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National Fire News

DC Fire Lieutenant Can't Retire Without Review After Choking Death of Child

The D.C. fire lieutenant set to retire with benefits after a 1-year-old boy died from choking on a grape under his watch has been told he cannot retire before he appears before a review panel, a D.C. fire department spokesman said. The lieutenant was charged in July with neglect of duty, incompetence and failure to provide assistance to the public after the little boy died in March.
- PUB DATE: 1/29/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: nbc washington

Officials confirm California fire chief committed suicide in city car on duty

Rigo Landeros, Fillmore's fire chief, assistant city manager and acting public works director, committed suicide this month while on duty in his city car, officials confirmed this week. Landeros, 51, shot himself in the head in his fire chief's car on a rural section of Goodenough Road on Jan. 7, Ventura County sheriff's, coroner's and Fillmore officials said in response to inquiries from The Star.
- PUB DATE: 1/29/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Ventura County Star

Graham Lectures on True Risk Management at Safety Symposium

As the Fire Department Safety Officers Association’s (FDSOA) apparatus symposium concluded, its annual safety forum opened with an overlap presentation by Gordon Graham, a long-time champion of public safety responders. For more than three hours, Graham educated and entertained firefighters from all over the country with a simple, yet profound message focused on risk management and how firefighters can better protect themselves.
- PUB DATE: 1/29/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse

Indianapolis firefighters, EMT struck at accident scene; driver faces DUI

Two firefighters and an emergency medical technician, were injured Wednesday night on the southeast side when an SUV slammed into a two-vehicle wreck the crews were working on. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers took Kaitlyn M. Carlson, 22, into custody following the crash. She was preliminarily charged with a DUI.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: indianapolis star

Indianpolis firefighters, EMT struck at accident scene; driver faces DUI

Two firefighters and an emergency medical technician, were injured Wednesday night on the southeast side when an SUV slammed into a two-vehicle wreck the crews were working on. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers took Kaitlyn M. Carlson, 22, into custody following the crash. She was preliminarily charged with a DUI.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: indianapolis star

Oklahoma Firefighter Recalls Near-Death Experience, Loss Of Friend

A Claremore firefighter, who nearly lost his life during a storm, is back at work – eight months after being knocked unconscious and suffering life-threatening injuries. Lieutenant Zane James is now on the road to recovery, but missing his fellow firefighter and friend, Captain Jason Farley, who drowned to death.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOTV-TV CBS 6 Tulsa

Seattle fire chief won't return to The Jungle without police backup

In the wake of a fatal shooting in South Seattle, the chief of the fire department won't let his firefighters and medics enter homeless encampments unless they have police to back them up. "Last night, after the shooting, I issued a directive to the Seattle Fire Department that we are not going in these areas unless we have Seattle Police Department there to support us, for a fire call or a medical calls, because we know what's in there," said Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: mynorthwest.com

Report: Dangers remain three years after West, Texas explosion

Almost all Texas fertilizer plants like the one that exploded nearly three years ago in West - killing 15 people and injuring hundreds - are within a quarter-mile of a residence and little has been done to protect the public, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board says in a report to be released Thursday. While the precise cause of the blast will probably never be known, the CSB's 265-page final report describes in painstaking detail a host of failures by the West Fertilizer Company, the government, fire officials, insurance companies and others that allowed tens of thousands of pounds of ammonium nitrate to detonate.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

California city moves forward wtih fire department outsourcing plan

A plan to outsource the city Fire Department and add a parcel tax of $148 per year took a big step forward Wednesday with the unanimous approval of the agency in charge of overseeing that process. The Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, voted to move forward with San Bernardino’s proposal to annex the 137-year old San Bernardino Fire Department into Fire Protection District Service Zone FP5-5, giving responsibility for fire and emergency medical response to the county fire department.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Bernardino sun

Next Philadelphia fire commish will face plenty of heat

When it came time to build his administration last fall, Mayor Kenney didn't hesitate to turn to some familiar faces. Richard Ross was appointed the city's police commissioner. Mike DeBerardinis was tapped to be managing director. Debbie Mahler, Kenney's longtime aide in City Council, was named deputy mayor for intergovernmental affairs.
- PUB DATE: 1/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Philadelphia Daily News

VIDEO: Garbage truck explodes in fireball, rips hole in nearby house in New Jersey

