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National Fire News

Amid investigation, Pennsylvania fire department gets new chief

A longtime fire chief in West Hazleton will lead the department on an interim basis until council permanently fills the position, borough officials said. Council appointed Robert Ward as borough fire department chief after Shawn Evans resigned as chief of both the fire department and fire company, according to several borough officials.
- PUB DATE: 2/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Standard Speaker

How a Florida paramedic’s split-second decision may have saved a student’s life after mass shooting

As Madeleine Wilford bled out from multiple gunshot wounds outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the first responder struggling to keep her alive was faced with a choice. Coral Springs Fire Department Lt. Laz Ojeda could follow guidance to rush the high school student to a hospital 30 miles away, where policy dictates most child patients should go.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Bay.com

Texas firefighters rescue mother, 3 children from raging apartment fire

RAW VIDEO - Firefighters rescued one mother and three children Monday morning in a Willowbrook-area apartment fire that destroyed 16 units. First responders arrived at 14131 Cornerstone Village Dr. just before 2 a.m. to see flames raging in the North Bend Apartments. One building was destroyed in the blaze, which went through the roof, causing it to collapse, a fire department spokeswoman said.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Arizona fire district age discrimination case reaches U.S. Supreme Court

The nation's high court agreed Monday to decide whether the tiny Mount Lemmon Fire District -- and any other small government employer -- is exempt from age-discrimination laws. In a brief order, the U.S. Supreme Court said it wants to hear arguments by the district that it cannot be sued by two fire fighters who were let go by the district in 2009.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Daily Sun

New Hampshire firefighter creates gadget for autistic patients

Sometimes cuddly teddy bears just don’t work in calming a child or young adult being transported by ambulance to the hospital. Bill Carey, a firefighter/EMT with Newington Fire Department, was recently watching a TV program about autism that talked about stimulation devices. An idea was born, and with a few inexpensive items purchased at Walmart, Carey invented a gadget that he hopes will work with patients who have autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or anxiety.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seacoast Online

Illinois fire district trustee resigns amid fallout over profane sign

Boone County Fire Protection District 2 Trustee Kevin Stark has resigned his appointed position amid controversy over a profane sign he planted in front of his Marengo trucking and concrete business earlier this month. The District 2 Board of Trustees accepted Stark’s resignation during a board meeting Monday.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Rockford Register Star

Pennsylvania fire union threatens legal action over mayor's testimony

Allentown’s firefighter union issued a letter threatening to pursue legal action against Mayor Ed Pawlowski as a result of his testimony Thursday. Pawlowski, who testified in his own defense during his federal corruption trial, said while under oath that he had his City Hall office swept for listening devices due to actions by the fire union.
- PUB DATE: 2/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Allentown Morning Call

'He is a living miracle': Alaska firefighter recovering from horrific 2017 fall

On a June day in 2017, Anchorage firefighter Ben Schultz took a horrific fall from a 100-foot-tall ladder. While the Anchorage Fire Deptartment deemed its investigation of the situation inconclusive - stating they couldn't determine a specific cause of Schultz's fall, which apparently happened on a training day - one thing was certain: He was on the edge of death after suffering serious injuries, including broken bones, a punctured lung and severe brain damage.
- PUB DATE: 2/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTUU-TV NBC 2 Anchorage

Illinois fire engine ran out of water as fatal blaze burned; union president says staff cuts partly to blame

A fire engine ran out of water before a second engine crew was able to re-establish a water supply to fight a fatal fire in Elgin this year, according to documents obtained by The Courier-News. Elgin fire Chief David Schmidt said that, according to radio communications, firefighters at the scene were without water for 77 seconds while trying to extinguish the blaze in a mobile home in which a 63-year-old man died.
- PUB DATE: 2/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune

Cat in tree doesn’t worry Massachusetts firefighter; trouble follows

A “sarcastic” firefighter got a verbal reprimand recently for his response to a caller who asked firefighters to rescue a cat from a tree, according to the fire chief. A young girl posted on social media on behalf of her mother that the firefighter who took the call was “extremely rude” and that he suggested the cat would eventually get out of the tree on its own: He said he had never seen a cat skeleton in a tree before, and that cats have nine lives.
- PUB DATE: 2/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram

