Ever since 31-year-old Nicole Clardy Mittendorff’s cream-colored Mini Cooper was found Saturday in Shenandoah National Park near the Whiteoak Canyon Trail, the search for her has focused near that popular trail. Now the National Park Service has closed four other areas in the Whiteoak Canyon area — Limberlost, Crescent Rocks, Cedar Run, and Cedar Run Link Trail — in connection with the search for the career Fairfax County firefighter/paramedic, who was last heard from Wednesday.
- PUB DATE: 4/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOP-AM 1500 Washington

Earlier this year, a photo of a woman breastfeeding her son went viral on the Internet. The photo depicted not just any woman, but a woman dressed in fire turnout gear, holding the naked infant to her mostly concealed breast. The image was part of a series by an El Paso photographer who was depicting women breastfeeding at work.
- PUB DATE: 4/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firerescue1

Two young children were killed in a fire at a Lumpkin County home on Monday. The flames engulfed the home on Rider Road Spur NE, just off of Highway 9, between Dawsonville and Dahlonega. Lumpkin County officials confirmed that two children, ages 1 and 2, were taken to North Side Hospital in Cumming and Chestatee Regional Hospital Dahlonega, Ga.
- PUB DATE: 4/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WXIA-TV NBC 11 Atlanta

A man who shot two Maryland firefighters -- one of them fatally -- was released from custody without any charges, police said Saturday. "Yes, he was released from custody and as far as why charges have not been filed, call the state's attorney office," Prince George's County Police spokesman Tyler Hunter said.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: cnn

The Prince George’s County Fire Department tells WUSA 9 it’s not uncommon for them to force entry into a home in an absolute emergency as they continue to mourn one of their own, shot and killed while trying to conduct a welfare check. “We’re not going to get into the warrant aspect of it. That’s more of a procedural matter for the police.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: wusa9

A veteran Memphis firefighter collapsed and died just after battling a house fire in the Westwood area of South Memphis late Saturday night. Around 11:45 p.m., Lt. Rodney Eddins and his crew were looking for hot spots inside the small home in the 4500 block of Marigold Lane when he collapsed. His fellow firefighters carried him out and began CPR on the home’s front lawn, witnesses said.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: memphis commercial appeal

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health did not recommend any further actions in its final report on the 2013 line of duty death of Wayne-Westland firefighter Brian Woehlke. Hometownlife.com reported that the 113-page report investigation the May 8, 2013 death of 29-year-old firefighter Woehlke provides a detailed account of what happened during the fatal fire, which has been ruled arson and homicide.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firerescue1

Come May, Craig Utter will begin his 11th season of his dangerous, dirty job fighting wildland fires with the U.S. Forest Service. He goes to places so remote, he needs a helicopter to get there. “There” is all over the country. “Last summer I was in California for two weeks, home for two days, then to Missoula for a week, home for a week and then to Alaska for two weeks, home for three weeks then to North Carolina for a week and then Texas for a week and then back to Idaho,” said Utter, who is lives in McCall, Idaho.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The washington post - metered site

Jon Hansen, the spokesman for the Oklahoma City Fire Department during the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing, has died. Hansen, 65, died early Friday after a long battle with cancer. He died in his home with his family at his side, the fire department said in a news release. The bombing of the former Oklahoma City federal building on April 19, 1995 claimed the lives of 168 people, and in the hours and days following Hansen played a key role in disseminating information to the public.
- PUB DATE: 4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the oklahoman

Jon Hansen, the spokesman for the Oklahoma City Fire Department during the 1995 Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing, has died. An Oklahoma City fire department official confirmed Hansen died early Friday. The former Oklahoma City federal building was destroyed at 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995. The bombing resulted in the deaths of 168 people.
- PUB DATE: 4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the oklahoman

Three of five members of the Peninsula Township fire board have joined their fire chief and resigned their positions, alleging they cannot get the support needed from the township board to fund adequate emergency services. Recent discussions by township board members about selling a 27-foot rescue boat with fire-fighting capabilities and side-scan sonar, the only one on Grand Traverse Bay, prompted the resignations.
- PUB DATE: 4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Traverse City Record-Eagle

Legislation that would make it easier for firefighters to access benefits from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation when they are diagnosed with cancer cleared the Ohio Senate Wednesday in a nearly unanimous vote. The bill, introduced by state Sen. Tom Patton, a Strongsville Republican, would establish a presumption that when firefighters get cancer, it is a result of their work.
- PUB DATE: 4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland Plain Dealer

Modesto is facing potential legal trouble after one of its firefighters reportedly tripped and fell on a third-grader and broke her arm during a Fire Department safety event called the Clown Program, in which firefighters dress up as clowns and superheroes as they teach schoolchildren such basics as when to call 911 and how to get out of a burning house.
- PUB DATE: 4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: modesto bee

Where to build the new fire station? Neighbors’ protest? Is "free" land really ‘free’? How many bays? Drive-through? Dorms or individual sleeping rooms? Air quality systems? One-story or two? You don’t really know overwhelmed until assigned to design and build your department’s next fire station. Probably the most expensive project of your career, but the new facility should also last 50 to 75 years.
- PUB DATE: 4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse

Is it hot in here or is it just the firefighters? The drive toward gender equality in the FDNY will now include its calendar — and the 12 beefcake hardbodies that make up its pages have finally met their match. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you are about to see the softer side of the FDNY. For the first time, the department will have both men and women in their annual Calendar of Heroes, the department announced Thursday.
- PUB DATE: 4/15/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york daily news

Lee County builders want to shut off Estero Fire Rescue District's sprinkler ordinance. The Lee Building Industry Association, Inc., and the Florida Home Builders Association filed a joint lawsuit in Lee County Circuit Court in an attempt to halt the fire district's recent sprinkler ordinance. The lawsuit also asks a judge to review whether the fire district followed state law when it created the ordinance, according to Chené Thompson, a private lawyer hired by the builders.
- PUB DATE: 4/14/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: naples daily news

A former division chief for the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District who alleged in a lawsuit he was fired due to his age has been awarded $704,000 by a jury. Following a monthlong trial in San Bernardino Superior Court, the seven-woman, five-man jury announced its verdict Monday, determining George Corley’s age was a “substantial motivating reason” for his termination, court records show.
- PUB DATE: 4/14/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Redlands Daily Facts

We regret to pass on the Line of Duty Death of Freeport (IL) FD Firefighter/EMT Michael D. Pontius (IAFF Local 441). Firefighter Pontius, 58, passed away 2 says ago, on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 from Line of Duty injuries sustained from exposure to toxic substance while operating at a house fire. It’s important to note that the fire that killed him was in 2001.
- PUB DATE: 4/14/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firefighter close calls

The Las Cruces firefighter whose wife was pictured breastfeeding their infant son while wearing his uniform, and the union that represents city firefighters, defended the Las Cruces Fire Department on Wednesday, saying the agency is not against breastfeeding. The support for LCFD came a day after the controversy surrounding the photo made national news.
- PUB DATE: 4/14/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Cruces Sun-News

By now you’ve probably seen the video: A CHP helicopter hovers over Morro Rock while an emergency responder dangles and spins on a rope as he’s lowered down to a stranded, wetsuit-clad man frozen in a tiny crevice on the 600-foot-tall volcanic mound. The trapped man was Michael John Paul Banks, 27, of Fresno, who reached viral notoriety last week after his plan to scale the Rock to propose to his girlfriend via the FaceTime video app reached a snag when he got stuck coming down the east side of the cliff.
- PUB DATE: 4/14/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the tribune