Some local fire and rescue chiefs are pushing back against the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities closure of the Silvertip Maintenance Station, located at the junction of the Seward and Hope highways. DOT&PF says five staffers have been moved and the station will no longer be responsible for plowing and maintenance of the the 17-mile Hope Highway, as well as Turnagain Pass from mile markers 45 to 74.
- PUB DATE: 11/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVA-TV CBS 11 Anchorage

President Donald Trump has signed a bill renaming the Sun Prairie post office after a firefighter killed in an explosion last year. U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s office says Trump signed the bill Thursday renaming the post office after Cory Barr. He was killed in a natural gas explosion in downtown Sun Prairie in July 2018.
- PUB DATE: 11/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV ABC 27 Madison

A new study on the Lake Christine fire finds that wildfire mitigation, like using flame-resistant construction materials and clearing vegetation around homes, played a significant role in saving property. The study, by the Community Wildfire Planning Center, was presented to the Eagle County board of commissioners by wildfire mitigation coordinator Eric Lovgren on Tuesday.
- PUB DATE: 11/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Aspen Public Radio

A proposed change in the way Cobb County’s public safety officials are compensated has come under criticism from police and fire fighter representatives. Under the so-called “step and grade” table presented to county commissioners earlier this month, public safety employees would receive a 3-percent “step” increase each year.
- PUB DATE: 11/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Private firefighting continues to grow as an industry. With fires scorching the state of California, some homeowners and insurance companies contract out companies to protect homes and structures in wildfires. "We've been doing the private sector for three years," Ryan Bellanca, of Bella Wildfire & Forestry Inc.
- PUB DATE: 11/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOLO-TV ABC/CW+ 8 Reno

Firefighters helped a man whose wheel broke off his van in a parking lot next to the fire department on Thursday. A blog post from the Madison Fire Department said the crew was told that the man needed to move his vehicle into a parking spot to avoid getting a ticket. However, the man could not afford a tow truck.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2019 4:47:12 PM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

While on the scene of one crash, Town of Peshtigo Fire Department says one of its vehicles became the victim of another crash Thursday morning. The fire department says its water tender was being used for protection at a crash along U.S. Hwy 41 just before 7 a.m. A vehicle had rolled over near the Peshtigo River bridge.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2019 2:52:10 PM - SOURCE: NBC 26 Green Bay

A Germantown man remains hospitalized Thursday morning after being rescued by Germantown fire crews and police department officers after his home caught fire Wednesday night. The Germantown fire and police departments responded to a house fire at W161 N11683 Church St. at about 8 p.m. Wednesday. When they arrived, they found the man lying on the front steps while flames were shooting out of the front door and front windows.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2019 8:28:39 AM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Metered SIte

First responders rush through the streets to save lives every day, but that comes with a risk and, sometimes, a cost. With more than 30 crashes involving Jacksonville police and fire vehicles last week, city leaders are once again concerned about safety. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office alone had 24 crashes last week, with the officers at fault in 17 of them.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJXT-TV CBS 4 Jacksonville

Ever wonder how fire agencies decide who and when to evacuate? It's not a decision made on a hunch. It requires making sense of huge amounts of real-time data and intelligence, and getting it wrong or late can have tragic consequences. Not than long ago, fatalities in California's wildfires were very rare.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: LAist

If you have a heart attack in Harlowe, according to resident and former firefighter Rufus Carter, you are in serious trouble: it’s going to take the ambulance an average of 18 minutes and 22 seconds to get there. If you live in nearby Adams Creek, the response time is even longer. That’s the longest average response time for EMS in the county by nine and a half minutes (in Fort Barnwell) and nearly 11 minutes longer than the county’s quickest (Township 7).
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Bern Sun Journal

Chicago has the largest number of women fighting fires and working on ambulances of any city in the country, the city’s fire commissioner said Wednesday, but they make up less than 10% of the department’s total personnel. In a department that has long dealt with diversity issues, aldermen also pressed Chicago Fire Department officials to better address the under-representation of black and Latino firefighters on the force, an annual complaint when officials come to City Hall for their budget hearing.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune - Metered Site

The California wildfires and PG&E’s incompetence are having a terrifying impact on the residents of California, who face not only immense risk to life and property, but a growing number of power and telecom-related outages that make a bad problem worse. There are more than a dozen wildfires currently raging across California, and heavy winds this week are only expected to exacerbate the problem.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Vice

A 14-year-old girl on Wednesday, Oct. 30 offered tasty treats to Milwaukee firefighters who saved her life 11 years ago. It was Sept. 28, 2008 -- and FOX6 News cameras were rolling near the intersection of Grant and Middlemass in Milwaukee as crews put out a huge duplex fire. One little girl remained inside the building until firefighters came to the rescue.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2019 4:49:09 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

The Bellevue Fire Department will be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week starting in 2020. The Village Board of Trustees approved a three-year contract with Bellevue Firefighters from IAFF Local 141 to allow this staffing, changing it from the current staffing structure of Monday through Friday, 7 a.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2019 11:46:20 AM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

Three people are without a home in Rock County after a massive fire Tuesday afternoon. According to the Janesville Fire Department, crews responded to South Edgewater Drive in the Town of Rock just before 4 p.m. after flames were seen coming from a garage. The fire spread to the main building of the house, and crews were able to knock down those flames in 20 minutes.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2019 5:38:16 AM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Firefighters with muscles, and puppies, in a calendar. This is how Milwaukee Fire Department members are raising tens of thousands of dollars to help firefighters during times of need. Two years ago Ignite the Spirit-Milwaukee launched as a nonprofit organization that supports firefighters when they can't be at work for family or personal health reasons.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2019 4:57:45 AM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Authorities are searching for the Pine-Strawberry Fire Chief who has been reported missing after setting out to hike an Arizona trail last week. Sheriff's officials say 73-year-old Chief Gary Morris was reported missing around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Deputies say Chief Morris, an avid hiker, was scheduled to do 51 miles over four days of the Arizona Trail with the ending point being in the Doll Baby area, southwest of Payson.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC 15 News Arizona

VIDEO: Harrowing video of San Francisco firefighters sent into the Kincade Fire drives home the reality that our first-responders are risking their lives when they step in to battle raging wildfires. Firefighters from San Francisco Fire Department were deployed to help fight the Kincade Fire, which has now burned 74,000 acres in Sonoma County.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KGO-TV 7 News

A Cessna 414 plane crashed into a suburban New Jersey home Tuesday morning, igniting a massive fire and completely destroying the house, local fire officials said. The crash was in Colonia, about 22 miles outside of New York City. Video from the scene shows massive flames and plumes of smoke rising into the air.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News