A state appeals court ruled last week that City of Lockport firefighters are entitled to state arbitration on the issue of the reduction of staffing on each shift resulting from the abolition of the city’s ambulance service in September 2014. The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld a December 2014 ruling by State Supreme Court Justice Frank Caruso that the city was not allowed to stop the arbitration sought by the firefighters union, but it emphasized that it was not taking sides in the dispute over whether the city was allowed by the union contract to cut staffing and do away with city ambulances.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: buffalo news

A 51-year-old retired Lakeville Fire Department lieutenant was indicted Friday on charges he supplied a part-time Lakeville firefighter with alcohol and then raped and assaulted him on two separate occasions. A Plymouth County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Thomas W. Dunlevy of Lakeville with two counts each of rape and procuring alcohol to a minor, and one count each of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, assault and battery, intimidation of a witness and attempted rape, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: south coast today

Six wildfire hotshots working a low-intensity fire suddenly found themselves in a whirl of flame and debris Tuesday, forcing them to deploy their emergency fire shelters and trapping them for 15 minutes, according to an investigative report the Bureau of Indian Affairs released Sunday. The six, who have not yet been identified, remained in radio contact even as a small tornado of fire swirled around them.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

A Memphis firefighter died in an off-duty incident Monday, marking the third such fatality in the department in recent weeks. According to an official of the firefighters union, Tina Mathenia, 46, was a 15-year veteran of the department. She appeared to have health issues, firefighters union head Thomas Malone said, that led to her death.
- PUB DATE: 7/5/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse

On July 4, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On July 3, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On July 2, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On June 27, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

It comes down to a lack of continuing training for firefighters and a complicated radio system they used on calls like the one on Dalhgren Street in Madisonville 15 months ago. A 350-page report, released Thursday, lays out how a fire combined with human error resulted in firefighter Daryl Gordon's death.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCPO-TV ABC 9 Cincinnati

A massive backyard party in Freetown that drew around 1,000 people prompted a local firefighter to rant on Facebook. Police broke up the bash and a few days later, the fire chief said, firefighter Kyle Grenier posted a racially charged message that said, "I can see the next fire call will be this house on fire and I'll make sure I can't find the hydrant lol.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCVB-TV ABC 5 Boston

A suburban woman slapped a Chicago firefighter when he wouldn't let her ride a Divvy bike past a reversing fire truck, prosecutors said Wednesday. The 56-year-old fireman had stopped traffic near Wells and Van Buren streets about 4 p.m. Monday to accommodate a fire truck that was backing into the Chicago Fire Department station at 419 S.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: dnainfo.com

Longtime firefighter Mike Soltwisch says he is a lot more tired after doing CPR today than he was several years ago. He is not complaining. Soltwisch is now doing high-performance CPR, which, experts say, is saving more lives than the CPR protocols of the past. "It's more labor intensive," Soltwisch said.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firerescue1

Greensboro City Councilwoman Sharon Hightower boycotted a graduation ceremony last week for new firefighters. The reason? Not enough minority recruits in the class. Hightower, who represents District 1 in mostly black East Greensboro, said she skipped the graduation ceremony June 23 on purpose. She said Thursday that she was “very disappointed” to learn that only one of the 18 new firefighters is black.
- PUB DATE: 7/1/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: greensboro.com

On June 29, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

An Irvington fire chief who stopped a man's vicious knife attack on his girlfriend last April has received national recognition for his heroism. Christopher T. DePaoli is one of 23 recipients of a medal for heroism from the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. DePaoli was with his two daughters near the Irvington train platform when he saw a man repeatedly stab a woman in the back and near area.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Journal News (Lohud.com)

They can't shake the images from their minds. Bodies and blood in a sea of chaos. Off-duty Orlando police Officer James Hyland was working private security the morning of June 12 when he heard the call over his radio. He drove his pickup truck into the parking lot as terrified patrons spilled out of Pulse nightclub about 2 a.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: cnn

An EMT and former military police officer videotaped himself swallowing a bullet with a beer chaser before prosecutors say he fatally shot a rookie Stoneham firefighter at point-blank range during a drunken game of dare between friends. When first responders found David Atherton, 24, dead on his back and drenched in blood late Tuesday night on the kitchen floor of his Congress Street apartment in Stoneham, authorities said his childhood pal Patrick Riccardi-O’Connor told them through tears Atherton had killed himself after asking him, “Do you trust me?” “They were drinking in the deceased’s home.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: boston herald

VIDEO - It was a ride at least a dozen passengers on board the Silver Bullet say they'll never forgot. Just as the Frontier City roller coaster reached the top, something went wrong. Frontier City told News 9 a malfunction was the result of the lift stalling Wednesday afternoon. The car simply didn't have enough momentum to make it over the first hill.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KWTV-TV Oklahoma City

A woman walking around Beaver Creek Reservoir Tuesday evening died after being struck by a Green Springs Volunteer Fire Department truck. The Seneca County Sheriff’s office, who is handling the investigation into the death, has not released her identity pending positive identification by the woman's husband.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: sandusky register

On June 28, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.