A 46-year-old Homer man died this morning, apparently from a medical problem that happened as he drove his pickup truck on Illinois 49, hitting three parked cars. Champaign County sheriff’s Lt. Brian Mennenga said John Mike Cummins was taken to Carle Hospital following the accident, which happened about 12:45 a.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Champaign News-Gazette

Brian Schmitt is still facing questions about his long-term future as the head of the Town of Wilson’s fire department. But elected officials are considering giving him some wiggle room around a firefighting certification requirement he currently doesn’t meet. The town last year agreed to a set of bylaws for its new municipal fire department that would require its fire officers to have a certain certification.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sheboygan Press

In the two and half years before a deadly warehouse fire killed 36 people, Oakland police made regular visits to the Ghost Ship artists’ collective. They investigated an illegal rave, a pistol-whipping incident, thefts, reports of child abuse, a stabbing, threats with guns, drug sales, illegal housing, storing stolen property, allegations of rape, even reports of people barricaded inside.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (Hon. Tanya S. Chutkan) has issued a ruling that will support federal, state and local governments’ efforts to support public health and safety through the use of voluntary consensus codes and standards. On February 2, the court granted a motion for summary judgment filed by a number of standard development organizations (SDOs), including the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), ASTM International and ASHRAE.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: National Fire Protection Association

Building contractors who do unauthorized or shoddy work would face progressive discipline — ranging from a freeze on permits to license suspension or revocation — under a mayoral crackdown to prevent a repeat of the tragedy that killed a 42-year-old Chicago firefighter. Daniel Capuano plunged to his death in December 2015 when he stepped into an open elevator shaft while searching through a burning, two-story warehouse at 9213 S.
- PUB DATE: 2/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times

Embattled Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed, who has been heavily criticized since 36 people died in the Dec. 2 Ghost Ship warehouse blaze, is on leave from the department tending to a sick relative, according to a fire official. Deputy Chief Mark Hoffmann said he was told Reed was out due to a sick family member, and that he and Deputy Chief Darin White have been rotating as interim fire chief.
- PUB DATE: 2/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

At around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Mikaela Milano's video enabled, motion activated doorbell caught the unluckiest of visitors; smoke and flames, billowing from a raging fire just behind her apartment in Maplewood, New Jersey. Firefighters were struggling to contain the blaze as it tore through – at a shockingly fast rate – a still under construction AvalonBay apartment complex.
- PUB DATE: 2/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: PIX11.com

You've probably heard of fire departments hosting bingo nights to raise money, but what about naughty bingo? One volunteer fire department in Schuylkill County says it's had to get creative with fundraising events. The Hometown Volunteer Fire Company is preparing to host its second adults-only naughty bingo night.
- PUB DATE: 2/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNEP-TV Newswatch 16

The NFPA 1971/1985 Task Group on Eye and Face Protection released a survey to help develop minimum standards for fire and EMS eye and face protection. Firefighters currently use partial face-shields, bourkes and goggles. However, many remove all form of face and eye protection from their helmet, and often times protection is damaged or dirtied.
- PUB DATE: 2/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

When a check for nearly $83,000 arrived in the mail last month from the estate of a woman thankful for the help Sebastopol firefighters gave her over many years, Fire Chief Bill Braga was elated by the largest windfall his agency had ever received. “It’s five, six years’ worth of flipping pancakes,” Braga said.
- PUB DATE: 2/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat

A push to force Lincoln and Omaha to make significant changes to their pension plans for new police and fire employees met firm opposition from union leaders and some city officials during a legislative hearing Tuesday. But the proposal's backers called it essential to ensuring the state's two largest cities meet their obligations to cops and firefighters going forward.
- PUB DATE: 2/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lincoln Journal Star

After watching his good friend and fellow firefighter die of colon cancer, Chris Conner vowed to help other firefighters find ways to detect the disease in its early stages. Conner, who is president of the Bedford Professional Firefighters Association, worked with Fire Chief Sean Fay and the City Council, and now Bedford is the first in the country to contract with an Indiana-based company, MorNuCo, which provides the ONCOblot test.
- PUB DATE: 2/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

The U.S. Forest Service can hire firefighters this year after winning an exemption from President Trump’s civilian governmental employee hiring freeze. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s acting deputy secretary Michael Young announced exemptions to “ensure a safe food supply, fire-safe communities, safe and secure public lands and rapid emergency response to natural and human-caused disasters,” according to a USDA press release.
- PUB DATE: 2/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Missoulian

As a boy, Brandon J. Thibeau was so determined to be helpful, his grandmother had to cut her broom’s handle in half. That way, he could still pitch in sweeping up around the house, his mother said. It was an early glimpse of the young man her son would become. Never one to draw attention to himself, he was always looking out for others – even until his last days, she said.
- PUB DATE: 2/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Press Herald

Prosecutors plan to file 12 counts of capital murder with special circumstance allegations today against three people arrested in connection with a 1993 fire at a Westlake apartment building that killed seven children and three adults, including two pregnant women, according to District Attorney Jackie Lacey.
- PUB DATE: 2/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News

A Bronx first responder is not content to spend his vacations relaxing — instead, he patrols the Mexican border with a heavily armed vigilante group. “Our main goal is to stop narcotics trafficking,” said FDNY emergency medical technician Andy Poliakoff, whose time off is spent in the desolate Sonoran Desert hunting for Mexican drug runners.
- PUB DATE: 2/7/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

In the 15 minutes after firefighters and a nurse knocked at Thelma Lee’s Maryland townhouse, they checked her blood pressure, told her what foods would keep her blood sugar from skyrocketing and set up an appointment — and a ride — to visit her primary-care physician. They also changed the battery in her chirping fire alarm and put a scale in her bathroom so she could monitor her weight.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post

FDNY brass read the riot act to firefighters at the Midtown firehouse where an African-American rookie claimed he was hazed by naked smoke-eaters — calling the reported incident “a sexual assault” and a “cover up,” bombshell audiotapes obtained by The Post reveal. The officers warned the members of Ladder 35/Engine 40 — nicknamed “The Cavemen” — that “if this gets out to the media, there are guys gonna lose their jobs.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

Struggling under the weight of pension and health care obligations, Michigan lawmakers appear ready to take another whack at public employee benefits — a move that reflects renewed determination to shift workers to 401(k)-style retirement systems, even if it happens in baby steps. Other states have made more modest changes, but the latest push shows that conservatives want to approve big reforms 20 years after Michigan became the first state to close pensions to future state workers.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WWJ-TV CBS Detroit

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office is reviewing the handling of a Jan. 15 incident in which a phone recording shows a deputy refers to an assault victim as "a speed bump" and the Clatskanie Fire Department as "dodos." Beyond the unidentified deputy's "sarcastic, unfeeling comment," the incident also is being reviewed for its broader implications for the handling of public safety in Clatskanie, said Columbia County Sheriff Jeffrey M.
- PUB DATE: 2/6/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Oregonian, Hillsboro Argus, Oregon Live.com