Leaders of the St. Joseph County 911 center near here know thousands of dispatches have been delayed this year because of computer problems that are being fixed. But they still don’t know how long delays lasted, or if they might have affected responses to emergencies such as fires and heart attacks.
Officials say that to investigate those delays, data needs to be provided by Tyler Technologies, the Plano, Texas-based software company whose New World computer-aided dispatch system has been riddled with problems since the center started using it in June 2017. - PUB DATE: 8/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Bend Tribune
A firefighter from Utah died Monday battling the largest wildfire in recorded California history, marking the latest fatality in a fire season that has taken a grim toll on first responders.
The firefighter, who was not named, was injured while working on an active portion of the Ranch fire within the massive Mendocino Complex. - PUB DATE: 8/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
Rescue crews freed three Miramar firefighters late Monday after they became trapped when a live power line fell on their fire engine, authorities said.
Jose A. Gregorisch, a spokesman for the Miramar Fire-Rescue Department, said the fire engine struck a low-hanging power line in the 9000 block of Miramar Parkway as the engine left the station on a call. - PUB DATE: 8/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPLG-TV ABC Local10.com - Miami & Fort Lauderdale
A veteran firefighter with the Orange Rural Fire Department died at the main station in downtown Hillsborough on Monday after helping to rescue a person trapped in a trench.
Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens identified the firefighter as Assistant Chief Jeff Holden, who had been with the department since 2001. - PUB DATE: 8/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Herald Sun
A 15-year-old boy drove off in a firetruck from the Strinestown Community Fire Co. station over the weekend after walking out of a juvenile facility in Springettsbury Township and stealing a county-owned vehicle he drove to the station, officials said.
It happened in the early-morning hours of Sunday, Aug. - PUB DATE: 8/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: York Dispatch
Cliff Musgrave been named the world’s fittest 50-year-old CrossFit athlete in the men's division.
He also happens to be an Akron firefighter.
"It’s a very blue collar job with structural firefighting," said Musgrave. "So being in shape certainly makes it better."
Musgrave isn’t just in shape, he was named the world’s fittest 50-year-old man after competing in the year’s Reebok CrossFit Games. - PUB DATE: 8/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKYC-TV NBC 3 Cleveland
The collapse of burning home in Altus claimed the life of an assistant chief with the Friendship Volunteer Fire Department Friday night.
Madison “Maddy” Lee Clinton Jr., 54, died after he was pinned when a porch roof collapsed, according to a post from the Oklahoma State Firefighters Association
"Maddy was performing suppression operations on a structure fire located in the Friendship Fire Department response area North of Altus," Altus Fire Chief Kyle David shared in a statement posted on Facebook. - PUB DATE: 8/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse
Fire officials on Tuesday will ask the Board of Supervisors to approve a $42 million annual plan calling for more firefighters and new fire stations to plug response holes in the county — with a recommendation of a half-cent countywide sales tax hike to voters next year to fund it.
The plan would add about 175 paid firefighters, many of them paramedics, to bolster the county’s current paid firefighting force of 400. - PUB DATE: 8/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Fire chiefs from across the world are gathered in Dallas for the annual Fire-Rescue International Conference put on by the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
This year the association says it’s dedicated to addressing bullying and harassment within fire department ranks. Retired South Fulton, Georgia Fire Chief David Daniels is leading a task force on the issue at the conference. - PUB DATE: 8/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS Dallas Fort Worth
No one was home at a house deep in the woods of Josephine County, Oregon. The people who live here had evacuated days ago along with hundreds of their neighbors. As flames from the Taylor Creek Fire got closer and closer, the firefighters showed up.
They came to prepare for the worst so that if the wind picked up, they’d be ready to dash down the driveway and save this house, even if the forest burned around it. - PUB DATE: 8/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oregon Public Broadcasting
On Kevin Leago’s July CT scan, his torso looks like it has been riddled with birdshot. Dark splotches speckle his liver, his pancreas, his spine, marking where his neuroendocrine cancer has spread.
The pain in his bones has left the 38-year-old Houston Fire Department senior captain unable to work since the end of May. - PUB DATE: 8/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
Kimberly Gregory held up an urn containing the ashes of her 20-year-old daughter Michela as she faced the men held responsible for the notorious Ghost Ship warehouse fire that killed 36 people one and a half years ago.
“This is all we have left of her,” Gregory said as a somber Derick Almena and Max Harris listened inside the courtroom at their sentencing hearing Thursday. - PUB DATE: 8/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Mercury News
The death toll in what was already the most lethal year for firefighters in California since 2008 increased to five Thursday, when a heavy equipment mechanic was killed after falling asleep at the wheel on his way to the fire lines near Redding, a family member told The Chronicle.
Andrew Brake, 40, of Chico died in a single-car crash on his way to work on the Carr Fire, which had already claimed the lives of two firefighters and five other people, including a woman and her two great-grandchildren, and a PG&E lineman, who died trying to restore power to the area. - PUB DATE: 8/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SF Gate
The International Association of Fire Chiefs’ (IAFC) Volunteer and Combination Officers Section (VCOS) and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) have partnered to develop and release the Lavender Ribbon Report: Best Practices for Preventing Firefighter Cancer. This report provides 11 actions that can be taken to mitigate the risk of cancer for firefighters. - PUB DATE: 8/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs
A logging truck driver is recovering after being run over by his own fully loaded truck near Lake Kapowsin in Pierce County on April 16.
West used a special set of skills to save his own life, even though he ended up losing a leg.
"I basically felt or heard the bones in my leg break," Troy said.
As he stood tightening the load of his logging truck deep in the woods, it started to skid, knocking him under the back wheels. - PUB DATE: 8/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000
Teamwork between first responder departments in Effingham County and the use of technology helped find a runaway juvenile on Sunday.
Police Chief Jeff Fuesting said city and county police officers searched for the youth after first checking several locations where the 12-year-old boy typically was known to be. - PUB DATE: 8/10/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Effingham Daily News
A DeKalb County firefighter was found dead at a Stone Mountain fire station during a shift change Wednesday morning, an official confirmed to the AJC.
Barry Everett, 42, a nine-year veteran of the department, was discovered about 8 a.m. at Fire Station 25 on Rockbridge Road. He was assigned to the station’s B shift, fire Capt. - PUB DATE: 8/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSB-TV ABC 2 Atlanta
In the early morning hours of September 6, 2017, a two-alarm fire erupted blocks away from Clackamas, Oregon, Fire District #1. As flames engulfed a two-story dwelling, Heavy Rescue 305 (HR305) was first to respond. Reaching the top floor, they broke a window and deployed a personal bail-out system to lower a woman to safety as the fire flashed inside. - PUB DATE: 8/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs
State-imposed guidelines on staffing levels and scheduling are causing fire company shutdowns and creating a potential threat to public safety, according to department officials.
Chief Scott Evans filed a certified affidavit in Atlantic County Superior Court that details his concerns that the state-mandated changes to the firefighter schedule, as well as department-wide reductions in staff, salaries, benefits and compensation time, are “unsafe and unreasonable” and “will not permit ACFD to efficiently provide fire protection services to the City of Atlantic City. - PUB DATE: 8/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Press of Atlantic City
Joseph Trama has resigned less than four months into his role as fire chief amid accusations that he stole money from the Irvington Fire Company.
The company's board said in a statement last week that Trama had withdrawn or transferred money from company bank accounts in multiple unauthorized moves in July. - PUB DATE: 8/9/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Journal News (Lohud.com)
