Construction is well underway on the new Roanoke Fire Station No. 7. But before crews took hammers and excavators to tear down the old building, the fire department teamed up with Black Dog Salvage to save historic pieces of the old structure. The old station was built in 1922 and due to land issues, it had to be torn down in order to build a new station that would meet all the department’s needs.
- PUB DATE: 1/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSLS-TV NBC 10 Roanoke

Republicans in the state Senate advanced a bill Wednesday to restrict the use of firefighting foam containing certain PFAS compounds but rejected a Democratic proposal to expand regulation of the synthetic chemicals that have been found in drinking water throughout the state. The Senate’s GOP-led natural resources committee voted 3-2 along party lines to approve the bill, authored by Sen.
- PUB DATE: 1/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

As California Governor Gavin Newsom continues cracking down on the state's oil industry, local officials say that a move away from oil may carry some unintended consequences. If Kern's oil industry took a hit, so would it's economy. And that would manifest itself in many ways, one of which being property taxes.
- PUB DATE: 1/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KERO-TV ABC 23 Bakersfield

New Cedar Falls Mayor Rob Green wants the city council to review the city’s controversial Public Safety Officer program. The city has been slowly replacing firefighter positions with Public Safety Officers, or PSO’s, which are police officers cross-trained as firefighters. The move has angered firefighters and was a big issue in the election where council member Green defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Brown.
- PUB DATE: 1/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Radio Iowa

The Superior Fire Department rung in 2020 with a new building, a new chief, a new fire truck and new technology that will take their work into the digital cloud. It’s a young crew heading into the new year. Half the department has been there five years or less. Firefighters in their 20s outnumber firefighters in their 50s by 10-to-1.
- PUB DATE: 1/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Superior Telegram

If your house catches fire, your husband has a heart attack or your cat gets stuck in a tree in Reno this year, you might find yourself the unsuspecting star of a new "COPS"-style reality TV show that airs in real time. At its meeting Wednesday, the Reno City Council will decide whether to sign a contract with A&E's "Live Rescue" that would allow television production crews to embed with firefighters responding to calls.
- PUB DATE: 1/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Reno Gazette Journal

The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department (TFRD) is rolling out a new way to recruit with a focus on the community. Fire Chief Brian Byrd has assigned a specific team to recruit even more diverse candidates. They will work with community leaders like Toledo City Council members and Toledo Public Schools to fill the 50 open spots for the next class.
- PUB DATE: 1/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNWO-TV NBC 24 Toledo

VIDEO: Firefighters in New Bedford protested the mayor's inauguration Monday night over the city's longstanding blackout policy. Fire station blackouts have been in effect since 2009 when the former mayor, Scott Lang, initiated the policy as a way to try and save money during the Great Recession. Through the policy, a different station is closed, or "blacked out", for a 24-hour period to cut back on staffing, therefore reducing costs.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLNE-TV ABC 6

The city faces $10,800 in fines from the state for safety violations at the Warrenton Fire Department. The state Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated an investigation after anonymous complaints. It fined the city $7,500 for not ensuring a proper respiratory protection program, $2,100 for not ensuring employees wore the right protective equipment, $420 for improper training, $420 for not maintaining a safety committee, $180 for a lack of equipment inspections and $180 for not keeping a hazard communication program.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Daily Astorian

VIDEO: York police said a registered sex offender has been arrested after showing up to emergency scenes pretending to be a firefighter. Robert Shipman, 29, was arrested Saturday after officers said he blocked the roadway at a serious accident on East Jefferson Street and had red lights on his truck.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSOC-TV ABC 9 Charlotte

Engine 72 used to put out fires in North Olympia. Now one rages inside of it, guaranteed to cook a fresh pizza in two minutes. Christopher and Janene Murray are the owners of Murray’s Rustic Pie, a wood-fired pizza operation built in a converted fire engine. The mobile food truck has been in commission for the pizza business since last summer, traveling to farmers markets, breweries, community events — even weddings — when they’re not serving about 30 pies a day from the driveway of the Murray home at 536 NE C St.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Walla Walla Union-Bulletin - Metered Site

The city contends the firefighters union shouldn’t be permitted to intervene in a civil lawsuit filed by a state board seeking an injunction to stop Youngstown from reducing the number of battalion chiefs. It also argues in a Monday filing that the State Employment Relations Board, which filed the lawsuit Dec.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Vindicator

VIDEO: Karina Figueroa and her family likely lost everything in a Sunday morning house fire that claimed the life of a metro firefighter. Right now they are not thinking about themselves. “We can start over again, the firefighter's family can’t. All they have left is the memories," Figuroea said. Officials have identified the West Peculiar firefighter who was killed as 30-year-old Chuck McCormick.
- PUB DATE: 1/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDAF-TV FOX 4

When Carol Brown joined the Boulder Fire Department in 1991, she was one of roughly a dozen female firefighters. Today a shift battalion chief, Brown is one of seven. Though Boulder was among the earliest to admit females to its force — the first two women were hired in 1978, according to Brown — the number of women in the city’s firefighting force has fallen over the years as older employees have retired.
- PUB DATE: 1/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Boulder Beat

In 2009, when Fire Chief Tom Burgasser was told to cut 20% of his budget, he knew exactly what to do. Transporting patients to the hospital instead of handing them over to a private ambulance company seemed like a no-brainer, the chief recalled more than 10 years later. It cut out the middle man. It would decrease the department’s spending while increasing revenue.
- PUB DATE: 1/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Canton Repository

As he stood in the third-floor corner room that served as his office from 2000 to 2009, retired Hartford Fire Chief Charles Teale reflected on some of the more historic moments that had taken place at the Pearl Street headquarters during his tenure. He recalled firefighters coming into the room after the 9/11 attacks and dumping piles of money they had collected for the 343 firefighters who perished at Ground Zero out onto the long conference table that dominated the room.
- PUB DATE: 1/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant - Metered Site

VIDEO: An internal investigation has been opened to look into the procedures and training protocol of the Saint Joseph County Dispatch Center. ABC57 is still following the New Year's Eve tragedy that killed four-year-old James and his sister, two-year-old Natalie Kleven and left mother, Brook, and her 3-month-old son in critical condition.
- PUB DATE: 1/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBND-LD ABC 57 South Bend

The morning sky was the color of lead, the air was barely above freezing and the only sound was the crunch of dead leaves as Ryan Mains began a 10-mile run through Crystal Lake’s Veteran Acres Park. He has come here for years to build his stamina on the park’s steep hills, preparing for races that stretch well beyond a marathon.
- PUB DATE: 1/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune - Metered Site

Many years of fundraising efforts, patience and persistence led the Adrian Fire Department to accomplish a decade-long goal that will help better serve their community and surrounding areas. “I started this project ten years ago,” said Wilbur Garrison, Adrian Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief. The goal of the project was to raise enough money to build a new $250,000 fire station that would be able to house six fire trucks and have a heating system.
- PUB DATE: 1/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KFDA-TV CBS News 10

Well-respected and beloved Somerset Fire Chief Scott Jepson died suddenly on Thursday. Jepson, 54, of Dighton, was a 27-year veteran, joining the Somerset Fire Department in 1992 and taking over as chief in 2008. His death was announced by Somerset Deputy Fire Chief Jamison Barros, Police Chief George McNeil and Town Administrator Richard M.
- PUB DATE: 1/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Coast Today