When, in the afternoon of Sept. 13, Lawrence Fire Chief Brian Moriarty first got the call about house explosions and fires across the south side of his city, he was driving back up to the Merrimack Valley from Boston after taking an emergency medical service class, hoping to meet a few guys after work. - PUB DATE: 10/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lawrence Eagle Tribune
The Chicago Police Department has been holding frequent entrance exams — in May and June of this year with a third coming up in December — as it wraps up a two-year hiring surge to add 970 additional officers over and above attrition.
But the Chicago Fire Department is a different story. There was a firefighters entrance exam in 2014. - PUB DATE: 10/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times
Have you ever thought of being a first responder for the supernatural?
Mary Barrett and her husband, Sean, a 33-year veteran of the Indianapolis Fire Department, launched Paranormal 911 in 2009 after being inspired by an evening of ghost touring. The couple now leads a team mainly consisting of firefighters, EMS providers and police officers on ghost investigation adventures, and has even gained national attention on the A&E show, “My Ghost Story. - PUB DATE: 10/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
Three South Portland firefighters were training with a new $1.1 million ladder truck Tuesday morning when they accidentally hit a power line with the truck’s aerial, according to a statement released by City Manager Scott Morrelli Tuesday night.
The contact with the electrical line caused a fire to the truck’s front right tire and shorted the controls of the aerial, keeping the firefighters from moving the extendable ladder away from the line, Morrelli said. - PUB DATE: 10/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bangor Daily News
A jury has awarded more than $11 million in damages to a Country Club Hills firefighter who sued the city over alleged gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation, according to a court order.
Dena Lewis-Bystrzycki, who filed suit against the city in 2012, had alleged she was passed over for a promotion and retaliated against for reporting misbehavior. - PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
More than 50 fire districts across Colorado are requesting the same thing from their voters this fall: Give us a legal workaround to a property tax law that’s set to slash our budgets again.
Lives are at stake, they say.
“We’re way past the crisis point,” West Metro Fire Chief Don Lombardi said. “The fire districts have called 911, and no one is answering. - PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Denver Post
Several firefighters responded to a large house fire in north St. Louis. It was the second vacant house that was fully engulfed in flames in the area Sunday.
Just before 2 p.m., firefighters responded to the 4500 block of Cottage Avenue, which is on the line of the Greater Ville and The Ville neighborhoods. - PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSDK-TV NBC 5 St. Louis
The wife of the French Settlement fire chief was arrested Monday and accused of embezzling $225,000 after her husband reported her confession to him, according to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office.
Melissa Guitreau, 46, who acted as the secretary and treasurer of Livingston Parish Fire Protection District No. - PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baton Rouge Advocate
From Arcata on the North Coast to Hemet in the Inland Empire, California cops and firefighters are chipping in more money to pay for their pensions while the cities that employ them struggle to manage fast-rising retirement costs.
The new pension charges – a 12 percent paycheck deduction in Sacramento, an extra 8 percent deduction in Clovis, a pay cut and 12 percent pension contribution in Oroville, for example – reflect a calculus at local governments that workers are better off in the long run putting money into the California Public Employees’ Retirement System today rather than banking on the $350 billion pension fund earning its way out of its recession losses. - PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee
VIDEO - A Sacramento firefighter is recovering at home after being pulled from the roof of a commercial building Wednesday.
“Shock, disbelief a little bit,” is how Sacramento Fire Department spokesperson Capt. Keith Wade described the moment a fellow firefighter nearly fell through the roof of a children's store in the Arden area. - PUB DATE: 10/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCRA-TV NBC Sacramento
A few years back, there were hundreds of people applying to be a Springfield firefighter — but that’s dropped off dramatically.
“Our last test — we only had 27 applicants,” said Capt. Brian Leciejewski of the Springfield Fire/Rescue Division.
To get more people in the door, the division is eliminating a preliminary requirement for applicants. - PUB DATE: 10/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield News-Sun
Five firefighters are suing the Unified Fire Authority and two of its former top administrators for allegedly hiring less-qualified family members of command staff instead of them in 2011.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, says the men were experienced firefighters seeking full-time positions with the agency that spring. - PUB DATE: 10/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Salt Lake Tribune
Around 20 to 25 Houston firefighters say they've been asked to cover their union and generic fire department shirts at some polling stations in Houston, despite the fact that their shirts didn't appear to violate election law, according to the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.
This comes after the Harris County Clerk's Office earlier this week instructed poll workers to not allow people wearing shirts depicting the names of three progressive groups to cast ballots, earlier reports say. - PUB DATE: 10/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
The daughter of a 30-year-old woman who died after paramedics failed to transport her to a hospital or even take her vital signs has filed notice of her intent to sue Hillsborough County.
And other lawsuits may be coming.
The notice was sent to Hillsborough County commissioners and the county’s fire department by the Kimsey Law Firm. - PUB DATE: 10/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Tribune and TBO.com (Tampa Bay Online)
An assistant fire chief with the California Office of Emergency Services has died after falling ill at a multi-agency coordination meeting.
According to a line-of-duty death notification from the U.S. Fire Administration, Assistant Chief Ken Hood, who was 50 years old and a 34-year fire service veteran, suffered an acute medical emergency during the meeting in Quincy on Wednesday. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse
Federal authorities made an arrest on Friday in connection with the nationwide bombing campaign against outspoken critics of President Trump.
It was not immediately clear who had been taken into custody, but a man was arrested in Florida, two law enforcement officials said. The arrest came only hours after the mysterious spate of pipe bombs spread further on Friday morning as federal authorities said that they had found two more of the explosive devices: one addressed to Senator Cory Booker and the other to James R. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Times
In the basement of Trinity Lutheran Church Thursday, Springfield police officers, armed with guns, ushered in three Springfield firefighters wearing bulletproof vests and neon orange medical kits.
Lying in the different rooms were firefighters playing victims. Red stickers mimicked gunshot wounds.
With no active shooter in sight, the police officers gave the firefighters free rein to tend to the victims. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield State Journal-Register
In the last year, Eagle Fire Battalion Chief Rob Shoplock has taken calls from three fellow firefighters who had suicidal thoughts because of what they experienced on the job.
All three sought counseling, but they paid for it out of their own pocket because it wasn’t covered by workers’ compensation. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Idaho Statesman
Firefighters in a rural Hamilton County township couldn’t figure out why they had no funds to buy medical supplies for their ambulance.
Their property tax levy, bringing in about $220,000 annually for firefighting, should have been enough to cover the needs of the Wayne Township Volunteer Fire Department east of Noblesville. - PUB DATE: 10/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Jeffersonville Evening News & New Albany Tribune
Camas city officials will continue their appeals process against the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries’ decision to uphold violations against the city and Camas-Washougal Fire Department because they say they fear the decision could have harmful impacts on fire departments around the state. - PUB DATE: 10/25/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Vancouver Columbian
