Seeking to crackdown on unnecessary emergency room visits, the Los Angeles Fire Department has launched a new program called the Sobriety Emergency Response — or SOBER — Unit that will transport publicly intoxicated people to a sober center located on skid row in downtown. The one-year pilot program, which has been in operation since November, includes an ambulance crew housed at Los Angeles Fire Station #4 on Temple Street, city officials said. - PUB DATE: 1/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
VIDEO - A Nashville fire chief has been demoted to captain for six months and assigned to a different shift after a complaint was filed that he had been hostile and discriminatory to fire recruits. The News 4 I-Team obtained the disciplinary actions taken against Captain Trey Nelms.
The action was taken following last year’s “Firefighter Survival Week” in which recruit Jennifer Lockhart fell during a training exercise at the department’s new training tower. - PUB DATE: 1/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSMV-TV News 4
VIDEO - Two firefighters were injured after a burning home collapsed on top of them Saturday morning in Southeast Portland.
The fire was reported at 5:19 a.m. in the 2400 block of Southeast 89th Avenue. Flames were coming out of the front of the house and garage when firefighters arrived. Crews entered the home to make sure all residents were safe and it was determined no one was home. - PUB DATE: 1/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KGW-TV Northwest News Channel 8
A James City County firefighter is charged with reckless driving after police say he failed to obey a red light while driving a fire engine, causing a crash with a septic truck and injuring four people, including himself.
Christopher D’Annibale, 32, was driving the fire engine to a structure fire in the 9500 block of Richmond Road Sunday when the engine was hit by a septic truck at Anderson’s Corner, according to James City County Police spokeswoman Stephanie Williams. - PUB DATE: 1/8/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Williamsburg Yorktown Daily
Jeannette Council demoted its fire chief this week in a move the department's former leader called political.
Council unanimously decided Tuesday to move Vance Phillips back to captain and elevate Bill Frye to the role of chief.
“I'm not a Democrat and that is obviously a big motive in the reversing of all that was built in the last number of years,” Phillips said in a statement. - PUB DATE: 1/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Caroline Carpenter of Long Beach became the first woman to earn honors as top recruit and class leader Thursday during graduation ceremonies for 52 Los Angeles Fire Department recruits at the Valley Recruit Training Academy 81. “I’m small,” said Carpenter, 26, “but I got a big heart.”
“She stands out,” said LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas to an audience that included Carpenter’s family and friends. - PUB DATE: 1/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News
A Brooklyn fire station nicknamed “the friendly firehouse” is being investigated for being a hotbed of hazing, bullying, threats and sexual misconduct, the Daily News has learned.
FDNY Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro cleared out the embattled firehouse — where a gigantic smiley face is emblazoned on the door — last week, transferring six fire officers and two firefighters from Engine 309/Ladder 159 on E. - PUB DATE: 1/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News
The Novato fire district reached a settlement of nearly $200,000 with a firefighter it terminated for failing a drug test and other alleged violations.
Kirk Lewis received $150,000 from the district’s insurer under the settlement. The district itself paid another $49,000 to Lewis’ lawyers.
The district admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to regard Lewis’ exit as a resignation rather than a termination. - PUB DATE: 1/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Marin Independent Journal
KCK Mayor Mark Holland said Thursday he was threatened on social media by a member of the KCK Fire Department and reported the threat to local and state law enforcement authorities.
In a statement, Holland, mayor of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., said he contacted the Kansas City, Kan. - PUB DATE: 1/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Kansas City Star
The FDNY is getting its “fifth man” back.
The department has decided to bring back a fifth firefighter to the 10 engine companies that lost them last month.
The additional firefighters had been pulled from these houses and sent to different stations in early December to combat a soaring absentee rate, officials said. - PUB DATE: 1/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News
The state is investigating the Spokane Fire Department after contaminants reportedly were found in firefighters’ air tanks.
The discovery, which occurred in mid-November after firefighters noticed a foul smell coming from air canisters during a breathing test, prompted fire department leaders to shut down all three of the department’s air compressors. - PUB DATE: 1/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Spokesman-Review
A Baltimore circuit judge has ruled that city officials broke their contract with many police officers, firefighters and retirees in 2010 by cutting a key pension provision that has cost retirees millions in pension benefits.
Judge Julie R. Rubin ruled Tuesday that former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's overhaul of pension benefits "unlawfully withdrew" a variable pension benefit that paid out more money to retirees when the stock market improved. - PUB DATE: 1/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baltimore Sun
An Austin Fire Department arson investigator has been charged with four crimes — sexual assault, another felony and two misdemeanors — and was booked Wednesday into the Travis County Jail, according to court records.
Lt. Marcus Reed is accused of using his position as a law enforcement officer to lure a woman into his city-owned truck in March and assaulting her. - PUB DATE: 1/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: American-Statesman
Bonnie Blystone made a call to the Ocean City-Wright Fire Department on the afternoon of Dec. 20.
When the dispatcher answered, Blystone said it wasn’t a 911 call. It was a “personal dilemma,” she said.
(It was) a floundering American flag atop at 25-foot flagpole located on my parent’s property next to their home,” she said in an email. - PUB DATE: 1/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Florida Daily News
State regulators have released previously withheld details in reports filed by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. revealing the exact location of damaged transmission equipment found near the ignition points of the wildfires that ravaged Sonoma and Napa counties in October.
The documents — including the precise address and specific types of damaged equipment — provide new information about the proximity of PG&E equipment to the origins of the deadly Oct. - PUB DATE: 1/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
A Wamego firefighter has died after suffering serious injuries from a fall.
According to the Wamego Fire Department, John Randle and the Wamego Fire Department responded to a structure fire at 4:50 a.m. on Monday. After the fire was put out, he was severely hurt from a fall while “returning a fire apparatus to service. - PUB DATE: 1/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSNT-TV Topeka
Bluefield, Virginia is mourning the loss of its fire chief.
Fire Chief Jim Hardy passed away the evening of Sun, Dec. 31st, 2017. Officials in the city of Bluefield said Hardy died of natural causes. Hardy was an active members of the fire department for over 65 years.
Mayor of Bluefield, Virginia, Don Harris said Hardy dedicated his life to the fire service and his legacy will live on. - PUB DATE: 1/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WVNS TV
A 16-year-old Akron girl hadn’t seen her aunt since she collided with a firetruck last July, killing her cousin and another close friend.
She faced her aunt during her sentencing in Summit County Juvenile Court Tuesday, and tearfully apologized for the death of her cousin, 16-year-old LaShae Johnson. - PUB DATE: 1/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Akron Beacon Journal
Fire Chief Frederick E. Jackson and firefighter Will Lipczynski went to save a stranded ice fisherman Tuesday afternoon on Chaumont Bay when they ended up having to be rescued themselves.
The two firefighters were stuck in an airboat for more than two hours in the bay’s frigid waters during whiteout conditions and had to be helped back to shore by members of the Clayton Fire Department. - PUB DATE: 1/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times
A white Columbia Fire Department captain who was fired from his $53,722-a-year job for making threatening remarks on social media about a Black Lives Matter protest has filed a lawsuit against the city alleging racial discrimination.
The remarks by James “Jimmy” Morris were made in two posts on the veteran firefighter’s personal Facebook in 2016. - PUB DATE: 1/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The State
