Rapid City firefighter Dave Ruhl apparently was trapped by a sudden shift in the direction of the California wildfire he was scouting in July, according to a newly issued Forest Service report on his death.
The body of Ruhl, 38, was found July 31 at the scene of the Frog Fire in the Modoc National Forest, where he was on a temporary assignment away from his regular duties as an engine captain in South Dakota’s Black Hills National Forest. - PUB DATE: 10/15/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: rapid city journal
VIDEO - October is Fire Prevention Month and it can be a challenge to get children excited about fire prevention.
So, the Mustang Fire Department put on a production like no other to get elementary kids to soak up the safety tips and it worked.
Firefighters took popular songs and changed the lyrics into fire safety terms. - PUB DATE: 10/15/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KWTV-TV Oklahoma City
Before Monday, more than a quarter century had elapsed since the Kansas City Fire Department lost multiple members on the same day.
This time, six firefighters stood in an alley after sunset, spraying water through windows into a three-story building ablaze along Independence Avenue. They wanted to keep the flames from spreading to a nearby grocery store. - PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: kansas city star
A state agency failed to present enough evidence to justify requiring all new homes bigger than 4,500 square feet to include fire sprinklers, a Minnesota Appeals Court panel decided Tuesday. The three judges unanimously overturned the state Department of Labor and Industry's rule. "After making a careful and searching inquiry of the record, we conclude that the 4,500-square-foot threshold for one-family dwellings is arbitrary and not supported by substantial evidence in the record," the ruling said. - PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bemidji Pioneer
California corrections officials on Tuesday dropped a plan to include prisoners with violent backgrounds in the nation's largest and oldest inmate firefighting unit, a day after the proposal was first reported by The Associated Press. The state still plans to expand the program to include inmates who have up to seven years left to serve on their sentences, instead of the current five years, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Jeffrey Callison told the AP. - PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCRA-TV NBC 3 Sacramento
A small plane crashed into a mobile home park and set two homes on fire, killing the pilot and a 21-year-old woman who was inside one of the homes, investigators and a relative said Wednesday.
No one else was aboard the plane and no one else on the ground was injured when the plane plunged from the sky about 5:30 p. - PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: miami herald
A firefighter of 37 years, hero to his family and the Colton community, was tragically killed after a suspected drunken driver slammed into his ATV.
David Lodarski, a father of two, was inspired by his father to become a firefighter. His son is following in his footsteps to carry on the tradition to become a firefighter as well. - PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: nbc los angeles
Two firefighters were killed and two hurt after a burning building on Independence Avenue collapsed on them Monday night, Kansas City fire officials said. Firefighters were dispatched to a building in the 2600 block of Independence Avenue about 7:30 p.m. and found the structure heavily damaged by smoke and flames. - PUB DATE: 10/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: kansas city star
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan gained a new administrator and lost one Monday as he announced a new director of immigrant affairs while the city's fire chief announced his retirement from the force.
Executive Fire Commissioner Edsel Jenkins, appointed to the job by Duggan in April 2014, had been a city firefighter for nearly 30 years. - PUB DATE: 10/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: detroit free press
California officials are considering allowing inmates with violent backgrounds to work outside prison walls fighting wildfires, and the idea is generating concerns about public safety. The state has the nation's largest and oldest inmate firefighting unit, with about 3,800 members who provide critical assistance to professional firefighters. - PUB DATE: 10/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCRA-TV NBC 3 Sacramento
Fire Chief Dan Sullivan was fired by letter Monday, six months after being sent home on paid leave amid allegations he had presided over a department that tolerated discrimination and spawned a good old boys environment that belittled minorities and women.
Sullivan, who was hired as a firefighter more than 32 years ago and spent 18 years as chief, declined to comment Monday. - PUB DATE: 10/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: sun-sentinel
A former Alameda County fire assistant chief illegally collected a $60,000 salary as a part-time Sacramento area chief, while also receiving his East Bay $137,000-a-year pension, intentionally deceiving the state retirement system, a state administrative law judge has found.
David Wheeler, who retired from the Alameda County Fire Department on Jan. - PUB DATE: 10/13/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: san jose mercury news
Military technology used to track terrorists and insurgents while keeping American troops safe is making its way to the blazing battlefields of wildfires.
From heat-seeing cameras to drones to night-vision goggles and satellite trackers pinpointing firefighters’ exact locations, military technology is helping fire managers better deploy air tankers above, and fire crews on the ground. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: usa today
Augusta Fire Marshal Jason Beard has been indicted on extortion charges. According to the federal indictment returned by a grand jury Thursday, Beard is accused of extorting money from nightclub owners and managers with threats of economic harm.
The indictment, which contains six counts of extortion and one count of attempted extortion, accuses Beard of making threats to enforce overcrowding regulations and ignoring such violations if owners did pay, which allowed the clubs to operate in an overcrowded and dangerous manner. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: augusta chronicle
On March 7, twin babies and a 3-year-old boy died after a fire erupted in their home in Truxtun.
The community, near the intersection of Portsmouth Boulevard and Deep Creek Boulevard, does not have a fire station.
Without a station in Truxtun, according to a recent report from fire officials to City Manager Lydia Pettis Patton, the department cannot meet "minimum response times for fire and emergency medical calls" there. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: hampton roads
A Los Angeles firefighter was injured Saturday after falling through a roof of a paint supply business while battling a fire in Sylmar, authorities said.
The firefighter fell between 10 and 20 feet through the roof of the one-story commercial building at 15513 Cobalt St, said LAFD spokesman Erik Scott in written statements. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News
A Queens EMT who was dispatched to Brooklyn for a sick toddler used a pay phone to call 911 with a fake emergency closer to his post in a pathetic attempt to avoid the cross-borough schlep, officials said on Friday.
William Medina, 27, had just dropped off a patient at a hospital on Aug. 19 when he got the call for the ill child, according to the Department of Investigation. - PUB DATE: 10/12/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york post
Several of the rural firefighters and paramedics who first confronted the carnage at Umpqua Community College haven't returned to work yet or else they've tried to return only to request time off. Some can't shake the smells and sounds they encountered in classroom 15 in Snyder Hall last Thursday. One described having to help move a lifeless body to get to someone who was still alive, said Rob Bullock, deputy fire chief of Douglas County Fire District 2. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the oregonian
The Board of Public Safety is considering cutting funding for the Burrville Fire Department for the rest of the fiscal year upon the recommendation of Corporation Counsel Raymond Rigat, following the unauthorized purchase of a fire truck by the head of the department earlier in the year.
Rigat made the recommendation Wednesday evening as part of the regular meeting of the board. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Torrington Register Citizen
Deputy U.S. Fire Administrator Glenn A. Gaines had a thirst for knowledge.
He was a familiar face in classrooms at the National Fire Academy. Often, he wasn’t there as the instructor or guest lecturer, but as a student.
The retired Fairfax County Fire and Rescue chief’s passion for education never waned. - PUB DATE: 10/9/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse
