Municipal fire districts and private emergency squads are clashing at the statehouse over a measure that would allow volunteer fire departments to bill patients' insurers for ambulance runs. Some volunteer emergency medical services have been forced to close due to rising costs and their inability to find the revenue needed to sustain their operations and recover their expenses, said Thomas Rinaldi, president of the Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York.
- PUB DATE: 1/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oneonta Daily Star

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is accepting applications for the 2018 James M. Shannon Advocacy Medal, which recognizes outstanding efforts of people taking a firm stance on fire and life safety issues. The James M. Shannon Advocacy Medal was established in honor of former NFPA President James Shannon.
- PUB DATE: 1/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: National Fire Protection Association

Jordan Bond is proof that good ideas can come from unexpected places. For Bond, the place was Norway and the idea was a life-saving mobile phone application. "I noticed a medical study in Norway that studied whether people survived better if citizens did CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) versus if they didn't, using an app," said Bond, a senior firefighter/medic with the Newport News Fire Department the past eight years.
- PUB DATE: 1/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Newport News Daily Press

A paramedic from Mishawaka died Monday morning after an ambulance hit a car while transporting a patient. Indiana State Police say the driver of the ambulance allegedly fell asleep prior to the crash. It happened at around 3:45 a.m. on U.S. 31 at State Road 218 in Miami County, Indiana. A preliminary investigation found that Christine Wesner, a 26-year-old from Wyatt, was driving the ambulance southbound and failed to stop at a red light.
- PUB DATE: 1/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNDU-TV NBC 16 South Bend

VIDEO - A Tesla Model S reportedly on “Autopilot” smashed into the back of a fire truck parked at a freeway accident scene Monday morning, authorities said. The union representing Culver City firefighters whose truck was hit around 8:30 a.m. on Interstate 405 in Culver City tweeted that the Tesla driver said he had been using Tesla’s Autopilot system, which performs automated driving tasks.
- PUB DATE: 1/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mercury News

City Councilman Mark C. Walczyk has proposed halting 2 percent raises to all management until the contract dispute with the firefighters’ union is settled. City Manager Sharon A. Addison asked for support for 2 percent pay raises for all city management positions in the 2018-19 budget while she and council members were discussing budget priorities during a Jan.
- PUB DATE: 1/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

The leaders of Orange County’s sheriff and fire departments have been summoned to appear before the Board of Supervisors out of concern that the helicopter war raging between the agencies may lead to a mid-air collision. Supervisor Todd Spitzer said Monday he is also concerned that sheriff’s deputies might start arresting Orange County Fire Authority pilots in the fight over who should conduct air rescues.
- PUB DATE: 1/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orange County Register

Nearly three decades ago, when Michael Mackey of Miami was looking to begin his career as a firefighter, his father suggested he consider Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. Mackey knew other municipal departments could offer better pay — as much as $10,000 per year more. But Mackey’s father, an engineer with the city of Miami, knew Palm Beach County’s fire chief, Herman Brice, and he suggested that his son would be able to grow in a department he believed would thrive under Brice’s leadership.
- PUB DATE: 1/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palm Beach Post

Longtime Boulder Rural Fire Rescue Chief Bruce Mygatt retired this week after being with the department for almost 50 years. Mygatt, who told the department about a year ago he would be retiring, celebrated his last day on Wednesday. Mygatt joined the at-the-time all volunteer Boulder Rural and Suburban Volunteer Fire Department in 1972 and became the department’s first full-time chief when it became the Boulder Rural Fire Protection District.
- PUB DATE: 1/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Denver Post

Northern Mariana Islands Gov. Ralph DeLeon Guerrero Torres today announced that he has accepted the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN) deployment plan offered by FirstNet and AT&T, meaning all 56 states and territories in the U.S. have made an “opt-in” decision. “Today, Gov. Torres made history,” FirstNet CEO Mike Poth said in a prepared statement.
- PUB DATE: 1/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgent Communications

As many as a dozen Chicago firefighters are facing disciplinary action for allegedly looking the other way while a colleague had sex with a woman at a South Side firehouse. The firefighter accused of engaging in the firehouse sex - with a woman who was his girlfriend at the time - is facing either a lengthy suspension or termination, City Hall sources said.
- PUB DATE: 1/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times

A firefighter suffered head trauma after a woman drove over a fire hose while Palmyra Fire Department was dispatched to the scene of a reported fire last week, police said. The department was dispatched at 4 p.m. Jan. 9 to 1300 Park Drive in North Londonderry Township for a report of a fire, township police said.
- PUB DATE: 1/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lebanon Daily News

John R. Hawkins, who for 12 years was chief of the Cal Fire Riverside Unit and the Riverside County Fire Department, was suddenly removed from his post on Friday, a Cal Fire spokesman said Friday night. Daniel Talbot, a deputy chief, on Friday took over as interim county fire chief until a permanent replacement is found, said Mike Mohler, a Cal Fire spokesman.
- PUB DATE: 1/22/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Riverside Press-Enterprise

AN FDNY lieutenant immortalized in a photo at Ground Zero has filed a complaint against the head of the fraternal group representing black firefighters, sources told the Daily News. Lt. Daniel McWilliams, who is white, filed the equal employment opportunity complaint after he appeared as part of the ceremonial unit at a memorial service Nov.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has taken over the county’s helicopter rescue operations after talks disintegrated with the county fire authority in the turf war over who should conduct air rescues. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said this week that her department has not renewed an agreement that named the Orange County Fire Authority as the primary agency in handling air rescues in remote wilderness and park areas.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orange County Register

Vending style machines are making an appearance at Chesapeake fire stations, but they are not there to supply the firefighters with chocolate bars and soda. The machines at three stations are part of a new, secure, web-based vending system for medical supplies. Chesapeake is the first fire department in Hampton Roads and just the fourth one in the commonwealth to adopt the supply dispensing system UCapIT.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Virginian Pilot

The City of East Liverpool is getting closer to having the area’s first public-private ambulance service. This comes after several incidents where no ambulance was available for emergencies — some of which ended in tragedy. East Liverpool’s fire crew is looking forward to the department’s new additions.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKBN.com

San Bernardino County Fire was welcomed this week to submit its second “best and final offer” to the city for handling services beyond June 30, when its contract officially expires. But elected officials were still proceeding with plans to reactivate a city-run department. Mayor Pro Tem Jim Cox was clear to temper Tuesday evening that an absolute decision had not been made, a suggestion that the Council still maintained a collective open mind to renewing a contract with County Fire.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Press

The deputy chief of the West Feliciana Fire Protection District was killed Wednesday morning north of St. Francisville while responding to a crash on U.S. 61, according to State Police and Fire Protection District No.1 of West Feliciana. Deputy Chief Russell Achord, 48, of St. Francisville, was responding to an 18-wheeler that had run off the side of U.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baton Rouge Advocate

In Phoenix, not every medical 911 call results in an ambulance ride to the hospital. Sometimes, the fire department calls for a taxi to take the person to the hospital instead. The number of taxi rides is growing — overwhelmingly so for people in poor neighborhoods — as fire officials wrestle with more calls and limited resources.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix