Fire Chief Scott Burnette has said a captain's decision to respond to a 2012 medical call in a routine, nonemergency fashion did not delay life-saving efforts, despite accounts of two former firefighters who said the patient died but might have been saved with quicker action. Burnette's Dec. 14 statement about the seven-year-old incident brought surprised reactions from a former Asheville Fire Department chief and an ex-captain of the station involved with the call, who said responding to a "difficulty breathing" call as a nonemergency was highly unusual and did not seem appropriate.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Citizen-Times

The union representing Ashland firefighters is sounding the alarm on budget cuts that will affect Ashland Fire & Rescue's ability to respond to emergencies. According to Ashland Firefighters Local 1269, the agency will be running "harder with fewer resources" next year. "Ashland Firefighters received some disappointing news this week, as the fallout from 2019’s budget cut continues to evolve," the union said in a Facebook post.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KDRV ABC 12

Firefighters have long complained that a state law meant to assure their bills are paid when they get work-related cancers isn’t helping the way it should. And a state review says they’re right. The law says that when firefighters get leukemia as well as breast, pancreatic, prostate, rectal and throat cancers, they should be presumed to be the result of their work.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Press

We are impressed and a little surprised at how quickly the Madison Fire Department was able to switch to a new fire-fighting foam that does not contained the hazardous chemical compounds known as PFAS. It’s especially notable since it appears Madison is the first department in Wisconsin to switch to the more environmentally friendly substance.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 5:40:53 PM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

A garage fire at a town of Beloit house Tuesday afternoon destroyed an SUV and caused more than $100,000 in damage to the residence, authorities said. Fire crews from the town and city of Beloit and town of Turtle arrived shortly before noon Tuesday at 3007 W. Lawrence Ave., where a garage attached to a two-story house was on fire, according to a news release from the Town of Beloit Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 5:13:26 PM - SOURCE: Janesville Gazette

Members of the Green Bay Metro Fire Department spread some holiday cheer at HSHS St. Vincent Children's Hospital on Tuesday. Central Church in Green Bay partnered with the firefighters who were able to bring a heartwarming smile to kids who need some extra love this holiday season. It was a big surprise for little Avianna who makes frequent visits to St.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 2:37:39 PM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

A fire at a Glendale hotel on Dec. 17 caused an estimated $100,000 in damage, according to the North Shore Fire Department. The fire at Motel 6, 5485 N. Port Washington Road, started at about 11 a.m. in a third-floor maintenance closet on the south side of the hotel. The fire did not spread beyond the room, due to the hotel's sprinkler system, according to the fire department.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 1:01:30 PM - SOURCE: Ozaukee Now

A home in Arena is total loss after an early morning house fire on Tuesday. The Iowa County Sheriff’s Office says the call for the fire came in around 5:30 in the morning from Village Edge Road. When firefighters got to the scene, flames were shooting from the home. One person lives in the home and she got out safely.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 7:49:53 AM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

The Madison Fire Department has replaced its firefighting foam with foams that have shown to be PFAS-free, becoming the first major city in the state to make the change. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of chemicals known as PFAS, have contaminated wells, groundwater and waterways in Madison.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 7:13:08 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

Firefighters battled a house fire near 27th and Melvina Monday night. Milwaukee police responded to meet the Milwaukee Fire Department around 6:02 p.m. Police say three adults escaped from the blaze unharmed, but the home is a total loss. Witnesses say they heard a loud bang, and then saw huge flames coming out of the building.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 6:57:32 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Firefighters jumped into action when an industrial facility went up in flames in Southwest Philadelphia on Monday night. They performed a high-risk move, shutting off a valve within feet of the flames. It happened around 6:45 p.m. at the Point Breeze Terminal located along the 6300 block of Passyunk Avenue.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPVI-TV ABC 6 Philadelphia

The Dallas Fire Fighters Association is hoping to recruit Houston firefighters days after Sylvester Turner was elected to his second four-year term as mayor. Houston's Proposition B, the voter-approved pay parity plan for Houston firefighters, has caused turmoil between HFD and the city of Houston.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTRK-TV ABC 13 News Houston

Alexandria acting fire chief Corey A. Smedley will step up to the role for good, becoming the first black permanent fire chief in the Virginia city’s history. On the heels of what Alexandria City Manager Mark B. Jinks described as a nationally competitive recruitment effort, the city announced on Monday it opted to promote Smedley from his current role as acting fire chief — a position which he has held since the retirement of chief Robert C.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOP News

Scranton Fire Chief Patrick DeSarno gave notice Monday he will resign from his position effective Jan. 3, Mayor Wayne Evans said. DeSarno accepted a job offer in another field, the mayor said. The decision was not unexpected, Evans said. “I appreciate his doing this and of course I wish him well in the future and thank him for his service,” the mayor said.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Mark Hatch said it started four years ago with a simple idea scrawled onto a Post-it note: Make a wall of fame plaque honoring the paramedics of the Burbank Fire Department. The battalion chief’s idea became a reality on Thursday when the agency formally unveiled its Paramedic Wall of Fame to a crowd of about 50 former and current members of the department’s emergency medical services division, along with their family members.
- PUB DATE: 12/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times - Metered Site

Residents at a Sun Prairie assisted living facility were moved from their homes into a safe part of the building for more than 2 hours Sunday as first responders investigated a natural gas leak, according to a news release. The Sun Prairie Fire Department said firefighters, police and EMS responded to a report of a gas leak at the New Perspective Senior Living assisted-living facility on South Bristol Street.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 9:46:33 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

Bodega Bay’s financially struggling firefighting agency could have a new name, more firefighters and more paramedics under a plan that would expand the growing Sonoma County Fire District next year — but only if the Board of Supervisors ponies up as much as $2.5 million a year to make it happen. The 66-year-old coast agency and the 100-year-old Russian River Fire Protection District both want to join Sonoma County Fire, the latest in a series of moves meant to consolidate and modernize the county’s far-flung and somewhat antiquated fire services network.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Press Democrat - Metered Site

VIDEO: First responders rescued a man trapped in an upside down submerged vehicle in Liberty Bay Saturday morning. The Poulsbo Fire and Police departments responded to the scene of the rollover accident off Fjord Drive around 8:40 a.m. The vehicle went off the roadway into Liberty Bay south of the Poulsbo Yacht Club, according to Poulsbo Fire Department spokesperson Jody Matson.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING 5 News

A Quincy-based addiction treatment company is looking to open a facility in Canton that would include a specialized wing for first responders. ARK Behavioral Health has proposed converting the shuttered Kindred-Tower Hill nursing home, nestled at the end of Getchell Way near Randolph, into a substance-use treatment facility that could help up to 160 people at a time through the first steps of recovery.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Patriot Ledger

According to the National Volunteer Fire Council, 65% of all firefighters in the United States in 2016 were volunteers. But the number of people joining volunteer fire departments is on the decline, and not just in Daviess County. "The volunteer service on the fire side is really suffering," said Randy Lawson, executive director for the Kentucky Firefighter's Association.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Messenger-Inquirer