Support your police and give a "secure retirement for all city employees," say signs on Kirkwood lawns urging a "yes" vote to change the city's retirement system. Support your firefighters and vote "no," say competing signs describing the proposal as unnecessary, permanent and coming at a higher cost.
- PUB DATE: 3/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Four Virginia Beach firefighters who were denied promotions last year are suing the city. They claim results of an annual captain’s exam were tainted when a battalion chief gave confidential test information to two firefighters. The lawsuit was filed last week in Circuit Court on behalf of longtime firefighters David Scherrer, Richard Irving, Alexander Wazlak and Mark Bayly, who were among 36 firefighters taking the exam last year.
- PUB DATE: 3/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot/HamptonRoads.com

Actor Ed Norton took to social media on Saturday to praise the FDNY’s bravery and his film crew’s quick thinking in the wake of a film set inferno that killed a firefighter in Harlem earlier this week. “I have never witnessed firsthand that kind of bravery,” Norton wrote in an Instagram post about the fire.
- PUB DATE: 3/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNBC-TV NBC New York

City firefighters from the Whitney Avenue firehouse were out fighting a fire on Nicoll Street Friday evening when the call came in that there was a fire at 350 Whitney Ave. — their firehouse. Many of the firefighters, who were just finishing on Nicoll Street, which was reported at 5:47 pm., rushed back and, accompanied by colleagues from other firehouses, fought the fire in their own firehouse, Fire Chief John A.
- PUB DATE: 3/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Haven Register

20 as Olympia fire chief — Larry Dibble, 65, will call it a career at the end of the month. He is the longest serving fire chief in the city’s history. The next fire chief will be current deputy fire chief Greg Wright. But Wright is set to retire, too, so he expects to serve 18 months in that role before a new chief is appointed by the Olympia city manager.
- PUB DATE: 3/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Olympian

Two York City firefighters were killed when a wall collapsed Thursday at the former Weaver Piano & Organ Co. building, which had been heavily damaged in a fire that began the day before. Ivan Flanscha, 50, of York Township, died just before 4 p.m. at York Hospital, according to a report from the York County Coroner's Office.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: York Dispatch

A veteran city firefighter was killed in a raging five-alarm fire on a Harlem film set Thursday night, the FDNY said. Firefighter Michael Davidson, 37, was the nozzle man, the first to brave the flames when his company, Engine 69, arrived at the scene on St. Nicholas Ave. at W. 149th St. at 10:50 p.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

Joshua Granada, the 2017 fire fighter of the year, filed a wrongful termination civil lawsuit against the city of Orlando Thursday, arguing the reason cited for his dismissal was just an excuse to remove him from the job. Granada, a 10-year veteran of the Orlando Fire Department, was recognized for his response to the Pulse nightclub massacre during a ceremony in Tallahassee with Gov.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: clickorlando.com

Four Virginia Beach firefighters are suing the city over what they call a tainted promotion process. The suit filed in Virginia Beach Circuit Court is on behalf of David Scherrer, Richard Ivrving, Alexander Wazlak and Mark Bayly. The master firefighters were all looking to become captains. The promotions process began in May 2017.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: wavy.com

California's Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will start switching off power to minimize sparks in vulnerable areas during times of extreme fire danger, it said Thursday, as state investigators examine whether the utility's equipment set off deadly Northern California wildfires. The move for pre-emptive power cutoffs is one that some local officials and fire survivors have urged after recent wildfires.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: nbcbayarea.com

The city has tapped Greg Benson, a former fire chief with more than 35 years of public safety experience, to serve as the head of the Victorville Fire Department, officials said Wednesday. Benson will oversee the city’s underway transition from San Bernardino County Fire to its own agency. He is expected to begin April 23.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Victorville Daily Press

Maplewood and its Fire Relief Association have been engaged in a money squabble ever since the city announced a staffing change that would eliminate part-time firefighters. That battle could end with a city victory if recently proposed legislation is passed this session at the state Capitol. At the center of the feud is a $1.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: TwinCities.com

When Sara Errinton joined the Syracuse Fire Department, she was shown a list of fire stations where she couldn't work. She was a woman, and those stations didn't have coed facilities. Soon after, when she asked to be part of the hazardous materials team, she was again told no. A woman of child-bearing age shouldn't be around hazardous materials, officials told her.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Syracuse Post-Standard & Syracuse.com

Nearly half a million smoke alarms nationwide are being recalled due to a risk of failure to alert consumers to a fire, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday. About 452,000 Kidde dual-sensor (photoelectric and ionization) smoke alarms sold in the U.S. and another 40,000 sold in Canada may be defective, the warning states.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNEP.com

Limington town officials say a “stand-down” order for the fire department has been lifted after it was determined that its firefighting gear meets Maine standards. Selectmen in the York County town on Saturday ordered volunteer firefighters not to respond to fires because it appeared their gear was out of compliance with national standards that say the equipment should be retired 10 years after it is manufactured.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Press Herald

Supervisor Aaron Peskin had harsh words about the Fire Department response to Saturday’s fire in North Beach. Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle IMAGE 1 OF 16 Supervisor Aaron Peskin had harsh words about the Fire Department response to Saturday’s fire in North Beach.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate.com)

A state district judge on Tuesday ordered Houston's city secretary to finish reviewing firefighters' petition asking for pay parity with police, giving her until April 27 to validate the eight-month-old signatures. Firefighters submitted a petition last July asking for a ballot referendum that would grant firefighters the same pay as police officers of equal rank, but City Secretary Anna Russell did not validate it in time for the November election.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Deputy Fire Chief of Operations John F. Sullivan announced Tuesday that he is leaving the department after more than 30 years to lead the Brookline Fire Department. The deputy chief, who will start as chief in Brookline March 26, has served for eight years in his current post, and been present at some of the seminal moments in department history.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Fire Chief Thomas Jenkins, IAFC president and chairman of the board, testified today before a Congressional panel that the IAFC is concerned about the escalating costs and damages caused by wildland fires. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were approximately 71,500 wildland fires reported last year, which burned almost 10 million acres.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: About the International Association of Fire Chiefs

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Jones has agreed to submit to random drug tests as he seeks to require the same of rank and file firefighters and paramedics. The fire union is voting this week on a new contract that for the first time requires random drug testing of the county's first responders.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Bay.com