VIDEO: A massive, four-alarm fire spread to five homes and displaced two families early Monday, Cincinnati fire officials said. Firefighters responded to Addison and Halstead streets in the Clifton Heights-Fairview-University Heights neighborhood just after 4:30 a.m. Monday. They received a report of a house fully involved.
- PUB DATE: 9/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WXIX-TV FOX 19 Cincinnati

Two women are smashing the University of Notre Dame Fire Department‘s gender barrier. Michelle Woolverton and Christi Shibata were sworn in recently as the department’s first-ever full-time female firefighters since its inception 140 years ago. Woolverton, 42, started with NDFD in August and Shibata, 37, in July.
- PUB DATE: 9/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Bend Tribune

To stem the tide of declining membership and award volunteers, the state House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee approved legislation last week to expand the use of volunteer relief money for volunteer firefighters. House Bill 1673 would create the Length of Service Award Program to provide tax-deferred income benefits to active volunteer firefighters, and expand the use of relief funds to include assistance and materials for volunteer recruitment and retention.
- PUB DATE: 9/23/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Intelligencer

After making 16,833 responses in 2017, the Racine Fire Department saw its responses grow by 13% in 2018, up to 19,023 total. “We’re going on over 1,000 calls a month,” Fire Chief Steve Hansen told the Racine Police and Fire Commission on Sept. 9. However, fires made up a tiny portion of the increase.
- PUB DATE: 9/22/2019 3:46:48 PM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

Almost exactly 89 years after a Peter Pirsch & Sons fire pumper truck responded to its first emergency call for the West Allis Fire Department, the very same vehicle is now set to rejoin the ranks. The department raised about $15,000 in 10 months to buy it back from a private collector and is preparing to use the old fire engine to enhance its educational and community outreach programs.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2019 10:10:11 AM - SOURCE: My South Now

On Friday firefighters from Fond du Lac went on a door to door mission in the area surrounding a home that started on fire Thursday morning all in an attempt, to prevent something like that from happening again. The firefighters were trying to inform the public some of the things they can do to prevent a fire and even be more prepared for a potential fire.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2019 8:58:03 PM - SOURCE: NBC 26 News Green Bay

The city of Oconomowoc will get a new public safety building, after common council action Sept. 17 on the project, which has been debated for several years. A divided council voted 5-3 to approve the construction contract for the project, estimated at $10.715 million. Aldermen Charlie Shaw, Tom Strey, Andy Rogers, Kevin Ellis and Derek Zwart voted in favor of the facility, while Matt Rosek, Karen Spiegelberg and Lou Kowieski voted no.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2019 7:47:50 AM - SOURCE: Livinglakecountry

The FDNY’s response time has gone up and the firefighters union says part of the problem is a program meant to make New York City streets safer. It is taking the New York City Fire Department longer to respond to fires and other emergencies, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s latest management report.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLNY-TV 55 Riverhead

Plenty of new housing needs to be built in Northern Virginia over the next few decades to keep up with expected job growth, but for now some of it won’t include built-in sprinkler systems. This week, the Virginia Board of Housing and Community Development voted against an update to the Commonwealth’s construction code that would have required that sprinklers be put in all new single-family homes and townhouses.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAMU 88.5 American University Radio

Firefighters watched helplessly Wednesday as black smoke billowed over a treeline from a nearby apartment complex. They had arrived at 5:15 p.m. to fight a fire in Apartment F at Legacy Crossing Apartments at 3914 Hahn’s Lane, but police told them to wait on a nearby street so they could arrest the woman accused of setting the fire who witnesses said was also firing a gun.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Greensboro News & Record

Volunteer fire departments across the region and even the state of Pennsylvania have started to shrink over the years as fewer people come forward to volunteer. But a solution to the lack of recruits might have been found within local schools. North Star High School added a new class students can take this year.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJAC-TV NBC/CW+ 6 Johnstown

Like so many other small towns, Titusville’s citizens since the city’s founding in 1867 has banded together to protect their homes and businesses from fires. They held socials and collected subscriptions to support basic fire protection for their town. They urged their neighbors to install lightning rods on their homes and clear their lots of overgrowth to prevent fires from starting or spreading.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SpaceCoastDaily.com

Rural communities rely on volunteer fire departments to be there when disaster shows its face. Many of those departments are finding it difficult to find volunteers to join their ranks and it’s proving to be an issue that can impact entire communities. On September 14, 10 different fire departments responded to a warehouse fire in Marshfield.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2019 7:48:14 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

Every day, firefighters are asked to enter burning buildings while knowing the toxins they're exposed to inside could eventually kill them. West Bend Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Gustafson said today's couches and mattresses contain "really bad things in them that weren't around 20 years ago.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2019 10:04:16 AM - SOURCE: Today's TMJ4

Three people are confirmed dead in a Thursday morning fire at a group home for cognitively disabled people in the city. Around 6 a.m. Thursday morning, City of Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue responded to a home in the 600 block of South Military Road. The residence is rented out for those with cognitive disabilities who can live on their own, so they may live in a group setting, Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue Chief Peter O’Leary said.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2019 5:47:32 AM - SOURCE: Fond du Lac Reporter

Pennsylvania officials have unanimously passed a new measure that seeks to ease the burden of student loan debt for municipal volunteers of fire companies, rescue companies, and non-profit emergency medical services. An amended version of the bill will head to Pennsylvania's House of Representatives after it was passed Wednesday.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTXF-TV FOX 29 Philadelphia

Of the estimated 26,000 fire-related firefighter injuries that occurred annually from 2015 to 2017, 87% were related to structure fires, according to data published in the July edition of the U.S. Fire Administration’s “Topical Fire Report Series.” Additionally, according to the data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System, firefighters were more than 11 times more likely to be injured in a structure fire than in a nonstructure fire during the three-year period – 11.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Safety+Health Magazine

VIDEO: A massive fire early Thursday destroyed a South Austin condo under construction and two neighboring apartment buildings, fire officials said. Austin-Travis County EMS medics took one woman to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center with minor injuries as she tried to escape the fire. Crews first responded around 3:40 a.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman - Metered Site

A local firefighter who helps train others in handling hazardous materials said there is a growing concern over the impact oil and gas drilling could leave in Ohio. Youngstown Battalion Chief Sil Caggiano said there are numerous drilling sites across the state, including a couple here in the Valley, where high levels of radium have been detected in the waste coming from the wells.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WYTV ABC 33 Youngstown

VIDEO: There are signs up throughout Plattsburgh calling for “A Stand on Safety.” They’re being put up by the local firefighters union. With the ability to respond within minutes, the Plattsburgh City firefighters are constantly poised and ready to respond. While they can arrive quickly, they might not come fully prepared.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPTZ-TV NBC 5 Plattsburgh