A Tallahassee law firm has been tasked with investigating firefighter allegations that “a toxic work environment” exists within the Ocean City-Wright Fire Control District.
The department review by the firm of Allen Norton & Blue was authorized Thursday by the district’s five-member governing board.
It follows receipt of formal complaints lodged against Fire Chief Billy Lord and Assistant Chief Scott Funchess by at least four firefighters. - PUB DATE: 6/6/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Florida Daily News
Eight-hundred feet in either direction, and Friday's oil train derailment outside the small Columbia River Gorge city of Mosier might've sent flaming tank cars into a lake in a National Scenic Area.
A half-mile east, and the inferno would've burned a few feet beneath a block of modular homes. Another mile-and-a-half, and leaking tank cars would've landed on the bank of the Columbia River during peak spring chinook salmon migration. - PUB DATE: 6/6/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the oregonian
It's a major risk factor facing firefighters, work-related heart attacks.
But a new study out of Beloit could help reduce that job hazard. It shows ramped-up tones keep heart-rates from climbing to extreme highs.
"We looked at the startle response and we looked at ways to gently wake them as opposed to suddenly waking them," Dr. - PUB DATE: 6/6/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV 27 ABC
The turf war between Advanced Medical Transport Inc. of Central Illinois and the Peoria Fire Department, dormant for many years, could be heating up again.
Nearly a decade ago, the two sparred over which entity would provide paramedic service and patient transport within the city limits. AMT reached an agreement with the city in which it was to pay $85,000, adjusted annually for inflation, for exclusive patient transport in Peoria. - PUB DATE: 6/6/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Journal Star
A federal judge has upheld a wrongful termination claim filed by Pike Road Volunteer Fire Protection Authority’s former chief.
Mike Green, the plaintiff, brought charges in April 2015 against the Authority for disability discrimination and against Jane James, one of the Authority’s directors, for slander. - PUB DATE: 6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: montgomery advertiser
The eight career firefighters who lost their jobs when the village shifted to an all-volunteer fire department handed the village clerk an inches-thick petition to force a referendum on the abolishment of the paid fire department.
Vinny Lyons, president of Port Chester's firefighters union, said the 485-page petition submitted to the village Wednesday morning contains 4,354 signatures, nearly double the amount required by New York State village law. - PUB DATE: 6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Journal News (Lohud.com)
In a matter of minutes Thursday, the state Senate overwhelmingly approved three bills in a four-bill package that would change pensions for newly hired New Orleans firefighters and end a decades-old feud with city government.
Those three bills head to Gov. John Bel Edwards for his signature.
An agreement on the fourth measure was reached late Wednesday night, said Sen. - PUB DATE: 6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the new orleans advocate
A 69-year-old fisherman anchored his boat in the Susquehanna River near the Dock Street dam last week, hoping to reel in the big one.
Instead, his small anchor broke loose from the silt and his boat was sucked into the backwash below the low-head dam, an area known as a drowning machine.
Few people escape the violent underwater death trap created by the fast-moving water plunging over the dam. - PUB DATE: 6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pennlive.com
With ambulance and fire calls on the rise, the FDNY is turning to new technology to improve its operations and efficiency when saving lives.
There were more than 1.6 million ambulance runs in 2015, a 9 percent jump from the year before, and firefighters handled about 3,000 more fire emergencies in 2015 than in 2014, according to the department’s statistics. - PUB DATE: 6/3/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: emergency management
An FDNY lieutenant who barreled into a burning Brooklyn building and pulled out a hulking man and unconscious woman was honored Wednesday with the department’s highest award.
Brian Colleluori, of Ladder 174 in East Flatbush, was feted with the James Gordon Bennett Medal for his extraordinary act of bravery on Feb. - PUB DATE: 6/2/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york daily news
When it comes to help, firefighters are often better at giving it than asking for it, said Cedar Rapids Fire Captain Eric Vandewater.
But since the beginning of 2015, Vandewater and others at the fire department — with the assistance of Dr. Jim Coyle, a counselor with Cedar Memorial who specializes in sudden and unexpected life loss — are working to shift that way of thinking. - PUB DATE: 6/2/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the gazette
While the cities are less than 10 miles apart, Henderson and Evansville fire departments don't have a formal agreement to help the other out if needed.
To bridge the gap, the Henderson Fire Department is pushing for a formalized mutual aid agreement that legitimizes help between departments.
The Evansville City Council will vote on the proposal on June 13. - PUB DATE: 6/2/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: evansville courier & press
When firefighters responded to the mass shooting at Memorial and Wycliffe in west Houston Sunday, they found themselves under fire.
"As we almost came to a stop, is when he shouldered his rifle and started aiming at us and firing on us. I could see him through the rest of the windows,” Houston Fire Capt. - PUB DATE: 6/2/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston
Syndie Molina was a star member of the city’s elite rescue-paramedic squad. The FDNY asked her to appear on “Good Day New York” with Regis Philbin and to do a Q&A with The New York Times.
“I was the face of the department. I loved the department,” she says.
But after 10 years with the FDNY, she has flamed out. - PUB DATE: 6/2/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york post
Shari Hall, one of two finalists whom the County Commission considered last year to be chief of Marion County Fire Rescue, is suing the county and alleging that it engaged in gender discrimination by choosing the male finalist, Paul Nevels.
Before filing suit in circuit court earlier this month Hall lodged discrimination complaints with the U. - PUB DATE: 6/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Ocala Star-Banner
Monday, May 23 was a dark day for the Warfield Volunteer Fire Department as they had five vehicles repossessed by a Illinois based company called First Government Lease citing non payment for the past six months. WVFD Chief Doug Hinkle and several members of the fire department were at Thursday’s fiscal court explaining the situation the fire department is in. - PUB DATE: 6/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: williamson daily news
The brother of a Special Olympian killed five years ago when the Lifestyles for the Disabled van in which he was riding collided with a Fire Department ladder truck in Dongan Hills has settled his wrongful death lawsuit for $950,000, court records show.
William Perry III, as administrator of Eric Perry's estate, had sued Lifestyles for the Disabled, the van driver and the city in state Supreme Court, St. - PUB DATE: 6/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Staten Island Advance
Firefighters in Canberra are suffering from injuries commonly seen in skiers, but their boots are to blame.
University of Canberra assistant professor Wayne Spratford said the boots worn by firefighters are a root cause in an abnormally high number of back, knee and hip injuries.
“We looked at their boots and found they used a boot that constrained the ankle — basically the ankle can’t move,” Spratford told the Canberra Times. - PUB DATE: 6/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firerescue1
A Sussex firefighter is arrested, accused of driving drunk behind the wheel of a fire truck and hitting a parked car. He was taken off the force, immediately. The fire chief told WISN 12 News reporter Christina Palladino as soon as he learned of the incident Monday, he placed the firefighter on administrative leave. - PUB DATE: 6/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WISN-TV ABC 12 Milwaukee
A wrong turn on the way home from Taco Bell changed Adam Thiel's life. It was 24 years ago when the then-19-year-old student at American University got lost returning to campus and passed a firehouse advertising free EMT lessons.
Thiel, impressed by the emergency responders who rushed his father to the hospital when he was dying of cancer, signed up and never looked back. - PUB DATE: 5/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: philly.com
