street Fire.”
His nephew was one of three Pittsburgh firefighters who died in the East Hills house, set ablaze by the homeowner's son so they could collect the insurance money, a jury decided. - PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
A man charged with slashing a fire hose outside the Penn-North CVS that was set on fire during the riots last April now faces federal charges.
Authorities allege Greg Butler Jr., 23, was the man who was seen on national television wearing a gas mask and cutting a hose that firefighters attempted to use to extinguish the burning CVS pharmacy. - PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baltimore Sun
Sixteen years ago, a group of firefighters who have become known as the “Worcester Six” died while battling the flames that overtook the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co building.
On Thursday, the Worcester Fire Department will remember the six men with a 6 p.m. gathering at the Franklin Street fire station, where a bell will sound at 6:13 p. - PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: boston.com
Lansing firefighter Bruce Wheeler jumped out of the way of a speeding pickup truck, looking into the eyes of the driver, just before it struck and killed his friend and fellow firefighter Dennis Rodeman.
It was that close encounter, which Wheeler described in testimony Thursday, that led prosecutors to add another charge against 23-year-old Grant Taylor — assault with intent to murder. - PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lansing State Journal
A day after undergoing chemotherapy, 9/11 first responder Robert Digiovanni stood angrily outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s office, railing about politics interfering with life-or-death issues.
Digiovanni, who has non-Hodgkin lymphoma, had been lobbying for legislation to extend expired health care benefits for himself and others who were exposed to toxic dust after the 2001 attacks in New York. - PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS New York
When 44-year-old D.C. firefighter Kevin McRae died in the line of duty it wasn't the flames or falling debris that caused his death.
McRae, like many other firefighters, died because of a heart attack while climbing in full gear to help put out a blaze at an apartment building in Shaw.
About 66 percent of firefighter deaths in the line of duty are from heart attacks, making it the number one cause of line of duty deaths for firefighters. - PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA9.com
The six Worcester firefighters who died battling the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. blaze 16 years ago will be remembered Thursday evening during an event at the Franklin Street Fire Station. The gathering begins at 6 p.m.
Firefighters, public officials and people from around the area gathered at the fire station last year as the city honored the firefighters during the 15th anniversary of the fire that took the lives of fire Lt. - PUB DATE: 12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: masslive
