Congress has passed and sent to President Obama a bill allowing members of Congress to provide flags flown over the Capitol to survivors of firefighters, police officers or other public safety officers who died in the line of duty.
It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. It passed the Senate in April and was approved by voice vote in the House on Tuesday. - PUB DATE: 5/13/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
VIDEO - Dramatic video captured on a doorbell security camera shows Canadian firefighters trying to save a house in the Alberta city of Fort McMurray, one of the areas hit hardest by a devastating wildfire.
The nearly seven-minute video, posted by the Edmonton Journal, shows a team of firefighters spraying the house with fire hoses. - PUB DATE: 5/13/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: fox news
Someone deliberately started the fire that triggered the fatal explosion in West three years ago, government investigators announced Wednesday.
They did not identify any suspects. Their conclusion was based on a re-enactment of the fire performed at a research lab in Maryland, according to officials from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Texas fire marshal’s office. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: dallas morning news
As details emerge about concessions that Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin is seeking from the union representing the city's firefighters, dozens of high-ranking veterans are putting in for retirement.
Fire Chief Reginald Freeman said this week that more than 50 firefighters have put in their retirement papers, and he expects that number to grow to between 80 and 90 by the end of the fiscal year, June 30. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: hartford courant
VIDEO - A Clayton County road reopened late Wednesday afternoon as investigators looked into a serious crash involving a fire truck.
Three sisters and three firefighters were hurt.
Investigators told Channel 2’s Liz Artz at the scene that 6-year-old Akhirah Muhammad who was airlifted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSB-TV ABC 2 Atlanta
Authorities say a woman who oversaw finances for the former Show Low Fire District embezzled nearly $1.8 million over several years.
A report from the Arizona Office of the Auditor General released Wednesday detailed the allegations against Natalie Cluff based on a probe that was launched in 2012.
The auditor accused Cluff of illegally issuing 474 checks totaling $1,794,594. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix
Port Chester’s elected officials might not have thought that a plan to eliminate eight professional firefighter jobs would mean contending with one of most powerful firefighter unions in the country, let alone the state of New York.
But that is exactly what is happening. A bit of Yonkers-style hardball is coming to Port Chester. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Journal News (Lohud.com)
A St. Louis jury has awarded a city paramedic $50,000 on her claim that her boss, the chief of the city ambulance service, retaliated against her after she filed a grievance.
Laticha Green, 42, of St. Louis, sued the city and Steven Kotraba in 2014, alleging race discrimination and retaliation for filing a grievance against him. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: st. louis Post-Dispatch
For years Marion County Fire Rescue paramedics complained about having to wait — often for hours — at hospitals before they could hand over their patients and get back in service. The wait, often called "wall time," was necessary because they had to monitor their patients until the hospital staff could take over. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ocala star banner
The surviving members of the Pickett family, who lost their parents and two brothers when a blaze destroyed their Grant Avenue home in March 2014, are suing Jersey City in Hudson County Superior Court, alleging the city failed to adequately train its employees, leaving the four victims to burn alive. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Jersey City Journal
Mayday. Mayday.
When heard on the fireground, these two words bring a rapid response. The post-rescue question is how did they tread so far into the situation that they became part of the problem?
Firefighters in the heat of the battle often get feelings of superiority, believing that things are not that bad and the gear, training and experience will keep them out of trouble. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firechief.com
After he retired from the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, fire department in 2001 following more than 20 years of service, Ricky Plummer jumped from job to job so often, officials in one of the towns he served reportedly expressed concern.
In September 2014 — after stints in North Yarmouth, Biddeford, Gray and Standish in Maine; Marlborough, Massachusetts; and Cocoa, Florida — Plummer became the new fire chief of Old Orchard Beach. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: bangor daily news
The Chicago Fire Department is making another round of changes that, a union leader warned Monday, could put the lives of paramedics and the general public in danger.
Two years ago, self-contained breathing apparatus were removed from all 75 Chicago ambulances. In addition, 70 paramedics graduating from the fire academy were not issued fire helmets, boots and protective clothing, known as “bunker gear,” that are standard issue for firefighters. - PUB DATE: 5/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: chicago sun-times
Santa Rosa is considering legal action to recoup some of the money it spent on the $4 million Fountaingrove fire station that failed to fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Newgate Court station is now fully operational and the problems fixed, thanks to a nearly $200,000 change order that brought the kitchen cabinets, bathroom stalls, exercise room doors and other features in line with ADA requirements. - PUB DATE: 5/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Fire, smoke and danger are part of the gig when you're a firefighter, but every once in a while something happens on the job that is far from routine. For a group of San Antonio firefighters that was certainly the case when a late night run turned into something they call "the catch." Engine 39’s Jeromy Wuneburger recalled his baby-catching abilities, by raising both hands to the sky. - PUB DATE: 5/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSAT-TV ABC 12 San Antonio
The widow of a Claremore firefighter who drowned in an attempted rescue during a flash flood is suing the city after a notice of claim that was filed last year went unanswered.
Shelli Farley filed the initial notice Oct. 6 and accused the city of negligence in the death of 44-year-old Capt. Jason Farley, who was sucked into a drainage pipe while attempting to rescue a woman and six children stranded at a birthday party on May 23, 2015. - PUB DATE: 5/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: tulsa world
If the highest, hottest flames can’t melt the bond that connects firefighters, then cancer — which can be as insidious and incendiary as a fire itself — doesn’t stand a chance against the dedicated wave of red.
Two Racine County firefighters and their families are discovering how powerful that brotherhood can be as they battle recently discovered cancer. - PUB DATE: 5/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times
A volunteer firefighter in Johnston County died after responding to a vehicle crash in Kenly on Saturday, officials said.
John Morris Davis Jr., 45, a Kenly firefighter, was among fire crews who responded to a crash on Princeton-Kenly Road, the fire department said a statement to the media.
“He just wanted to help people, whether it was helping people at the fire station or helping the public,” said Tim Little, Kenly Asst. - PUB DATE: 5/9/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNCN-TV NBC 17
The Old Orchard Beach fire chief – who has worked previously at numerous fire departments in Maine and elsewhere in New England and the U.S. – was charged with arson early Saturday for allegedly setting the April 15 fire that burned 42 acres of the Jones Creek Marsh and forced the evacuation of a nearby condominium complex. - PUB DATE: 5/9/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Central Maine
The FDNY’s latest graduating class of 310 probationary firefighters had the lowest drop-out rate in years, but some question whether the training was watered down.
The class started with 324 and lost only 14 due to resignations, failure or injuries — a 4 percent drop-out rate, sources said. The usual dropout is 10 percent or more. - PUB DATE: 5/9/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york post
