The former South Thomaston fire chief has been ordered by a judge to account for approximately $15,000 that went missing from the town’s fireman’s association after it was allocated to help buy a new fire truck. Justice William Stokes, in his Feb. 14 ruling, ordered that former Fire Chief Wayne Brown, along with former firefighter Colin Grierson, to come up in the next month with a detailed list of “any and all withdrawals and/or disbursements from the [South Thomaston Firemen’s] Association’s funds.
- PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bangor Daily ews

Soot, grit and grime once were the height of fashion at American firehouses. Strutting around in a singed helmet and smudged turnout gear let the world know that you were one tough firefighting son of a gun. “For some it’s still like the red badge of courage,” said Herington, Kan., fire chief Ken Staatz.
- PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star

Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed is on leave from her job for the second time this year. A spokeswoman refused to say late Monday afternoon whether Reed’s absence is performance related. There is no current administrative investigation of the chief, she added. Reed did not return a phone message. “The city does not comment on the leave status of employees,” said Erica Derryck, a spokesman for Mayor Libby Schaaf.
- PUB DATE: 2/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

Ron Savage, an anchor at Fox 2 News and on-call firefighter, died suddenly today after collapsing while training with the Milford Fire Department, said Fire Chief Thomas Moore. He was 63. "Ron was a dedicated member of the Milford Fire Department since 2014 and this loss will truly be felt," Milford Fire Chief Thomas Moore said in a statement emailed to the Free Press.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: HomeTown Life

The West Burlington Fire Department's profile picture on Facebook has changed overnight after losing one of their own. The Eastern Iowa Fireground Photos is reporting on their Facebook page that firefighter James Franciskovich, 52, and two others were headed to the State Fire School in Ames, Iowa on Friday evening, Feb.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WQAD 8

West Sacramento’s Deputy Fire Chief Rebecca “Becky”’ Ramirez never saw a female firefighter growing up and certainly never considered a career in the field. In fact, when she and her husband, Adam Ramirez, were taking classes at a San Bernardino County-area community college, she encouraged him to enroll in a firefighting course offered there.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee

Fire Capt. Rick Winship died in a hospital bed, not in a raging inferno or a tragic accident while racing to an emergency scene. But his death was in the line of duty all the same, his widow says. The fast-spreading cancer that killed him two years ago was, Heather Winship believes, a result of exposure to toxic soot and smoke during his 26-year career with the Independence Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star

Following the suicide of Firefighter Nicole Mittendorff last year, the Fairfax County (Va.) Fire and Rescue Department contracted to have an assessment done of organizational culture and attitudes within the department. The resulting report includes many valuable insights and recommendations, but also falls short when it comes to really dealing with the issue of accountability.
- PUB DATE: 2/27/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

PHOTO - A firetruck crashed in Whitley County, Kentucky Thursday. The Woodbine Fire Department truck crashed in a wooded area near Louden Road and Highway 92 eastbound. According to the report, two firefighters were on their way to help with a structure fire at the time of the crash. The men were transported to Baptist Health Corbin for minor injuries.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WATE.com

It would be difficult to find anyone more embedded in the culture of Prince George's County fire service —or in the community of Bowie — than county Fire Chief Marc Bashoor. As a kid, he rode his bike from the Tulip Grove section of town to Station 39 on Route 450 and watch the firetrucks go out. He became a volunteer there in 1981 at the age of 16 — he needed a note from his parents to sign up — and even lived in the firehouse for a time.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Capital Gazette

It’s been more than two years since Hartford Firefighter Kevin Bell was killed while battling a massive blaze in the city's North End and a final report reveals what factors contributed to his death. The National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health (NIOSH) report reveals how the firefighter died and lists several recommendations for the fire department.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC Connecticut

The Menlo Park Fire Protection District’s top official wants it to lead the pack in using drones for emergency operations. “I want this agency to be the lead agency in the United States in the terms of applying new technology,” district board President Peter Carpenter said at Tuesday’s board meeting.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mercury News

A firefighter who fell 15 feet through a burning barn roof in Clare is recovering from several broken bones. Sam Eberhart, 33, was battling a fire at the barn when he fell 15 feet onto a concrete floor. "It was instant pain," Eberhart said. "It was the first time I had ever broken a bone. There was no comfort.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDIV-TV NBC 4 Detroit

When Roy Jimerson saw a bunch of paper flying around Coastal Federal Credit Union on University Drive and Shannon Road, he stopped. "I saw that it was money, so I turned around and blocked traffic, picked it up; another citizen stopped and helped me gather it," Jimerson said. When Jimerson isn't busy working as a Durham firefighter, he's laying tile as an independent contractor.
- PUB DATE: 2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVD-TV ABC Channel 11

PHOTO - A firefighter with the Leach Fire Department died Wednesday morning in a single-vehicle crash on his way to a structure fire, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said. Troopers say Michael Dale Russell, 68, from Rose, Oklahoma, was pronounced dead at the scene with massive injuries. The crash occurred at about 7:30 a.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOTV-TV CBS 6 Tulsa

Firefighter James Lee Jr. of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) has been named the 2017 Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award recipient. The award will be presented on Wednesday during the Opening Ceremony of FDIC International 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Firefighter (FF) James Lee rescued an 81-year-old man from the top-floor rear window of a five-story Old Law tenement that had two railroad flats per floor.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fire Engineering

Last summer, as the Austin fire union was preparing to represent one of its members at a disciplinary hearing, department officials permitted union president Bob Nicks to review confidential documents in the case under a provision of the city’s labor contract with firefighters. With a couple of clicks, Nicks secretly downloaded the information onto his personal laptop — but says he disclosed what he’d done a few days later to top department officials.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman

Tacoma Fire Department leaders have revised their hiring practices in the wake of a News Tribune story about a firefighter who died of a drug overdose in July 2016 after showing up for work impaired. Deeper scrutiny of criminal background check information and broader questions about illegal drug use are the key changes the next round of job applicants will face in April, when the department will begin filling 16 positions — 12 new positions authorized in the city’s latest budget and four existing slots to account for retirements.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tacoma News Tribune

At a Berlin day care center, a little boy lights a match and touches it to another, making a sudden flare. The girl sitting next to him shouts a word that is the same in German and English: “Cool!” The two children, both under 6, aren’t breaking any rules. They are taking part in a fire workshop designed by Kain Karawahn, an artist who, as part of a performance piece about freedom in 1987, once set a blaze at the Berlin Wall.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Times

Nearly one year into the District’s use of a private ambulance service to improve 911 response times and the fire chief is acknowledging the department is "struggling" with the availability of advance life support medic units. Those are the ambulances staffed by paramedics who are supposed to respond to the most critical emergency calls like cardiac arrest.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: nbcwashington.com