The cause of death for six family members killed in a fire at a motel near Benton Harbor has been ruled smoke inhalation. The fire started around 1:45 a.m. Saturday, July 28, in a room on the first floor of the Cosmo Extended Living motel, according to police. The six people killed in the fire, police said, were Kiarre Curtis, 26; Marquise Thompson, 10; Gerome Randolph, 7; Samuel Curtis, 5; Savod Curtis, 4; and Avery Curtis, 2.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mlive

It was supposed to be a routine training exercise: firefighters climbing a ladder to the roof of a six-story building in downtown Los Angeles, as though the structure were on fire. On that June morning in 2017, firefighter Kelly Wong made it more than halfway up the ladder, leaning against the Barclay Hotel at a 73-degree angle.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

A Ridgefield Park volunteer firefighter has been suspended after allegedly taking a firetruck on a joyride two weeks ago and striking a utility pole. The firefighter, Connor O’Grady, allegedly took one of the firetrucks out for a ride at about 10 p.m. on July 13 with a firefighter from Bogota steering the rear of the rig, according to Mayor George Fosdick.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Asbury Park Press

The Carr Fire in Shasta County exploded in intensity early Friday morning after it jumped the Sacramento River, killing two people and forcing Redding residents to flee in hasty evacuations as homes burned in the hills on the outskirts of the city. Cal Fire confirmed that a Redding firefighter was killed Friday morning, but few details were immediately available.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Press Democrat

Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña said Thursday his firefighters deserve raises, but he would be hard-pressed to maintain his department budget without reducing his ranks if voters approve a measure granting firefighters “pay parity” with police. “This is not a scare tactic,” Peña told a city council committee.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

A city firefighter who was fired after being involved in a deadly hit-and-run will soon get his job back. An arbitrator decided Edward Ackerman violated the Fire Department's code of conduct, but that a lengthy, unpaid suspension is punishment enough. Ackerman was fired 15 months ago and will not be awarded any back pay for that time.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Syracuse.com

City Hall and the union that represents its firefighters are at odds over an ordinance that could change the way public safety employees are compensated after an injury. At the crux of a lawsuit filed this week in Peoria County Circuit Court by the International Association of Firefighters Local 50 is the definition of a catastrophic injury.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Journal Star

Cadie-Marie Stapleton, 18, of Galena, has changed the course of history, becoming the first female volunteer firefighter with the Galena Fire Department since its establishment in 1877. Ever since Cadie-Marie was a young girl, she dreamed of following in her family’s footsteps in hopes of becoming a volunteer firefighter.
- PUB DATE: 7/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Joplin Globe

The Garden City Village Board voted Tuesday night to eliminate its paid fire department. The board voted 6-1, with trustee Stephen Makrinos dissenting, to abolish the paid department effective Aug. 27. All paid firefighters were placed on administrative leave and told not to report to work Thursday.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Newsday

After voluntarily shutting down in March due to outdated equipment discovered during an investigation by the West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Northfork Volunteer Fire Department reopened Wednesday morning, according to a news release from the fire marshal. Over the past four months, the department invested in new airpacks — the breathing apparatuses used by firefighters in structural fires — and sent all its trucks away for upgrades and maintenance, said John Adams, who began serving as chief of the Northfork VFD a little over a month ago.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charleston Gazette-Mail

The highest-ranking fire chief punished in the aftermath of a drinking and test-cheating scandal at Cal Fire’s academy in 2014 could get his job back. A San Francisco Superior Court judge this month ruled that former Cal Fire Assistant Chief Michael Ramirez should get another chance to return to work three years after the department dismissed him.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee

Tapping reserves. Reducing spending. Hiring more firefighters and police officers. Those are some of the measures the City of Newburgh is discussing to plug an expected hole in this year’s $44.6 million budget and then reduce fire and police department overtime that is on pace to fall far short of more than $700,000 in hoped-for cuts, Mayor Torrance Harvey said.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Times Herald-Record

A man was arrested on suspicion of setting multiple fires in southwest Riverside County on Wednesday, including one that burned homes and forced evacuations in the Idyllwild area, officials said. Temecula resident Brandon N. McGlover, 32, is accused of sparking a series of blazes along Highway 74 in the San Bernardino National Forest, according to a news release from officials at the national monument.
- PUB DATE: 7/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ktla.com

Flanked by firefighters and their families, Governor Charlie Baker formally signed legislation at Broadway Fire Station Tuesday afternoon that will designate cancer as a work-related injury for firefighters across Massachusetts. The new law — championed by State Representative Daniel Cahill, a Lynn Democrat — will cover all medical treatments for firefighters diagnosed with cancer as well as their time missed because of the illness.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Globe

The city of Spokane will discipline five firefighters after concluding its investigation into allegations of harassment and bullying at Spokane Fire Department Station 2. In a joint statement released Tuesday, the firefighters union and city officials said they were “committed to a workplace free from harassment, discrimination, or retaliation of any kind” and they “firmly believe in treating everyone with dignity, respect, and professionalism.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Spokane Spokesman-Review

A peer-support program meant to help San Francisco firefighters and paramedics process the stresses of their jobs could see its first major expansion in nearly two decades. The program, often described as effective but lacking resources, is seen by many within the department as critical to helping first responders manage the lingering post-traumatic stresses that can accompany their often harrowing work.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle

After a Portland man fell 60 feet from a steep trail in Acadia National Park, rescuers spent eight hours getting him to safety. The hiker suffered broken bones and lacerations, but his injuries are not considered life-threatening, park officials said Wednesday morning. The 26-year-old man, whose name has not been released, fell Monday while hiking up the Precipice Trail on the East Side of Champlin Mountain.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bangor Daily News

The family of Bert Miller, a quiet-but-witty, unassuming mechanic and volunteer firefighter shot and killed Sunday during an LDS Church sacrament meeting 60 miles east of Reno, Nevada, had been looking forward to a family reunion this week built around his 62nd birthday on Saturday. nstead, in a tragic turn, his family will lay him to rest after a funeral on Friday.
- PUB DATE: 7/25/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Deseret News

Thu Hong Nguyen was found guilty Monday of murder and arson in the deaths of Kansas City firefighters John Mesh and Larry Leggio. The 46-year-old lit a fire amid flammable liquids in a storeroom of her nail salon and it destroyed a three-story building in the 2600 block of Independence Boulevard on Oct.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star

Authorities say a crash took a scary turn for first responders in the west Valley when the driver involved in the crash started shooting at them. According to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the shooting happened after a woman crashed her car in a desert area near Perryville Road and Olive Avenue on Sunday night.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox 10 Phoenix