Simmering tensions and acrimony between Houston firefighters and Mayor Sylvester Turner have boiled over after the mayor erupted at firefighters who spurned him at two recent public events.
The most recent incident, which took place at a Houston Rockets game Thursday, prompted the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 341 to send Turner a letter warning him not to threaten the association's membership. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
The Minnesota State Patrol has identified a paramedic killed when the ambulance she was riding in crashed into a stalled semi on Interstate 694 in Brooklyn Center Monday.
Sara DuPaul, a Minnesota State Trooper, said the semi stalled at about 6:45 p.m. in the apex near the split with Interstate 94. She said about 15 minutes later the semi was being towed when an ambulance came from I-694 and attempted to merge, striking the back of the semi. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KARE 11
As wildfires swept through and decimated neighborhoods in Northern California, some of the first responders lost their own homes as they were helping to evacuate residents.
One of them was Mill Valley Fire Chief Tom Welch.
Welch, a Santa Rosa resident, lost his home, then went back and helped with the fire response in Napa and Sonoma counties after he and his family evacuated, Linn Walsh, assistant to the Mill Valley city manager, said Tuesday. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SFGate.com
The head of the union representing rank-and-file St. Paul firefighters has filed a workplace conduct complaint against Fire Chief Tim Butler, saying he used a derogatory term in an email to a firefighter last week.
Butler said on Monday that he used a term that was “unprofessional and uncalled for” when he was frustrated. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Paul Pioneer Press - Twin Cities.com
The names of 112 New York City firefighters who died of illnesses after spending time working in the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 attacks were added Tuesday to a memorial in the state’s capital city for firefighters killed in the line of duty.
The Fire Department of New York firefighters make up most of the 118 new names etched onto to the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial located at the Empire State Plaza in downtown Albany. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Freeman
A firefighter who was terminated for alleged racist misconduct is receiving support from his former colleagues.
FOX2 reported that probationary firefighter Robert Pattison was fired for bringing a watermelon to his new station that is predominantly black on his first day after some African-American firefighters were offended. - PUB DATE: 10/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
Massive wildfires sweeping through parts of California have killed at least 15 people and damaged more than 1,500 residences and other buildings, according to authorities.
Firefighters were battling 17 fires across multiple counties in the state as of late Monday, authorities said. Intensified by strong winds, the fires charred about 115,000 acres of land, destroyed at least 1,500 buildings and forced nearly 20,000 residents to evacuate. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News
Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena gave City Council a bleak assessment Tuesday of his department's readiness to respond to significant rainstorms and even to daily fire and medical calls, saying a ramshackle fleet and inadequate training are putting the safety of both citizens and firefighters at risk.
The Houston Fire Department must double its annual spending on engines, ladders and ambulances, the chief said, and must ramp up its purchases of water rescue apparatus and the training to enable personnel to operate them. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
More than a dozen wildfires raged across Northern California on Tuesday morning, with the biggest ones scorching the state's famous wine country, killing at least 11 people and burning more than 1,500 homes and businesses, authorities said.
The fires were burning in California's wine country destinations -- Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties -- as well as Yuba County, north of Sacramento, with flames ripping through the lush, picturesque landscape. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN
Huntsville Fire and Rescue is treating Station 17 in the Hampton Cove area for brown recluse spiders, confirmed Captain Frank McKenzie on Monday.
McKenzie said two firefighters have been bitten.
To combat the spiders and keep crews safe, he explained the department moved firefighters, necessary equipment, and firefighters' personal items to Station 19 on Old Big Cove Road on October 5th. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHNT-TV News 19 Huntsville
We're at that time of year when cities and towns across the country take some time to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the performance of their duties.
Memorials to the fallen are just one of the ways we remember those who gave everything to protect life and property, and one firefighter from a small community about an hour north of New York City has waited long enough to receive his due. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com
Earlier this month, 41-year-old Robert Pattison went to introduce himself to his fellow firefighters at Engine 55 at Joy and Southfield in Detroit. Second Battallion Chief Shawn McCarty calls it a tradition for firefighters.
"It's not mandatory, it's voluntary," he says. "You come in bearing gifts. The usual gift is doughnuts, but you are allowed to bring whatever you want to bring in. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox 2 Detroit
Channel 2 Investigates has learned Houston fire Chief Sam Pena will make a case to city leaders Tuesday to purchase about $12 million in new emergency equipment to update the HFD's ailing fleet.
Specifically, Chief Sam Pena will ask for 10 more evacuation boats, four more rescue boats and six to seven more high water vehicles. - PUB DATE: 10/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston
“We only need to look back over the past few weeks to witness the tremendous contributions of firefighters called to respond to hurricanes, tragic events in Las Vegas as well as the wildfires burning across the western United States,” said Dr. Don Wright, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as he addressed those gathered at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service on Sunday morning. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Frederick News-Post
A volunteer Burke County firefighter was killed after being hit by a car while trying to clear debris from a road in Morganton Sunday night.
According to a spokesperson with the Triple Community Fire Department, firefighters were dispatched to a tree that was blocking the eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 70 East near the Drexel intersection just before midnight. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBTV-TV Channel 3
More than two months after the city expected to announce the hiring of a new chief to lead its troubled fire department in the wake of the Ghost Ship disaster, it remains unclear how soon the position will be filled.
One of the finalists, Los Angeles Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Butler, told the Bay Area News Group on Friday he was offered the job at the end of August but turned it down because the compensation package would mean a pay cut. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times
The Cleveland Division of Police is investigating a deadly crash involving a car and a fire truck.
The crash happened around 12:20 a.m. Monday in front of the Cleveland Division of Fire station at St. Clair Ave. and E. 103rd St.
A ladder truck was returning from a fire when a car hit the truck head-on. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJW-TV MyFox Cleveland
Wind-whipped wildfires roared to life Sunday night and early Monday across Wine Country, burning buildings, forcing hundreds of evacuations and injuring several people, reports CBS San Francisco.
The Atlas Peak fire was the largest, quickly growing to more than 200 acres near Napa.
Meanwhile, a fire near Calistoga had burned several buildings, sent several people to the hospital to be treated for burns and prompted mandatory evacuations along several roads. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS News
Emergency responders in Las Vegas have spent years training to respond to a mass casualty event such as Sunday night’s massacre, officials said Thursday.
“We knew what to do,” Clark County Fire Department Chief Greg Cassell told reporters. “It was much grander than we ever envisioned. However, we were able to handle it because of our people, our training, our professionalism and our equipment and our relationships. - PUB DATE: 10/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal
As he pulls up to late night fire calls, Bill Weimer looks around and where he used to have 12 brothers by his side ready to put their lives on the line, he might only have five now.
For Weimer, and so many other volunteer chiefs, this is now commonplace and something they have, begrudgingly, learned to deal with as volunteer firefighter numbers continue to decline. - PUB DATE: 10/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pocono Record
