Tucson Fire Department Chief Jim Critchley announced his retirement Thursday after six years as head of the department. Critchley sent out a memo to Tucson Fire Department personnel Thursday saying he loved his job, but decided to retire and focus on his family, department spokesman Julian Herrera said.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tucson Arizona Daily Star

A jury awarded a former firefighter $245,000 in damages Thursday, deciding she had proved two allegations in her federal lawsuit against the city of Tampa: That she was discriminated against because she was pregnant and the city retaliated against her when she complained. But on the third allegation, the seven-person jury did not find that the city discriminated against Tanja Vidovic because of her gender.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Bay.com

Firefighters across Southern California are battling six major wildfires with brutal Santa Ana winds expected to continue fanning the flames through Saturday. The newest blazes, the Lilac fire in San Diego County and the Liberty fire in Riverside County, are now being fueled by continued Santa Ana winds and low humidity, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

A Milwaukee Fire Department acting lieutenant repeatedly groped a co-worker and gave her low marks on her work evaluation after she complained, according to a criminal complaint charging him with a felony. Michael Peden, 35, was charged Thursday with second-degree sexual assault after his arrest last weekend.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

PHOTOS - A U.K.-based fire service has said it is “seriously unimpressed” with a 22-year-old man after five firefighters spent an hour freeing his head from a microwave oven he had “cemented” himself inside as part of a stunt he was filming for YouTube. The man, based in the English city of Wolverhampton, had mixed quick-dry spackling paste and poured it around his head, which was protected by plastic bag inside the microwave, which was intended to act as a mold, according to West Midlands Fire.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: TIME

Although three ladder trucks were present at the high-rise apartment building fire that killed two women Tuesday, the city fire chief says his decision not to deploy aerial ladder rescues for the building’s 150-some elderly residents was the right one. Chief Jay Delaney said the fact that the city’s aerial ladder truck was out of service played no part in the decision to have many of the residents of Lincoln Plaza shelter in place.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Citizens' Voice

Port Aransas Volunteer Fire Department received a fire truck today, donated by the Philomont Volunteer Fire Department from Virginia. The truck was driven from Virginia to Port Aransas by firefighters from Philomont Volunteer Fire Department. "When we saw the flooding and damage on the television we went to county fire chief and asked what we could do to help," said Philomont Volunteer Fire Department Chief Rick Pearsall.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KRIS-TV NBC 6 Corpus Christi

Watertown - A state Supreme Court judge on Wednesday reserved decision regarding an injunction to block the city from a new policy that prohibits firefighters from being called into work when their colleagues call in sick. Last month, the City Council decided in executive session to establish a new policy that will not allow firefighters to be brought into work when others call in sick, a move that City Manager Sharon A.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily News

Baltimore Police have arrested a 35-year-old Harford County man in connection to the Nov. 30 killing of a man in his Upper Fells Point home. Daniel Greene, of the 2100 block of Harkins Rd. in Norrisville, was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with first degree murder of Jon Hickey, 31, a Baltimore County volunteer firefighter and photographer who had been accepted into the next recruit class for the Baltimore Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baltimore Sun

NFPA reports annually on large-loss fires and explosions that occurred in the United States the year before. Those fires are defined as events that result in property damage of at least $10 million. There were 25 such fires in 2016, resulting in a total of over $1.4 billion in direct property losses.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: National Fire Protection Association

A Montgomery firefighter who collapsed at the scene of a house fire late Tuesday night was pronounced dead at a hospital, the state Fire Marshal's office has reported. "It's a sad day for Western Massachusetts," said Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for the state Fire Marshal's office. The blaze at 1524 Southampton Road was reported shortly after 11 p.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MassLive.com

The Remsen Street fire burned so intensely on Thursday that it melted the tires, electric system and hydraulic lines of the Watervliet-Green Island aerial ladder truck at the fire scene, officials said Tuesday. “It was so hot that it melted the tires. It’s fire resistant not fire proof,” said Sean Ward, executive assistant to Green Island Mayor Ellen McNulty-Ryan.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albany Times Union

Providence officials have agreed to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a veteran firefighter that accused department higher-ups of transferring him to a different assignment based on his race. Under the terms of a settlement, Renato Alarcon will be paid $7,500, according to Victor Morente, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPRI-TV Providence 12

The Denison Fire Department just welcomed their very first female firefighter in 141 years. There are more than 1.1 million firefighters in the United States. According to the National Fire Protection Association, only 7% are women. Not only is Hanna Lindemuth one of them, she's the first female firefighter in Denison.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXII.com

The 911 dispatcher asked the frantic woman on the other end of the phone call if she was safe. The answer was immediate: “No.” Fire was burning all around the Santa Rosa couple’s Riebli Road neighborhood on the night of Oct. 8, cutting off their escape. They jumped into a neighbor’s pool — “is that a good thing to do?” the woman asked the dispatcher during the call, which started at 12:42 a.
- PUB DATE: 12/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat

The FDNY on Monday moved to curb soaring medical leave among firefighters by reducing staffing on engine companies. Effective on Tuesday at 9 a.m., the FDNY will no longer assign a fifth firefighter to the 10 engine companies that had carried an extra set of hands, the Daily News has learned. The absenteeism rate includes time taken off to recover from injuries as well as sick days to recuperate from an illness.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

After Daniel Helsel and his colleague were dispatched to help a woman in labor at her home Monday morning, the two firefighters joked about the coincidence of the call landing on his birthday. Wouldn’t it be funny if Helsel, who was born in the back of an ambulance, wound up delivering a baby on the way to the hospital just as he had come into the world 42 years ago? It turns out that is exactly what happened minutes after Helsel and his colleagues loaded the mother-to-be in the back of an ambulance heading to Prince George’s Hospital Center.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post

Thousands were forced to flee their homes on Monday as firefighters battled a fast-moving wildfire in Southern California that had charred at least 45,000 acres of land, authorities said. Intensified by strong winds and harsh weather conditions, the fire was impacting structures in downtown Ventura early Tuesday morning, with multiple residential homes on fire near City Hall.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

There's a huge debate Monday night in Belleville about the city's proposal to eliminate its fire department and let a neighboring township provide services. The idea isn't sitting well with residents and current firefighters. Current firefighters would have to re-apply for their jobs, but residents don't like the idea of the city's only firehouse shutting down.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDIV-TV NBC 4 Detroit

Can you think of a better way to get in the holiday spirit than a fire truck light show? How about a fire truck light show complete with Christmas carols and dubstep music. That is what the Sterling Fire Department in Colorado decided to do to kick off the Christmas holidays in a video which has now gone viral.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTSP.com