A San Antonio firefighter was handed a 10-day suspension this summer after video of him giving an unauthorized ride in a department fire engine ended up on social media, according to discipline records obtained by the KSAT 12 Defenders.
Firefighter Jason Persyn was handed the suspension in July after violating San Antonio Fire Department rules related to conduct and behavior, negative public image, improper or negligent handling, safe operation of vehicles, permission for use of city property and proper use of department vehicles, according to the paperwork. - PUB DATE: 8/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSAT-TV ABC 12 San Antonio
More than 2,500 public safety agencies across the country have joined FirstNet. This is nearly double the number of agencies since the last update in July.
FirstNet is the nationwide public safety communications platform dedicated to America's first responders. Being built with AT&T*, in public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority), FirstNet is bringing public safety a much-needed technology upgrade to help them connect to the critical information they need. - PUB DATE: 8/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MarketWatch.com
VIDEO - On Tuesday, the crew of Engine Company 33 - A Division responded to a medical call at a retirement community.
When they arrived, they spotted a woman bouncing a ping pong ball alone. They asked the staff about the woman and were told she is 101-years young and always looking for a worthy ping pong opponent to play with. - PUB DATE: 8/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: XETV-TV San Diego 6
Willow Street Fire Company Chief Michael Reese, who spent four decades as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician, died this week unexpectedly.
“Chief Reese’s life was dedicated to helping others,” fire company president Bob Kiesel wrote in a statement announcing Reese’s passing.
Reese, 53, passed away suddenly at his home in Willow Street on Thursday after he responded to a vehicle accident earlier that morning, Kiesel wrote. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lancaster Online
Wichita residents could see a substantial shift in the way first responders handle thousands of medical calls to 911 each year.
Early next year, the Wichita Fire Department will test sending emergency medical technicians on “what some have called band aids and aspirin” medical calls, Mayor Jeff Longwell said at a recent City Council meeting. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wichita Eagle & Kansas.com
The job of a firefighter isn’t what it used to be. Take Charlottesville, Va., for example, where in just the past 18 months the fire departments in the city and surrounding Albemarle County have searched the wreckage of a plane crash in a hard-to-reach wooded area, performed water rescues after spring floods, responded to the derailment of a passenger train carrying Republican members of Congress and, most memorably, provided medical assistance during white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, including one incident that left three people dead last summer. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Governing.com
According to a majority panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, a group of Pittsburgh firefighters did not prove that a different design for a fire truck siren they say permanently damaged their hearing would have been safer.
On Aug. 20 in a 2-1 decision, Superior Court judges Mary Jane Bowes and Paula Francisco Ott upheld a granting of summary judgment to Federal Signal Corporation and dismissing the case brought by firefighters Ronald M. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pennsylvania Record
A longtime township fire chief in Pickaway County who was fired this month has sued to get his job back.
Porter “Chip” Welch had been chief of the Scioto Township Fire Department in the northern part of the county since 2005. Township trustees met on Aug. 16 and fired him. Trustee Ralph Wolfe told The Dispatch that no one from the township could comment. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbus Dispatch
For the seventh year, the IAFC received a grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation to fund another year of the Fire Service Executive Development Institute (FSEDI). FSEDI is a program developed by the IAFC to provide new and aspiring chiefs with the tools they need to have a successful and productive tenure. - PUB DATE: 8/29/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs
Communications were snarled and police, fire and medical responders were overwhelmed by 911 calls, false reports and the number of victims during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, according to a report released Monday by U.S. and local authorities. The report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Clark County Fire Department and Las Vegas police provided an overview of first responders' actions on Oct. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Sun
Dallas firefighters complained Monday about a delay in police emergency response over the weekend that left firefighters to deal on their own with a knife wielding suspect.
“It was one of those runs where you think it’s going to be the last run you ever make,” said Dallas Firefighters Union President Jim McDade. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAS-TV NBC 5 Dallas - Fort Worth
Gary municipal officials are admitting that just over $8.1 million in city funds from an account specifically intended to cover expenses for Emergency Medical Services needs were actually spent on other things.
City officials have been reviewing since spring the city’s 224 Fund – intended for the Fire Department’s use in maintaining ambulances and paramedics -- when it was discovered that the actual amount of money officials thought was in the fund did not match up with bank records. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
The union representing the city of Dayton’s firefighters said residents will be in danger if the city does not increase staffing.
For years, the city has been “browning out,” or temporarily closing stations based on staffing.
Fire Station 10 was open Monday, but it was closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHIO-TV Dayton
A New Mexico firefighter is being hailed a hero for what he did while off duty at a convenience store.
In a moment of terror, he used his body to shield a woman from gunfire.
The video, posted by the Española Police Department, is going viral with more than 16,000 views in just a few days and dozens of comments praising him. - PUB DATE: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KRQE-TV CBS 13
It started as a quiet day, and firefighters at Jacksonville Fire Station 1 decided to use that to do some training. But things changed quickly. To take advantage of downtime Sunday, firefighters decided to conduct an elevator training at a parking garage near the Jacksonville Landing, fire officials said on Facebook. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFTV-TV ABC 9 Orlando
An arbitrator has ruled that city firefighters are entitled to out-of-title pay for shifts worked in which they took on the role of the department’s demoted captains.
Daniel Daugherty, president of the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191, said arbitrator Richard Curreri ruled that the city will have to compensate firefighters who responded to calls while assuming the responsibilities of captains. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times
Eight children were killed after a fire sparked in an apartment building in Chicago, fire officials said.
The blaze ignited just before 4 a.m. on the second floor of a building on South Sacramento Avenue, according to Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago.
The first call to authorities came when a woman who came home from work smelled the fire, he said. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News
A Stockton fire crew had to act quickly after a man tried to take off with their fire engine early Saturday morning while they were fighting a fire.
When engine 7 drove up to Jill Circle around 4:30 Saturday morning, fires were blazing at multiple spots on the street but another issue flared up as well. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTXL-TV Fox 40 Sacramento
There’s no guarantee that a different strategy would have resulted in a different outcome — that the victims would be alive today if something as mundane as an administrative spreadsheet had one more agency added.
But in each of four fatal fires over the last 11 years, the structure of mutual aid calls for volunteer fire departments just beyond Peoria city limits has resulted in scenarios that appear to contradict the most basic tenets of firefighting. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Peoria Journal Star
An arbitrator overturned the demotion and suspension of the former firefighters' union president in relation to actions at a New Year's Day 2017 fire that killed three people, displaced 49 tenants and destroyed a building.
The decision by the American Arbitration Association said there was no evidence that Chad Cunningham ignored orders or violated rules and ordered he immediately be returned to his former rank as lieutenant and be awarded back pay. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MassLive
