Several of Ronald Pieri's colleagues from the Highwood Fire Department testified Tuesday afternoon about his work absences, early departures and time card disparities during the second day of the former deputy fire chief's criminal trial in Lake County Circuit Court. Pieri is being tried on felony charges of official misconduct, theft and false entry in a case brought by the Lake County State's Attorney's office in 2011. - PUB DATE: 10/21/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: chicago tribune
Two city of Detroit emergency medical service workers were slashed and stabbed in the face and hands early this morning in the Cass Corridor while on a call to help a woman.
Attacked by an "agitated" man armed with a sharp object, the female and male EMTs were within "inches of dying" after driving themselves to Detroit Receiving Hospital, said interim Executive Fire Commissioner Eric Jones. - PUB DATE: 10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: detroit free press
Should firefighters be able to use the department fire engines to stop at the grocery store or a restaurant to get something to eat?
That’s what Lebanon City Council is debating and the fire department is not happy about it.
Council members will vote on a resolution Tuesday night that would stop firefighters from using fire engines to grocery shop or eat at restaurants while on the job. - PUB DATE: 10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKRN-TV ABC 2 Nashville
Five people - three children and two adults - died in a large fire that roared through several apartments in a row of 1840s brick homes early Tuesday, said Maysville Mayor David Cartmell.
"It's a pretty grisly scene right now," he told FOX19 NOW in a live interview, adding that the incident is very upsetting to the community. - PUB DATE: 10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAVE-TV NBC 3 Louisville
The incident commander of a team of firefighters who left a line because of their fear of unhappy local landowners has lost his post.
Chris Ourada has been taken off the Great Basin Type 1 Incident Management Team, one of 15 elite units brought in to manage large fires and other national emergencies, such as hurricanes. - PUB DATE: 10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: idaho statesman
Concerned about rising reports of close calls and safety risks involving drones, the government announced Monday it will require many of the increasingly popular unmanned aircraft to be registered.
Pilot sightings of drones have doubled since last year, including near manned airplanes and at major sporting events, and there are reports of interference with wildfire-fighting operations, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said at a news conference. - PUB DATE: 10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report
A collapse during a fire at a west Austin condominium complex sent three firefighters to the hospital with burns Sunday morning. While fighting the fire, the second floor gave way and burning debris trapped Lt. Jeremy Burke, Firefighter Wille Cook, and Firefighter Jimmy Casares, according to the Austin Fire Department. - PUB DATE: 10/19/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAN-TV NBC 36 Austin
City officials ordered flags flown at half staff to honor former fire Chief John B. Stewart Jr., a 40-year veteran of the Hartford fire department, who died Sunday morning. Stewart was the first African American fire chief in New England when he took over the department in 1980. He remained chief for 12 years before getting into politics, and eventually became majority leader of the city council. - PUB DATE: 10/19/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: hartford courant
The International Association of Fire Fighters is a small union of just under 300,000 members with political influence far beyond its size. The obvious reason for this is the respect many Americans have for firefighters, who consistently rank as some of the country’s most admired professionals. The less obvious reason is Harold A. - PUB DATE: 10/19/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the new york times
The state association that handles workers’ compensation claims for cities is appealing a decision last month to award benefits to a cancer-stricken Bedford firefighter.
Lt. Keith Long, who has stage 4 colon cancer, has fought the city and the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool for lost wages for two years, saying his illness was caused by on-the-job exposure to carcinogens. - PUB DATE: 10/19/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: star-telegram
A high-ranking Cal Fire Academy official fired during a drinking-and-sex scandal that roiled the department has lost his appeal to return to work.
Lawyers representing former Assistant Chief Mike Ramirez says he is now prepared seek a rehearing by the State Personnel Board or take the case to civil court. - PUB DATE: 10/19/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: sacramento bee
Some Kansas City blazes that claimed the lives of firefighters over the past half-decade have led to safety innovations that became commonplace nationally.
Two Kansas City firefighters were killed last Monday when the wall of a burning, multi-story brick building collapsed onto them and two others.
A rapid intervention team, or RIT team, rushed in and pulled the four men from beneath the rubble. - PUB DATE: 10/19/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCTV-TV CBS 5 Kansas City
PHOTO - A violent collision between a van and a Prince George's County fire engine critically injured a driver and closed the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway for several hours.
A work van rammed into the back of a Ritchie Volunteer Fire Department engine at the scene of an earlier crash on southbound I-495 at Ritchie Marlboro Road around 11:00 Thursday night, according to tweets from Mark Brady, spokesman for the Prince George's County Fire Department. - PUB DATE: 10/16/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA-TV 9 DC
Branford Deputy Chief Ronald R. Mullen died last night when he walked onto an Amtrak railroad track and was struck by an oncoming Shoreline East passenger train near Pleasant Point Road in Pine Orchard.
Mullen, who was 55, served with the Branford Fire Department for nearly four decades and was considered one of the best arson investigators in the state. - PUB DATE: 10/16/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new haven independent
California's corrections chief is defending the state's use of inmates with violent pasts to fight drought-fueled wildfires, while promising to mend relations with critics who fear the prisoners create a public safety danger.
"This is not the time to do any retrenching with the fires we've been having — and there's no need to do any retrenching because there haven't been any problems," Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard said. - PUB DATE: 10/16/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: abc news
A recent column published in the Washington Post suggested that because overall losses from fires have gone down in recent years, career firefighters are therefore largely irrelevant and their ranks could be diminished or replaced by part-time or volunteer workers.
The column went on to describe firefighting as mostly about "eating and sleeping, mopping floors, lifting weights, grocery shopping. - PUB DATE: 10/16/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firerescue1
PHOTO - Emergency crews shoveled mud from a section of Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles after flash flood debris blocked the important roadway, stranded hundreds of vehicles, and forced some motorists to take refuge on top of their cars.
Excavator trucks scooped and hauled away mud in the darkness Thursday night with the cleanup expected to continue well into Friday, leaving thousands of drivers searching for alternative routes. - PUB DATE: 10/16/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: santa cruz sentinel
Former Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, who described homosexuality as a perversion akin to bestiality in a book he authored two years ago, is entitled to his religious beliefs, attorneys for Cochran and the City of Atlanta agreed Wednesday.
But his faith isn’t the reason he was fired last January, Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration argued in a federal court hearing over his dismissal. - PUB DATE: 10/15/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: wsb radio
A veteran firefighter died Wednesday while on a call around the corner from his home, according to city officials.
Gerald "Bear" Celecki, 70, collapsed after responding to a call concerning the smell of gas at a home on Parker Avenue, said South Amboy Fire Chief Michael Geraltowski.
"We don't know exactly what happened yet," Geraltowski said Wednesday afternoon. - PUB DATE: 10/15/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Newark Star-Ledger/NJ.com
Mayor Mike Duggan named someone from outside the Detroit Fire Department to become the city's new fire commissioner this morning, selecting Eric Jones, a former cop and director of the city's Building Department.
Duggan introduced Jones, 46, at a news conference this morning at the Detroit Fire Department's Engine Co. - PUB DATE: 10/15/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: detroit free press
