In the 1970s, firefighters called it "firehouse roulette."
Now, some 40 years later, some municipal leaders continue to gamble as they close down engine companies for budgetary reasons or during staffing shortages. The process, called "browning out," refers to the temporary closing, usually on a shift-by-shift basis, of one fire station or piece of apparatus. - PUB DATE: 3/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram
After her home north of Hutchinson escaped destruction by only a few narrow feet in Monday’s wildfire, Danielle Tajchman joked that her pet cows had saved it.
After all, Scott and Danielle Tajchman had been heavily watering their lawn before the fire because their two pet cows had developed a taste for lawn grass. - PUB DATE: 3/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Wichita Eagle
The Hartford released its ranking of the 100 U.S. cities with the highest home fire risk this week.
According to The Hartford Home Fire Index, the top five cities are: Detroit, Michigan; Shreveport, Louisiana; Boston, Massachusetts; Flint, Michigan and Richmond, Virginia.
The index is based on an analysis of the U. - PUB DATE: 3/13/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
A specialized team is credited with rescuing a DeKalb firefighter after he fell through the floor while battling a two alarm blaze in Panthersville.
The fire happened at Hidden Villas apartments in the 2900 block of Panthersville Road late Thursday night. Fire crews at the scene initially attempted an "offensive attack" of the flames but backed off as the fire grew. - PUB DATE: 3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WXIA-TV NBC 11 Atlanta
Stationing firefighters and medics 24 hours a day at Trump Tower costs New York City taxpayers $4.5 million a year — none of which has been reimbursed to the FDNY, agency officials said Thursday at the City Council.
A pair of firefighters constantly monitors the alarm panel of President Donald Trump’s namesake building and investigates alerts, said FDNY chief of department James E. - PUB DATE: 3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NewsDay
The widow of a volunteer fire chief has won another shot at securing workers compensation benefits on a claim that her husband contracted fatal cancer from the smoke and diesel fumes he inhaled during decades on duty.
Cheryl Steele got that second chance Wednesday when a state Commonwealth Court panel ordered the state Workers Compensation Appeals Board to reconsider its refusal to award her benefits for the August 2011 death of her husband, Roy. - PUB DATE: 3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: PennLIve
Mass-casualty training at Keesler Air Force Base two months ago gave Biloxi firefighters and police the chance to practice responding to a train crash.
The first-responders couldn’t know they would soon be responding to an actual train-charter bus crash that killed four people and critically injured eight of the 49 passengers. - PUB DATE: 3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun Herald
Nearly a year after the village cut all eight of its paid firefighters, officials finally released documentation that drove that controversial decision — kind of.
When the village voted to go to an all-volunteer department last May, it claimed to have 300 volunteer firefighters, a number that was cited to justify the change. - PUB DATE: 3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Journal News (Lohud.com)
The two areas of greatest impact on the fire service are going to come in personnel management and professional development.
We are about to face the biggest transition in personnel in the past 25 years. As we all know, firefighters retire in bunches; the difference now is in the type of employees our officers will be tasked with managing. - PUB DATE: 3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
A Miami defense lawyer’s pants burst into flames Wednesday afternoon as he began his closing arguments in front of a jury — in an arson case.
Stephen Gutierrez, who was arguing that his client’s car spontaneously combusted and was not intentionally set on fire, had been fiddling in his pocket as he was about to address jurors when smoke began billowing out his right pocket, witnesses told the Miami Herald. - PUB DATE: 3/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald
Dramatic footage released by a Florida fire department shows the moment a backdraft injured two firefighters.
The fire happened Monday morning in a West Palm Beach neighborhood.
According to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, the fire started in the garage of the home. When firefighters arrived they were told the family’s cats may still be inside. - PUB DATE: 3/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC4i.com
Mayor Scott Eisenhauer proposed laying off 16 firefighters at a Tuesday night budget meeting as a result of a contract arbitration decision.
Eisenhauer, who described the cuts as a "harsh" plan, proposed reducing fire department personnel from 42 to 26 after learning earlier in the day that the city lost an arbitration decision on the firefighters' contract regarding minimum manning and salaries. - PUB DATE: 3/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Champaign News-Gazette
A new analysis says San Diego needs to build at least 10 additional fire stations and embrace new emergency response methods to adequately serve the sprawling and increasingly congested city. The new emergency response methods, primarily two-man “fast response” squads and additional engine companies during peak hours, can help meet response time goals in many areas, but won’t eliminate the need for the new stations. - PUB DATE: 3/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune
A Miami defense lawyer’s pants burst into flames Wednesday afternoon as he began his closing arguments in front of a jury — in an arson case.
Stephen Gutierrez, who was arguing that his client’s car spontaneously combusted and was not intentionally set on fire, had been fiddling in his pocket as he was about to address jurors when smoke began billowing out his right pocket, witnesses told the Miami Herald. - PUB DATE: 3/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald
More than 10 percent of Iowa firefighters were granted national certifications over a four-year period despite failing exams at a state academy, authorities said Wednesday, as hundreds more were notified of the testing errors.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety informed 739 firefighters in 94 departments this week that they should not have been granted certifications by its Fire Services Training Bureau, the agency said. - PUB DATE: 3/9/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report
Houston Fire Department Capt. Bill Dowling died Tuesday, according to the department.
Both of Dowling's legs were amputated after he was injured in the Southwest Inn fire in 2013. Dowling was injured on May 31, 2013 -- which is considered the deadliest day in Houston Fire Department history.
Believing people were trapped in a fire that engulfed the Southwest Inn along the Southwest Freeway, Dowling led a rescue attempt during which four fellow firefighters died and 13 others were injured. - PUB DATE: 3/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston
As overtime costs rose dramatically at D.C. Fire and EMS, the city’s top fire official approved more than $20,000 in bonuses for some of the leaders in his department, according to financial figures obtained by NBC Washington. “I gave bonuses to four assistant chiefs and one civilian,” Fire Chief Gregory Dean told NBC Washington. - PUB DATE: 3/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOP-AM 1500 Washington
Bryan Sheppard’s long wait for freedom ended late Monday afternoon in a deep embrace with the daughter who never gave up on him.
Sheppard, the youngest of five people convicted in the 1988 arson fire that killed six Kansas City firefighters, walked free Monday for the first time in nearly 22 years.
“It’s overwhelming, really,” Sheppard said moments after his release. - PUB DATE: 3/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star
For London’s new fire brigade commissioner Dany Cotton, being a firefighter does not mean being a “six foot hairy-arsed man.”
Although Cotton, now 47, is the brigade’s first female commissioner in its 151-year history, she has served the department since she was 18. She oversees 102 fire stations, 4,800 uniformed firefighters and 800 other personnel. - PUB DATE: 3/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
The former treasurer of the Mahopac Volunteer Fire Department was such a smoke-eater buff that he spent $9,000 to buy himself a 1931 American LaFrance antique fire engine. Problem is — the money wasn’t his. Michael Klein pleaded guilty in White Plains federal court Tuesday for stealing more than $5.7 million from his fire department to buy himself that collectible and a host of other lavish gifts, including a 55-foot yacht he named “K’Bam. - PUB DATE: 3/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post
