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

There’s something about the scene that unfolds when the tones sound and fire trucks race out of the City of Newburgh fire headquarters on Grand Street, said acting Chief Terry Ahlers. He watched Thursday afternoon as the firemen did their dance, jumping out of their everyday shoes, slipping on turnout gear and hopping in two trucks.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Record Online - Metered Site

Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue says a home in Fond du Lac has sustained substantial damage after an early morning fire on Saturday. Firefighters say around 2:54 a.m., they responded to the report of fire showing on the back of a house located at 222 W. Arndt St. Multiple firefighters from surrounding communities helped extinguished the fire, but not before the house experienced substantial damage.
- PUB DATE: 12/14/2019 3:24:36 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

Firefighters responded to Loruth Terrace around 7:30 Thursday night for a reported residential fire. Engine Co. 7 arrived first on scene to find fire showing from the porch. As Ladder Co. 7 shut down utilities to the home, Engine 7 advanced a hose line and began fire attack with assistance from Ladder Co.
- PUB DATE: 12/14/2019 8:39:34 AM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Kevin Leago, the trailblazing Houston firefighter with cancer who fought City Hall to provide workers compensation benefits for his illness — and won — died Thursday. He was 40. Leago’s victory in court over city lawyers who argued his illness was unrelated to on-the-job carcinogen exposure set a precedent for dozens of current and retired Houston firefighters stricken with cancer, Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton said.
- PUB DATE: 12/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

VIDEO: A new public service announcement from the Honolulu Fire Department that began airing recently features a wake up call on the dangers of house fires. The PSA shows a boy, his father and pet dog asleep while actually succumbing to the impacts of smoke ? without even knowing it. “This boy is dying.
- PUB DATE: 12/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hawaii News Now

Every firefighter knows a call can come at any time. But the Rev. Dave Driesch and the Rev. Tim McGill serve a God as well as their community — meaning their pagers go off while they’re praying or leading a service. Driesch, a veteran firefighter and Catholic priest who is prior of Daylesford Abbey, is helping newbie firefighter and Southern Baptist minister McGill, pastor of Paoli Community Church, balance both worlds.
- PUB DATE: 12/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Philadelphia Inquirer - Metered Site

The union representing Chicago firefighters wants a Cook County judge to halt the promotion of more than a dozen department members to battalion chief. The Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 filed a motion for an injunction in Cook County Circuit Court on Tuesday that seeks to stop the promotions — set to take effect Dec.
- PUB DATE: 12/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun Times

Unable to find a candidate willing to take on the role as their new fire chief, the city of Falcon Heights voted Wednesday to have Rose­ville’s fire department assume the chief’s responsibilities for one year. The unanimous vote by Falcon Heights’ City Council comes several weeks after Roseville’s council agreed to the $40,000 contract, in which they would take responsibility for all administrative and command services, as well as a department-wide audit.
- PUB DATE: 12/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Twin Cities Pioneer Press

An extension cord may have sparked a fire that sent one person to the hospital in Waukesha Thursday evening, Dec. 12. Firefighters were called out shortly before 7 p.m. for heavy fire on the outside rear of a single-family home on Norwood Court — just off of Summit Avenue and Briar Hill Drive — spreading to the attic.
- PUB DATE: 12/12/2019 8:37:59 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

One worker was treated for injuries after the Airgas facility in Waukesha exploded into flames Thursday afternoon. Company officials say the explosion occurred in the plant's hydrogen storage area. All workers have been accounted for, Airgas says. Investigators later found that a number of small cylinders had been leaking, and a small fire was sparked in that area, FOX6 reports.
- PUB DATE: 12/12/2019 2:48:16 PM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Wauwatosa authorities responded to a fire at a home on Underwood Parkway Wednesday night, Dec. 11. Officials were called to a single family ranch home around 10:24 p.m., where firefighters were met with heavy fire and smoke on the first floor. The Wauwatosa Fire Department, along with Milwaukee and West Allis Fire Departments, placed the fire under control in less than 30 minutes.
- PUB DATE: 12/12/2019 11:51:18 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Drivers were asked to avoid High Point Road on Madison's west side following a crash Thursday. The crash happened shortly before 1 p.m. on the bridge of High Point Road, between Watts Road and D'onofrio Drive, according to a tweet by the Madison Fire Department. The Madison Fire Department said the crash involved multiple vehicles and that two people were taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
- PUB DATE: 12/12/2019 11:20:21 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

Port Washington Fire Chief Mark Mitchell this week proposed a new system for paying part-time paramedics and emergency medical technicians that he hopes will help fill shifts during the daytime hours. It’s yet another example of how the model of a volunteer small-town fire department is evolving. “I’m calling it a nationwide epidemic,” Mitchell said of the lack of volunteers today.
- PUB DATE: 12/12/2019 1:43:46 AM - SOURCE: Ozaukee Press

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Wednesday announced that the city would provide firefighters an average raise of nearly 20 percent. The raises will go into effect this January.Fire Chief Randall B. Slaughter called the raises historic. “This pay raise represents the single largest pay enhancement to firefighters in this city in my 29 year career,” Slaughter said.
- PUB DATE: 12/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Atlanta Journal Constitution

Phoenix Fire Department Chief Kara Kalkbrenner announced in a message to the department Wednesday that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Kalkbrenner, who was sworn in as the first woman to lead the department in December 2014, said in the message she will undergo a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery this Friday.
- PUB DATE: 12/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: AZ Central

Never far from the busy engines of Los Angeles’s Fire Station 9 on Skid Row is a man known by everyone in the area as 'Mango.' Even though he can often be found wearing an LAFD cap and jacket designating him as the “Fire Traffic Officer,” he is not an official member of L.A. City Fire. But when the calls fire off at Station 9, Mango springs into action, just like the crews.
- PUB DATE: 12/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Spectrum News