Colorado prof prepares firefighters technically and mentally for demands of job

Fighting fires is Alan Ziff's life's work. More than that, it is his passion. Ziff, 62, has been involved in fire fighting for 34 years. He quit counting the structure fires he battled when the number hit 1,000. What makes someone run into a burning building, while the first reaction of most people (or rats, cockroaches and just about every other mobile organism) is to get the heck out of there? "It takes a certain type of person," said Ziff, who is the chair of the Fire Science Department and Fire Academy director at Pueblo Community College.
- PUB DATE: 2/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pueblo Chieftain

National Data Shows Firefighters' Mental, Emotional Health Not Getting Enough Attention

In his more than 25 years as firefighter in Stamford, Connecticut, Capt. Jacques Roy thought he could handle anything – until the smoke cleared from a devastating fire that killed three children and their grandparents. “I was the guy who couldn't hack it. I was the guy who needed help. I never thought it would be me.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC New York

Washington state's first career female firefighter dies of cancer

Washington state's first career female firefighter has died of complications from cancer at the age of 64, the Bellevue Fire Department announced Wednesday. Jeanette Woldseth, a retired fire captain with the department who became a professional firefighter in 1977, died Monday afternoon. “Captain Woldseth was truly a ground-breaker, not only in the Bellevue Fire Department, but within the larger firefighter community,” said Bellevue Interim Fire Chief Todd Dickerboom.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4

Drinking at Cal Fire academy brings down 14 more firefighters

For the second time in three years, Cal Fire is cracking down on alcohol consumption at its training academy in Amador County. This time, it’s disciplining 14 firefighters who were supposed to stay sober during their six weeks of training at the Cal Fire Academy in Ione. Cal Fire Deputy Director Michael Mohler announced the discipline on Thursday.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee

Fees case may enable U.S. Supreme Court to curb union power

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will consider for the second time in two years whether to choke off a critical funding stream for public-employee unions, potentially reducing organized labor’s influence in the workplace and at the ballot box. The nine justices will hear a challenge backed by anti-union groups to the legality of fees that workers who are not members of unions representing teachers, police, firefighters and certain other government employees must pay to help cover the costs of collective bargaining with state and local governments.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Reuters

Arizona firefighter, who rescued man from house fire, awarded Medal of Valor

A firefighter with the Peoria Fire-Medical Department received the National Medal of Valor award from President Donald Trump Tuesday. Stephen Gunn, a department engineer, received the award in a White House ceremony for rescuing a man from a burning house in April 2016. The Peoria Fire-Medical Department, along with other jurisdictions, responded to the house fire near 75th Avenue and Thunderbird Road.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

Chicago Firefighter Seriously Injured After 'Mayday' Called in Apartment Blaze

A firefighter was in serious condition after being pulled from a South Side building following a "mayday" call Wednesday afternoon. Chicago Fire Media tweeted a mayday for a lost firefighter was called around 1:30 p.m. in the 4300 block of King Drive in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The fire was reported on the fourth floor of an apartment building, where a firefighter became "disoriented" in heavy smoke and was separated from his company.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC Chicago

San Francisco firefighters sue amid tangled charges of harassment, station affair

Six former commanders and two firefighters at a San Francisco fire station who were reassigned amid a sexual harassment investigation in 2016 sued the city Wednesday, saying they were discriminated against because the alleged harassment victim was having an affair with a battalion chief. Firefighters at Station 2 on Powell Street in Chinatown were accused of waging a three-month campaign of sexual harassment against a female co-worker starting in late 2015, in which they allegedly taunted her, urinated in her bed and smeared feces in her bathroom.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SFGate.com

Arizona fire department saves money by building own ambulance with local companies

Buying local to replace an aging ambulance has provided big savings for an Arizona fire department. Yuma Fire Chief Steve Irr discovered a new unit typically costs $210,000. But Irr and Fleet Manager Floyd Friar instead elected to save the city of Yuma about $70,000 by buying a new chassis from an auto dealership and then paying other businesses to finish outfitting the vehicle, which includes a gurney to load patients.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNXV-TV Channel 15 ABC

FDNY firefighters union says ex-leader sold out members by taking city job

A former FDNY union head has pissed off rank-and-file firefighters by selling out — and now they are suing to get back some of his pay, saying he violated their contract. The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York is suing its longest-serving president for switching sides to take a cushy job running the city’s Fire Department Pension Fund.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

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