A garbage truck exploded after catching fire on a street in Hamilton Tuesday and blasted a hole in the front of a nearby house, though no injuries were immediately reported. A total of four houses were damaged in the 2 p.m. explosion. One the truck's four natural gas tanks exploded in the fire and rocketed into the front of Doris Pattley's home on Fitzrandolph Street, just off Lalor Street, officials said.
- PUB DATE: 1/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Trenton Times

New Orleans chief wary of building collapse in 6-alarm Canal Street blaze

New Orleans' fire chief said a massive six-alarm fire that broke out on Canal Street early Wednesday morning (Jan. 27) has spread to a second building and that the four-story structure initially found burning is in danger of collapsing onto the pavement below. "Collapse is always an issue, as it is in this situation here," New Orleans Fire Department Superintendent Tim McConnell said on the scene at 1018 Canal Street, between South Rampart Street and Roosevelt Way.
- PUB DATE: 1/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Orleans Times-Picayune & Nola.com

Injured Connecticut Firefighter Returns to Duty after Fire that Killed Colleague

A firefighter who was badly injured in the same Blue Hills Avenue fire in which his colleague Kevin Bell was killed has returned to duty, the fire department said Tuesday. Jason Martinez, a member of the tactical unit, was back on full duty Tuesday for the first time since the deadly fire on Oct. 7, 2014.
- PUB DATE: 1/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: hartford courant

Michigan Assistant Chief to retire after 48 years on the job

For the first time in about 50 years, a Johnson brother won't be part of the Fort Gratiot Fire Department. Assistant Chief Carl "Buck" Johnson, 74, is retiring at the end of the week. His younger brother, Larry Johnson, 71, retired in June after 40 years with the department. The brothers worked together 40 years on the department, and they still josh with each other.
- PUB DATE: 1/27/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Port Huron Times Herald

Off-duty Lieutenant and retired firefighter save woman from trailer fire in Virginia

An off-duty Williamsburg fire lieutenant, a retired Newport News firefighter, a York-Poquoson sheriff's deputy and neighbors are being called heroes after they saved a woman from a burning trailer in York County on Monday. York County firefighters were dispatched to the fire at the Harwood Mills trailer park just after 1 p.
- PUB DATE: 1/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Williamsburg Virginia Gazette & Williamsburg Magazine

Woman, accused of starting fire that killed two Kansas City firefighters, pleads not guilty

A Kansas City woman pleaded not guilty Monday in connection to the October 2015 fire that killed two firefighters and injured two others. During Thu Hong Nguyen’s arraignment on Monday, her attorney waived the reading of the charges and Nguyen pleaded not guilty to arson and two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree assault for the firefighters who were hurt, and causing catastrophe, which is a Class A felony.
- PUB DATE: 1/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDAF-TV Fox 4 Kansas City News

Massachusetts fire chief says 'honest mistake' led to surprise deficit

The chief said Monday that a six-figure deficit appeared in the Fire Department budget recently because the acting city auditor miscalculated the number of firefighters' salaries that had to be funded in relation to when a grant expired. The budget was supposed to fund 72 firefighter salaries with the help of a federal SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant but a routine analysis showed that with expiration of the grant, only 67 were funded, Fire Chief John A.
- PUB DATE: 1/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield Union-News & Sunday Republican

Porn-playing fire chief removed by Canadian regional board

The fire chief who played a pornographic video during a training session in Spaniard's Bay has been removed from the position by the board that oversees a regional fire department in eastern Newfoundland. CBC News had confirmed that Jeremy Hall was replaced as chief of the regional Bay de Grave fire department, following a series of meetings over the weekend by the 10-member board of directors.
- PUB DATE: 1/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: cbc news

$1 billion insured losses in two destructive 2015 California wildfires

Damages from two destructive Northern California wildfires that killed six and sent thousands fleeing their homes topped $1 billion in insured losses, according to a preliminary estimate by the state’s insurance department. The two fires started days apart in September, burning more than 200 square miles of remote, mountainous territory north and northeast of San Francisco.
- PUB DATE: 1/26/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: modesto bee

D.C.’s fire chief quietly works to put out hotspots in his troubled agency

As gray smoke rose from the burning condo building on U Street, D.C. Fire Chief Gregory M. Dean circled the block, talking with battalion chiefs and paramedics standing ready to treat anyone who was injured. He didn’t assume command. Instead, Dean kept his eye trained on the grunt work of firefighters, hauling hoses and training water on hot spots.
- PUB DATE: 1/25/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the washington post

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