A group of retired White Plains firefighters are urging the city to uphold a promise made to them that their health benefits would be covered through retirement. For over a year, former Deputy Fire Chief Ed Lobermann, 85, has made presentations and met with city officials regarding the issue. Lobermann represents around 100 retired firefighters who pay 15% of their premium, when they were told in the 1970's it would be paid for them.
- PUB DATE: 12/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Journal News (Lohud.com)

Elected officials from the Village and Town of Waterford and the Village of Rochester agree: A joint fire and emergency medical services district would benefit all three municipalities. But at least 22 years after a consolidated department was first proposed, the chance of a district for these western Racine County communities appears further off than ever.
- PUB DATE: 12/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Journal Times - Metered Site

The Scottsdale Fire Department is facing a period of heavy retirements in the next five years, but Northwest Valley fire services are on a firm footing with staff. Scottsdale is a fairly new city department, having been creating July 1, 2005 after purchasing that portion of Rural Metro, including infrastructure and staff.
- PUB DATE: 12/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun City West Independent

A new real time wildfire mapping system was used on the Cave Fire near Santa Barbara, California this week. In September the Orange County Fire Authority began a 150-day pilot program to use and evaluate the Fire Integrated Real-Time Intelligence System (FIRIS). The program got off the ground thanks to funding secured in the 2019-2020 California state budget by Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach).
- PUB DATE: 12/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wildfire Today

City officials say opening the Rockford Fire Department vehicle repair shop on Falcon Drive to other fire departments is paying dividends by covering the cost of an extra mechanic and producing a modest profit for the department. Not only does the program raise revenue, but it also gives the department an extra set of hands to repair and return Rockford fire equipment to service quickly after a breakdown, Fire Chief Derek Bergsten said.
- PUB DATE: 12/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Rockford Register Star - Metered Site

Christmas trees and string lights bring the holidays to life for some. However, first responders say those decorations can raise the risk of winter fires. The Merrill Fire Department wants people to know what they can do to prevent house fires this season. To raise awareness within the community, the department kicked off its annual "Keep the Wreath Green" campaign the day after Thanksgiving.
- PUB DATE: 12/1/2019 8:16:27 PM - SOURCE: WJFW-TV NBC 12 Rhinelander-Wausau

No one was injured after a storage building caught on fire in Grand Chute Saturday afternoon. Around 3:56 p.m., the Grand Chute Fire Department was dispatched to 920 S. Mayflower Dr. for the report of a structure fire. Arriving firefighters from different departments, found heavy smoke and flames coming through the roof of a metal storage building.
- PUB DATE: 11/30/2019 7:42:48 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

An 82-year-old woman died in a late night fire on Thanksgiving that also sent her 91-year-old husband to the hospital, according to the Dodge Co. Sheriff's Office. Her family told NBC15 her name was Eleanor "Ellie" Neumann. Her husband, Ruben, suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the fire and was taken to Marshfield Medical Center.
- PUB DATE: 11/29/2019 12:39:13 PM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Waterloo Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Tina Lange was recently honored as the 2019 Wisconsin EMS Association EMT of the Year at the Wisconsin EMS Association Conference and Expo held in Wisconsin Dells. Lange has been active in many roles since joining the Waterloo Fire Department in November 1995 and becoming a Waterloo EMT in 1997.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2019 5:28:25 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

Every fire station in Appleton has a wreath outside of it, but it’s not just a decoration for the holidays. Battalion Chief Derek Henson says they’re kicking off their annual campaign to prevent fires through the end of the year. The wreaths have green bulbs in them. A bulb will be replaced with a red one, whenever there’s a fire in the city.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2019 3:57:44 AM - SOURCE: WHBY-AM 1150 News Talk

Easton is closing in on $1 million in overtime in 2019 for its fire department, increasing the likelihood that it will bring in part-time personnel in 2020. Despite adding three new full-timers earlier this year, the city has already eclipsed the $850,000 in overtime pay it expended in 2018, Finance Director Mark Lysynecky said during the city council meeting Tuesday.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Morning Call - Metered Site

The Portland City Council took what might look like a baby step last week toward more efficient handling of non-emergency 911 calls. In a break from current practice, in which uniformed, armed police officers in squad cars or a truckload of firefighters respond, commissioners approved a pilot project in which a new "third branch" of the first-responder system, staffed by a specially trained firefighter and a contracted crisis worker, would respond to some non-emergency situations.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Willamette Week

Sarah Mackin runs a cotton swab around the inside of a tiny plastic baggie that appears to be empty. She spreads whatever residue the swab picked up onto a test strip that resembles a Band-Aid, then slides the strip into a buzzing machine about the size of a boxed, take-home pie. Then she waits, hoping for information that she can share with Boston's community of opioid users.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBUR-FM 90.9

You rely on their rapid "first response" to an emergency medical call to 9-1-1. You rely on their training, knowledge, and experience in first aid and ability to stabilize a patient -- possibly a love one -- to rush them to a hospital for more precise care. But how much do paramedics make? Paramedics' salaries vary depending on their state, their training, employer, and a host of other factors.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Street Inc.

Even though Boston’s Cocoanut Grove fire happened long before she was born, Michele Shapiro learned all about the disaster when she was a girl. Her grandfather, Frank Shapiro, was at a nearby theater with his wife the night of Nov. 28, 1942, when a blaze tore through the swanky Cocoanut Grove nightclub, killing 492 people.
- PUB DATE: 11/27/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report

Students from St. Mark Lutheran School in Eau Claire took time to put care packages together for the Eau Claire Fire Department. This was part of an annual Thanksgiving service project, but packing for firefighters was a first for the school. All 90 students at St. Mark put the packages together. "It's something we do a number of times per year, where we divide up the students into different teams - where we have preschools, kindergarten, first graders and so on all the way through the grades - just to get the kids working together in teams, so they can get a little bit of team-building and and get them working together," said St.
- PUB DATE: 11/26/2019 8:09:49 PM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News

Freedom’s fire department is trying to convince the town that it needs a new building for its emergency responses. The town’s fire chief says the department is running out of space and safety has taken a backseat. “We have guys getting dressed to leave on a call two feet away from a moving vehicle creating a safety concern,” said Mark Green, chief of the Freedom Fire Dept.
- PUB DATE: 11/26/2019 6:41:55 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

The Milwaukee Fire Department is getting on board with an app saving lives all across the country. The app, "PulsePoint," notifies people of medical emergencies around them. The Milwaukee Fire Department says this is very helpful for medical emergencies in crowded areas, like Fiserv Forum. They can send an alert to everyone with the app, so they can perform CPR before first responders arrive.
- PUB DATE: 11/26/2019 1:48:23 PM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

A candle is believed to have sparked a house fire in the Town of Neenah Monday night. At 8 p.m., the Town of Neenah Fire Department was called to the 900 block of Terra Cotta Drive. They arrived to find smoke and flames coming from "multiple sides" of the second story of the home. Town of Neenah and Fox Crossing firefighters fought the fire.
- PUB DATE: 11/26/2019 3:38:08 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

Making 911 as "smart" as your cellphone. That's the goal of first responders meeting Monday to learn more about Next Gen 911. This new system is already online in parts of three counties, Kittitas, Snohomish and King counties. It's called RAADAR, Real time Agency Activity Display and Reporting. What that means is from right here, NORCOM can see what police and fire are doing in those three counties.
- PUB DATE: 11/26/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIRO-TV CBS 7 Seattle