The city says it will prosecute firefighters for not reporting to work when called to fill in for absences, as tensions between the firefighters union and city grow. Two engines and two ladders were not staffed Saturday night because too few firefighters were available, said city officials. “Firefighters who would have been eligible for callbacks tonight have refused,” according to a statement from Evan England, the spokesman for Mayor Jorge Elorza.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: providence journal

Unacceptable. That’s what a federal agency says of firefighters being positioned near the walls of a burning building that is in danger of collapsing, just to protect an adjacent building. Larry Leggio John Mesh Larry Leggio John Mesh 1 of 2 John Mesh Yet that’s exactly what happened when two Kansas City firefighters were killed more than seven weeks ago, according to interviews and analysis by The Kansas City Star.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the kansas city star

Troopers are looking for the driver who hit a Rockingham County emergency responder and kept on driving. The hit-and-run crash happened Saturday night just before 9:00 on US 29 South. Trooper Danny Burgess says Ruffin Volunteer Fire Department Chief Gary Brown was helping a driver involved in another crash when he was hit by the unknown driver.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFMY-TV CBS 2 Greensboro

Tom Kolenda said his family struggled for two decades to move forward since the tragedy that became known as the “Bricelyn Street Fire.” His nephew was one of three Pittsburgh firefighters who died in the East Hills house, set ablaze by the homeowner's son so they could collect the insurance money, a jury decided.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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

On December 2, 7 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

A man charged with slashing a fire hose outside the Penn-North CVS that was set on fire during the riots last April now faces federal charges. Authorities allege Greg Butler Jr., 23, was the man who was seen on national television wearing a gas mask and cutting a hose that firefighters attempted to use to extinguish the burning CVS pharmacy.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baltimore Sun

Sixteen years ago, a group of firefighters who have become known as the “Worcester Six” died while battling the flames that overtook the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co building. On Thursday, the Worcester Fire Department will remember the six men with a 6 p.m. gathering at the Franklin Street fire station, where a bell will sound at 6:13 p.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: boston.com

Lansing firefighter Bruce Wheeler jumped out of the way of a speeding pickup truck, looking into the eyes of the driver, just before it struck and killed his friend and fellow firefighter Dennis Rodeman. It was that close encounter, which Wheeler described in testimony Thursday, that led prosecutors to add another charge against 23-year-old Grant Taylor — assault with intent to murder.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lansing State Journal

A day after undergoing chemotherapy, 9/11 first responder Robert Digiovanni stood angrily outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s office, railing about politics interfering with life-or-death issues. Digiovanni, who has non-Hodgkin lymphoma, had been lobbying for legislation to extend expired health care benefits for himself and others who were exposed to toxic dust after the 2001 attacks in New York.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS New York

When 44-year-old D.C. firefighter Kevin McRae died in the line of duty it wasn't the flames or falling debris that caused his death. McRae, like many other firefighters, died because of a heart attack while climbing in full gear to help put out a blaze at an apartment building in Shaw. About 66 percent of firefighter deaths in the line of duty are from heart attacks, making it the number one cause of line of duty deaths for firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA9.com

On December 2, 6 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On November 29, 8 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

The six Worcester firefighters who died battling the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co. blaze 16 years ago will be remembered Thursday evening during an event at the Franklin Street Fire Station. The gathering begins at 6 p.m. Firefighters, public officials and people from around the area gathered at the fire station last year as the city honored the firefighters during the 15th anniversary of the fire that took the lives of fire Lt.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: masslive

While Congress drags its heels on renewing the Zadroga Act, a hero former FDNY battalion chief was buried on Wednesday after succumbing to World Trade Center-related cancer, officials said. Manhattan Battalion Chief James Costello, 52, died the day before Thanksgiving and was buried in New Jersey after a Catholic funeral mass, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: new york daily news

Akron and the plaintiff firefighters in a long-pending promotions lawsuit have reached a settlement that avoided what would have been a third trial. The city must pay $1.04 million in back pay and pre-judgment interest to the firefighters. “This allows them to look in the rear view mirror and say, ‘God, that decade is over,’” said Bruce Elfvin, an attorney for the firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: akron beacon

It is official, the 2015 Assistance to Firefighters Grant application period will open at 8 a.m. Dec. 7, and close Jan. 15 at 5 p.m. A number of us aren't too happy with the idea that we may be wrapping our presents while wrapping up our AFG application. So here are a few simple tips to ensure that you can begin the day the application period opens and complete it with time to still enjoy the holidays.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firerescue1

An assistant fire chief facing charges for having sex with an underage girl who applied to be a junior firefighter is back on duty before his case is heard in court. New Florence Volunteer Fire Company Assistant Chief Kenny Steiner is facing 12 counts related to the alleged sexual contact involving Steiner and a girl who had applied to be a junior firefighter in 2013.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTAE-TV ABC 4 Pittsburgh

There wasn't anything different about Tuesday's fire call to Selden Road, according to LeRoy Acting Fire Chief Tim Hogle."It was our typical, should've been a normal fire scene that we've been on numerous times in my numerous years with the fire service," Hogle said. But as we already know, that call was anything but normal.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WROC-TV CBS 8 Rochester

On November 30, 8 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.