A Cherokee County firefighter was arrested and fired after admitting to stealing $20 from his firehouse, the Sheriff’s Office said Thursday. Matthew Knowles, 30, of Woodstock, was charged with theft and released from jail after posting $720 bond Wednesday afternoon, Lt. Jay Baker said. Knowles was the second Cherokee firefighter charged with a crime during the past week, and both were fired from the department.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On May 19, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Sexual harassment allegations, cyber bullying and lewd Facebook postings by an official are prompting a group of women firefighters to speak out. Wednesday, several firefighters gathered at Station Eight on Annandale to shine a positive light on the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department “We feel like we've worked really hard to earn the respect of the citizens and we'd like to see the positive come back into the light,” Alisha Reakoff said.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA-TV 9 DC

VIDEO - A driver was seriously hurt when a San Diego Fire-Rescue engine responding to an emergency call collided with a vehicle in City Heights on Wednesday, authorities said. The maroon sedan was heading southbound at the time of the crash, exiting Interstate 15 at 40th Street and University Avenue at about 10:20 a.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: nbc san diego

A Denver Assistant Fire Chief has been fined 24 hours of pay in connection with a 2012 “close call” incident that nearly cost a Denver firefighter his life. Denver’s Department of Safety issued the order April 22, docking Assistant Denver Fire Chief Dave McGrail the equivalent of three days’ pay for failing to ensure a written report on the 2012 incident was disseminated to department members.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCNC-TV CBS 4 Denver

A volunteer firefighter is on administrative leave after he allegedly threw his helmet at a vehicle while directing traffic. The Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office charged the 20-year-old firefighter with a misdemeanor of malicious injury to personal property. He was later released on a $500 personal recognizance bond.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the times and democrat

The president of the Barstow Professional Firefighters Association urged the City Council on Monday to consider annexing the Barstow Fire Protection District into the San Bernardino County district. "I want to make the suggestion that we go forward with the proposal and look into that wholeheartedly," Barstow Fire Protection District Firefighter John Wymore said.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: desert dispatch

On May 17, 3 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Fifteen years ago they toiled in the smoking pit of Ground Zero and other 9/11-sites — and now they have to prove it. Several hundred EMS workers who registered with the city as part of the WTC clean-up effort decades ago are now being told the FDNY can’t confirm their participation. In a letter dated May 12 from the NYC Employees Retirement System, workers were told they had 60 days to get their own proof, such as “log books.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york daily news

VIDEO - The Anchorage Police Department today released dashcam footage of a dramatic roadside rescue that took place Sunday on Middlerock Road in East Anchorage. “I thought I was literally going to die," the driver can be heard saying after police and passersby rally to free him from the flaming vehicle.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTUU-TV NBC 2 Anchorage

The Philadelphia Police Department's practice of "scoop-and-run" during last year's Amtrak crash - transporting injured victims to hospitals instead of waiting for ambulances - meant that the injured were unevenly distributed at area hospitals in the hours after the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Philly.com

Cancer is killing firefighters. While research over the past decade has shown that responders have a high risk for developing certain cancers, there’s still no database to determine just how widespread it may be. But that may soon change as members of Congress have introduced a measure to create a National Firefighter Cancer Registry.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse

People who target police, firefighters and other first responders in Louisiana soon could face enhanced penalties when they commit crimes against them — just as they would for targeting someone based on their race, religion or gender. In a swift 33-3 vote, the state Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would add cops, firemen and other first responders to the list of protected classes under the state’s hate crime law.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the advocate

On May 17, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On May 16, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On May 15, 8 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Mike Myers, 49, who retired as Las Vegas fire chief in 2013 after a 26-year career with the department and went on to work as chief of a fire department in St. Charles, Missouri, has been selected to be Portland's next fire chief. City Commissioner Dan Saltzman said Monday that Myers was selected from 31 applicants in a national search.
- PUB DATE: 5/17/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: oregonian

A local firefighter and paramedic lost his battle with cancer on Sunday morning. Kyle Jameson, 34, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in April of 2015, after a routine physical examination. He underwent chemotherapy treatment, which helped eradicate the cancer from his lymphatic system, but it spread deeper into his bones.
- PUB DATE: 5/17/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: manchester union leader

The Aurora Fire Department — having already racked up more than $2 million in overtime last year — can claim the title of having the busiest firefighters of any department in the nation, according to an industry report. The fire department union compiled 2014 data from Firehouse magazine, a leading industry trade publication, and found that Aurora firefighters respond annually to more calls per firefighter than any other department in the nation.
- PUB DATE: 5/17/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: denver post

Four volunteer firefighters are facing charges after police say they called to report fake emergencies. Logan Township police said Dustin Beckwith, Aric Beckwith, Daniel Johnson, and Edward Perino are charged with calling 911 to report false fires for the thrill of riding in a fire truck. "I am pretty much disgusted by this.
- PUB DATE: 5/17/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJACTV.com