VIDEO: Mayor London Breed announced Wednesday that San Francisco Fire Deputy Chief Jeanine Nicholson would take over the duties as the new chief, the first member of the LGBT community to head the department.
Nicholson, a 25-year veteran of the department, replaces retiring Joanne Hayes-White and becomes the second woman to hold the top post. - PUB DATE: 3/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPIX-TV CBS 5 San Francisco
A bill to extend workers' compensation to first responders suffering from psychological injuries was signed into law by Gov. Brad Little on Tuesday.
The law will make police, firefighters and other first responders with “clear and convincing” evidence of a work-related psychological injury eligible for worker’s compensation. - PUB DATE: 3/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MagicValley.com
AUDIO: Earlier this month, a group of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics became the first in New Hampshire to complete an intensive course on how to react to people in mental health crisis. It brought together people with firsthand experience from both sides of that interaction.
Inside a small carpeted classroom at the New Hampshire Fire Academy, two police officers are trying to get through to a woman in crisis. - PUB DATE: 3/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Hampshire Public Radio
VIDEO: Drone company Flirtey has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct drone delivery flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), allowing for drones to deliver defibrillators to heart attack victims so treatment can begin before paramedics arrive.
The new approval enables Flirtey to conduct drone delivery operations with a pilot controlling the flights from a remote location. - PUB DATE: 3/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOLO 8 News Now
The Akron Fire Department is adopting a staffing strategy that fills openings as they happen instead of hiring extra at the start of the year and expecting they’ll be needed when employees leave or retire.
Before a day of contract negotiations with the labor union and a budget hearing before city council, Fire Chief Clarence Tucker said the old way created roller coaster staffing levels, with too many employees for the first half of the year, just enough in the middle and not enough at the end. - PUB DATE: 3/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Akron Beacon Journal
VIDEO: Numerous firefighters, officials, departments, and community leaders are holding meetings to discuss their resources in firefighting amidst an almost certain tightening of the budget belt.
Firefighters are familiar with fighting smoke and flames, but at a meeting in Torrington, firefighters and officials are fighting for their futures in the face of shrinking state resources. - PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFSB-TV CBS 3
VIDEO: The Hickory Hills Fire Department said it has some employees it could hire back if a change to the state's pension system is made.
House Bill 2051 would allow those who are eligible for the pension to also continue working for a volunteer department.
"I think it's great," Hickory Hills Fire Chief Craig Youngblood said. - PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOKH-TV FOX25
After a fire destroyed the lone fire hall on Madeline Island in early March, the Wisconsin DNR stepped in to help the island.
When the fire broke out on March 6, volunteer firefighters from Bayfield, Red Cliff, Washburn and Ashland responded, but could only bring relatively light "brush trucks," according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, because the ice wasn't thick enough to support the weight of fire engines. - PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSTP-TV
VIDEO: A proposed bill in the State House would make cancer an occupational disease for firefighters.
Local fire officials said this would help with workers’ compensation, and if a current or former firefighter passed away from cancer, it would be considered a line-of-duty death.
"The nature of the business is you work around carcinogens and there’s a really good chance that something’s going to happen,” said Rob Mullaney, president of the Horry County Professional Firefighters. - PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMBF-TV NBC Myrtle Beach
VIDEO: Firefighters in Emmet County are taking exception to cuts in funding for life-saving equipment.
Emmet County Commissioners approved a budget that slashes funding for local fire departments in half, and could take it all away next year.
“We felt we should voice our concern about this and bring it to the commissioners’ attention,” Resort Bear Creek Fire and Rescue Chief Al Welsheimer, said. - PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WWTV-TV 9&10 News
The Freeport City Council on Monday discussed a potential ordinance change that would allow the Fire Department to bill insurance companies for auto accidents.
If approved, the Fire Department would start billing the responsible driver’s insurance company $500 for every accident that firefighters are dispatched to and $1,400 if the driver is extricated from the vehicle. - PUB DATE: 3/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Freeport Journal-Standard
VIDEO: Several Kansas City firefighters are in Washington, D.C. this week for the largest legislative conference among all labor unions.
Mental health is one of the topics they will be focusing on with members of Congress to encourage support on this issue.
As they protect our communities, professional firefighters are also facing threats to their own safety and well-being. - PUB DATE: 3/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCTV-TV CBS 5 Kansas City
The challenges of running a volunteer fire department — the budget constraints, cancer risks and difficulty recruiting young people — highlighted a meeting of fire officials Saturday in Albertson.
State fire officials emphasized the problems of keeping up with the changing landscape of volunteer firefighting, as they briefed about 75 local first responders on state legislative priorities. - PUB DATE: 3/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NewsDay.com
A bill introduced in the Tennessee legislature would allow emergency medical responders and firefighters to carry handguns for their safety, but some emergency response leaders aren’t sure that’s such a good idea.
As written, the bill “authorizes any person employed as a firefighter or emergency medical technician (EMT), that has received a written directive from their supervisor and completed an annual eight-hour firearm training, to carry a handgun while engaged in the performance of the person’s official duties. - PUB DATE: 3/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Johnson City Press
A statewide shortage of trained medical personnel has left many rural county ambulance services having to delay hospital transfers to ensure they have enough staff for emergencies.
For example, in Norton County in northwest Kansas, the county's 5,400 residents are served by six full-time volunteers and nine volunteers, who respond to all 911 calls and taken patients from one hospital to another. - PUB DATE: 3/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Kansas City Star
VIDEO: As firefighters from all over Maine and the nation gathered to honor the life of one of their own who died in a Berwick fire, another firefighter also lost his life.
Oxford Fire Chief Gary Sacco died while he was in Portland attending the funeral of Capt. Joel Barnes on Sunday, March 10, according to multiple sources. - PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News Center Maine
Working firefighters will earn less from their pensions than their retired peers because the city will spend less on those plans. Before city commissioners unanimously approved a new pension plan on Feb. 19, retired firefighters could have gotten payments comparable to $72,000 a year. But the new plan caps pension payments at $95,000 for lifetime for firefighters who have yet to retire. - PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palm Beach Post
The city’s ambulance corps is so busy that an overtime cap applying to all other agencies has been lifted and medics are routinely putting in 60 and 70-hour weeks, union officials said.
Normally, city workers can’t make more than 40 percent of their salary in overtime. However, with just 4,133 emergency medical technicians and paramedics to handle nearly 1. - PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post
What started as an experiment in training firefighters locally is turning into a regular event in the Tri-Cities.
Starting Monday, 17 firefighters will start a 15-week training program at the regional fire recruit academy — without having to leave home.
With Kennewick looking to open a new fire station, and Pasco and Richland replacing retiring firefighters, it will be the largest class ever trained in the area. - PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tri-City Herald
More than four years after a massive blaze destroyed an Edgewater apartment complex and temporarily displaced more than 1,000 residents, legislative attempts to better protect residential structures from fast-spreading fires have stalled.
A panel of firefighters, fire safety experts, activists and builders at a public forum in Teaneck weighed in Wednesday night on how best to address the issue. - PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: North Jersey.com (Bergen County Record & Herald News)
