Last year, one Bangor resident called for emergency assistance 171 times. Another person called first responders to their home only to ask the firefighter to hand them an out-of-reach TV remote control. In response to a growing number of calls for aid that Bangor’s emergency responders say shouldn’t be necessary, the Fire Department wants the city to start charging fees to people or institutions who frequently call for help when no one needs to be taken to a hospital.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: bangor daily news

A Hoke County fire chief who was seriously burned while battling a woods fire will undergo a skin graft procedure Tuesday as he continues to recover from his injuries. Michael Scott, chief of the Hillcrest Fire Department, is being treated at the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill for burns on his arms and face.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fayetteville Observer

The Boston Fire Department has canned a former district fire chief convicted last month of skimming $50,000 from taxpayer coffers while he ran the department’s firefighter academy. Edward Scigliano, 46, was fired by Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn on Wednesday, the same day the department held a hearing attended by Scigliano.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: boston herald

On March 19, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On March 18, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.

A firefighter is dead after falling off of the back of a fire truck during a house fire in Conway. Chris Ray was part of the Conway Fire Department responding to a house fire on Hickory Circle around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Both Conway and Horry County Fire Departments were fighting the blaze. Ray fell off the back of the truck and was hit as it backed up, South Carolina Highway Patrol says.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WIS-TV Columbia Channel 10

FDNY candidates will take an entry exam that quizzes them on topics like African killer bees and on math questions such as comparing veggie chips to pretzels, but little on firefighting. With the city planning to give the first FDNY entry exam in five years in 2017, critics say the test has been dumbed down since a judge ruled a former exam discriminated against minorities.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york post

The chief of the Hillcrest Fire Department in Hoke County was seriously burned in an explosion Friday. Chief Michael Scott sustained burns to his arms and face while fighting a woods fire on Lawrence McCollum Road. This is near the Raeford Municipal Airport, about halfway between Raeford and Fayetteville.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fayetteville Observer

Two West Hawaii battalion chiefs who said they were stripped of their badges after they publicly criticized their boss failed in their appeal for lost overtime pay and benefits. The Merit Appeals Board last week unanimously ruled Hawaii Fire Department battalion chiefs Ty Medeiros and Steve Loyola were not due overtime and vacation pay after being put on paid leave in late 2014.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: hawaii tribune-herald

Seattle Fire Department Battalion Chief Tamalyn Nigretto says it was like a slap in the face when she saw a lieutenant being interviewed on television about the Greenwood explosion. Nothing against him, but she had been the incident commander — the ranking commander at the scene and in charge of the response — when the natural-gas blast leveled two buildings last week, yet she had not been asked to speak to the media.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the seattle times

On March 17, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On March 15, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

PHOTO - One man was injured after a Waukomis fire truck ran off the road Thursday afternoon near Bison while responding to a fire call. The Waukomis firefighter was transported to Integris Bass Baptist Health Center after being trapped inside the truck for about 30 minutes. Waukomis Fire Department personnel were responding to a controlled burn that got out of control northeast of Bison when a water tanker overturned.
- PUB DATE: 3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Enid News & Eagle

VIDEO - A fire-breather caught fire during a pep-rally performance at a Florida high school, horrifying students and school staff in the audience on Thursday and leaving himself and nearly 20 others injured. The incident occurred at Atlantic Community High in Delray Beach, where the performer and seven students hospitalized, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
- PUB DATE: 3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ktla 5

Oxnard's $60,000 settlement payment to its former fire chief last year did not comply with state law, a review by the Ventura County District Attorney's office found, though the error appeared unintentional. The DA's office looked into the issue after getting a citizen complaint when the settlement was made public by The Star in November, records show.
- PUB DATE: 3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Ventura County Star

A Lee County firefighter was arrested because he is accused of driving a fire truck while drunk and getting into an accident while responding to a fire. He is identified by the Lee County Sheriff's Department as 34-year-old Phillip W. Gasaway, a member of the Unity Fellowship Volunteer Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVA-TV Channel 9

Two members of the Canterbury Fire Department have quit, and others could be on their way out after last Friday’s town meeting Captains Donald Maurer and Scott Ruesswick have left their positions at the volunteer department within the last week, citing Canterbury residents’ decision to approve the purchase of a $340,000 fire engine recommended by Canterbury selectmen, despite the fire department’s plan to purchase a $490,000 engine.
- PUB DATE: 3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: concord monitor - metered site

VIDEO - In Prince George's County, the firefighters union president and the fire chief are sounding an alarm because someone has been damaging the safety equipment belonging to the career medics and firefighters at the Glassmanor-Oxon Hill Firehouse. "Our turnout gear is our lifeline," firefighters union president Andrew Pantelis says.
- PUB DATE: 3/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJLA-TV ABC 7 Washington

On March 16, 4 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Minneapolis city officials are launching a paid emergency medical services training program in an effort to diversify its fire department and open a path into the medical field for people of color. The city's fire department is 71 percent white and 88 percent male. "We want to reduce barriers," said city spokeswoman Erica Prosser.
- PUB DATE: 3/17/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Star Tribune