Three city councilors have accused Human Resources Director William Mahoney of failing to enforce the city's residency requirement by allowing one deputy fire chief and five district chiefs to live outside Springfield despite their promotions. "Many of these Chiefs have been in violation of the ordinance for years and Bill Mahoney has yet to demand that they comply," the councilors stated in a joint press release.
- PUB DATE: 3/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield Union-News & Sunday Republican

The Prescott Fire Department is operating on the slimmest of manpower margins, and it’s relying on firefighters to volunteers to work overtime in order to keep fire stations from being shut down entirely for a day. When the problem first began to become evident at the end of last year, Fire Chief Dennis Light put into place a plan to “brown out” fire stations.
- PUB DATE: 3/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the daily courier

Philadelphia fire investigators had no scientific basis to conclude that a 1985 rowhouse fire in Oxford Circle was arson, a defense expert testified about the blaze that killed two boys and sent their father to death row for their murder. Nationally known fire consultant John Lentini said that when he heard that a city fire marshal, and then a second, had identified three separate points of origin for the fire, "I said, 'He must be magic, because it can't be done.
- PUB DATE: 3/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: philly.com

On March 27, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On March 26, 4 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

PHOTO - Four firefighters were injured Wednesday morning when the driver of a fire engine lost control of the vehicle after suffering a medical emergency and crashed into several parked cars in Valley Glen. The firefighters were responding to another medical emergency call about 2 a.m. when the driver lost control near the intersection of Burbank Boulevard and Woodman Way, said Capt.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA-TV WB 5 Los Angeles

A Wilmington Fire Marshal inspector conducting residency investigations outside the city was questioned by two different police agencies last week, including one in Pennsylvania. In one instance, he pulled a gun on a man who said he photographed the inspector coming out of neighbors' backyards. No charges were brought against Thomas L.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wilmington News Journal

The Fire Department employees who racked up the most overtime last year weren’t putting out fires, according to an analysis of payroll records. The records showed that not one of the FDNY’s top 25 OT earners was a firefighter or officer. Thirteen were fire marshals, seven were marine engineers who repair fireboats, and the rest were mechanics and other blue-collar civilian workers.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york post

San Francisco fire trucks are about to get spiffed up for a big birthday party, because that’s what you do when you turn a nice round number like 150. The Fire Department unveiled its new logo Tuesday, a sparkly, golden shield with images of San Francisco landmarks and a legendary phoenix surrounded by flames that any of San Francisco’s 1,500 firefighters are duty-bound to extinguish.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SFgate

A former Novato firefighter who was terminated after failing a drug test is fighting back in Marin Superior Court, claiming the fire department violated his labor rights. Kirk Lewis, 36, filed for a court injunction to be reinstated while the litigation is pending, but Judge Roy Chernus denied the request last week.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Marin Independent Journal

On March 28, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On March 26, 3 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On March 25, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Two Utah firefighters asked a federal appeals court to revive their lawsuit against state authorities who the men claim falsely accused them of prescription drug fraud after a warrantless search of a state prescription drug database. Criminal charges were later dismissed, but lawyers for the two firefighters argue that giving police unfettered access to records of all prescription drugs dispensed to patients is unconstitutional.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSL-TV NBC 5

The Charlotte City Council met in closed session Monday night to discuss the leak of a confidential memo about a firefighter and whether Fire Chief Jon Hannan had any responsibility. The March 4 memo was from City Manager Ron Carlee to firefighter Marty Puckett, the vice president of the Charlotte Firefighters Association Local 660, which has feuded with Hannan over how the department has been managed.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charlotte Observer

The first paid female firefighter in Snohomish County retired Monday after 33 years of service. Janet Jaeger also served as the first paid female lieutenant and first battalion chief for Snohomish County Fire District 7. "I just wanted to be a firefighter, more than anything," Jaeger said Monday, looking back at her career.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCPQ-TV FOX 13

After the Raynham Fire Department spent most of Easter morning battling a stubborn residential blaze in Raynham, Fire Chief James Januse exhaled deeply as he sank into his desk chair back at the station at 11 a.m. It wasn’t the seven hours on scene that brought about Januse’s sigh, but the thought of yet another firefighter being injured — and how his depleted department will have to continue to overcome a staff shortage.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: taunton gazette

As smoke and flames shot from the windows of the Federal View Apartments late Sunday night, bewildered residents gathered outside only to hear the piercing screams of a woman on the third floor. "Grab my baby!" she yelled through the sounds of shattering glass and rushing air. "Grab my baby!" Out from the top floors — one by one — people jumped for safety through a thick, black haze.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: denver post

On March 26, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On March 25, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.