What seemed like an eternity was actually 19 seconds. After Ryan Newman’s battered race car came to rest last Monday at the end of the tri-oval in a brutal wreck at the finish of the Daytona 500, it took only 19 seconds for the first emergency vehicle to arrive, according to a chronology provided by NASCAR officials during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sporting News

The first responders’ biggest fear was realized one night in December when someone called 911 for help in rural Erie County and nobody came. The first dispatch went to Union City Fire Co. When Union City couldn’t crew its ambulance, the call rolled over to neighboring Waterford Volunteer Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Morning Call

A retired firefighter who pulled his brother's body from the rubble at Ground Zero died Saturday of 9/11-related pancreatic cancer, officials said. Daniel Foley watched his firefighter brother respond to 9/11 and not come back, FDNY Lt. Mickey Conboy said. Foley promised his parents he wouldn't come home until he found his brother.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPIX-TV CW 11 New York

On North Main Street stands a historic little two-story brick building that once was Aberdeen Fire Station No. 2. It was built in 1930 to provide protection to the city’s north side, expanding coverage of the downtown Fire Station No. 1. It still looks much like it did back then, but No. 2 now is privately owned.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Aberdeen News

An overpass was set aflame after a semitrailer hauling thousands of gallons of fuel overturned in Indianapolis on Wednesday. The tanker hit a guardrail on an on-ramp from Interstate 465 to I-70, which split the tank and overturned the semi, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department. Witnesses told the fire department that the driver of the truck exited the tanker on his own with his clothes on fire.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

For FDNY Firefighter Robert Thomas and his three sons, fighting fires and saving lives has become a family affair. All four are city firefighters stationed throughout Brooklyn, joining a growing number of the department’s black “legacy” families, where children follow their mothers and fathers into the FDNY.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News - Metered Site

The Milwaukee Fire Department is already in training for a building that hasn't broken ground yet. Ascent, an apartment building near downtown Milwaukee expected to break ground in a few months, has a tall timber frame. At 25-stories, it is expected to be the tallest building of it's kind in the world.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

On February 20, 2003, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in United States history occurred in The Station nightclub. More than two-thirds of the 462 people in attendance were either killed or injured (100 dead, 230 injured). A live band that was using fireworks as part of its act ignited foam insulation that had been installed around and over the stage.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fire Engineering

VIDEO: In its three years, the Skyway 10K has seen thousands of participants. A few have traveled the bridge each year, like friends and firefighters Tom “Bull” Hill and Mike Junge. Hill walks the Skyway to honor firefighters who lost their lives to cancer and PTSD. Hill walked the Skyway in 2018 with a pack covered in the names, shields and objects from firefighters who had died from cancer or suicides related to PTSD.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTSP-TV CBS 10 St. Petersburg

VIDEO: After months of devastation, all the fires burning in the Australian state of New South Wales were declared contained for the first time last week. And who else to thank but the thousands of firefighters who have put their life on the line to extinguish them? Knowing that a simple "thank you" wouldn't suffice, the NSW Rural Fire Service took out a 70-foot billboard in New York's Times Square to thank all the firefighters who helped battle the blazes.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

Despite putting a seventh city ambulance in service in mid-2018, Lincoln Fire and Rescue's paramedics remain swamped responding to emergency medical calls in the growing city, retiring Fire Chief Micheal Despain said. Call volumes in Lincoln continue climbing at three times the rate of population growth, mainly because of the medical needs of the city's aging population, Despain said.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lincoln Journal Star

A Pennsylvania House committee is weighing a measure that seeks to make changes in how fire and emergency services are administered in the state. The House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee took up House Bill 1819, which would create a state Fire Commission. State Rep. Austin Davis, D-McKeesport, the bill’s sponsor, said his district includes professional and volunteer-led fire departments that face issues regarding the ability to provide essential services and the ability to recruit and retain members.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Center Square

Every day firefighters put their lives on the line to protect others, and when their shift ends, some of the risks they face still linger. That's because of the potentially toxic contaminants they encounter while on the job. "We want to make sure that the firefighters are aware that the chemicals, and the soot, and the smoke, and the particulates that get on their clothing during a structure fire, during training, is dangerous.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGRZ-TV ABC 2 Buffalo

Bed bugs can be hard to spot and even tougher to get rid of. The City of Waukesha Fire Department has a new tool to fight the problem -- and make sure every ambulance is clean. Kira Benkert is getting an ambulance ready for the day's first patient -- including making sure there aren't any unwanted passengers: bed bugs.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

Two 13-year-olds have been arrested and booked on suspicion of arson and manslaughter charges in a deadly fire on Tuesday that claimed the lives of two firefighters and destroyed the Porterville Library. Tuesday’s blaze started shortly after 4 p.m. The man killed has been identified as Fire Capt. Raymond Figueroa, 35.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Visalia Delta Times

VIDEO: A large, deadly fire consumed the Porterville Library Tuesday evening and claimed the lives of two firefighters. "We are still working on notification," Tulare County Fire Chief Charlie Norman said as he fought back tears. The names of the firefighters killed have not been released. Both work for the city of Porterville, Norman said.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Visalia Delta Times

Representatives from the city’s firefighters union say a new public administration software system designed to streamline payroll for the department has instead burdened the force with extra duties. The union has filed a grievance on behalf of its 911 dispatchers claiming the software has not only created more work, but shifted payroll responsibilities to their supervisors who they say haven’t properly been trained to administer it.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bangor Daily News - Metered Site

Any first responder knows in an emergency, time is of the essence. Bruce Bechtold is a former Stearns County deputy. He says cutting minutes or even seconds off response time can make all the difference. That was the case when his cousin Mark suffered a heart attack nearly a decade ago. "Firefighter just happened to be nearby with an AED and shocked him and he's alive today," said Bechtold.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KARE-TV NBC 11 Minneapolis

The Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) responded to more than 1.5 million medical emergencies last year, saving countless lives in the process. But many of these first responders — who endure high stress in a job where mere seconds may mean the difference between life and death — barely have anything left to save once they get their paychecks, according to unions representing them.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: AM New York

Just because you call an ambulance in Montgomery County, Maryland, that doesn’t mean you’ll skip the lobby wait in the emergency room. Maryland’s ER wait times — the time spent in the emergency room before being admitted to the hospital or being sent home — are the longest in the country: an average of 376 minutes, in the latest data, from 2017.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOP-AM 1500 Washington