On May 8, 9 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Fire crews rescued three children from amusement ride at the West Towne Mall Carnival on Friday. Bernadette Galvez, a spokesperson with the Madison Fire Department, said when crews arrived on scene, they found three children stuck on one of the rides about 12 feet off the ground. Park mechanics made several attempts to bring the ride down before calling the fire department.
- PUB DATE: 5/13/2019 8:30:55 AM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

An Atlanta firefighter was severely injured when he was struck by a vehicle along Interstate 85 northbound near Cleveland Avenue Sunday morning. The firefighter was part of a crew from Fire Station #2 responding to a rollover wreck on the interstate and was stepping off of a fire engine when he was struck by another vehicle, according to Atlanta Fire Chief Randall Slaughter.
- PUB DATE: 5/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: 11 Alive

Ultra-rugged LTE device maker Sonim Technologies today began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market, a step that reflects the burgeoning open-standards environment that is developing with the establishment of public-safety and critical-infrastructure broadband initiatives, according to Sonim CEO Bob Plaschke.
- PUB DATE: 5/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgent Communications

As more and more colonists came to the early counties, forests were naturally cleared and wooden homes as well as other structures were built. In those homes, owners had wooden floors, wooden walls, wooden ceilings and, of course, furniture made of wood. Additionally, in time, houses and farms became closer to each other as the population increased.
- PUB DATE: 5/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Bulletin

VIDEO: Sometimes the best way of thanking your heroes is becoming one of them. A young man is now firefighter after he credits them for saving his life. The new recruit says he is ready to give others second chances. Zack Jones always had one dream job and that was to be a firefighter. “I grew up around just hearing the stories and it always sounded really cool to be a part of the department that saved my life,” said Jones.
- PUB DATE: 5/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News Channel 5 Nashville

After struggling for six years, legislators, labor advocates and municipal leaders will announce a long-awaited compromise Monday on post-traumatic stress disorder benefits for police and firefighters. Though they declined to provide details of the agreement, Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague — who’s spearheaded the push to expand coverage for first responders — and Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Executive Director Joe DeLong, both predicted Friday it would draw bipartisan support.
- PUB DATE: 5/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CT Post

A Trig's baking and trucking facility in Rhinelander is a partial loss following a fire Sunday morning. A statement released by Trig's parent company, T.A. Solberg Co., to WAOW says the trucking and recycling portion of the building is considered destroyed, and that the fire broke out in the recycling portion of the building.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2019 5:00:06 PM - SOURCE: WRIG-AM Fox Sports 1390

An on-call Viroqua firefighter saw smoke coming from a nearby business when he came into the station on Sunday. He called the fire in around 7:50 a.m. Damage from the fire was mostly contained to an office in the south of the building, but that office was a total loss. The ceiling had to be torn out, and the attic had damage from water and light fire damage.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2019 4:50:21 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

One thing that hasn't changed is that a city needs firefighters, but what has changed is what the firefighters need. "The stations are getting to be 80 years old and they were just built for a different kind of truck and a different kind of world," explained La Crosse Fire Chief Ken Gilliam. Fire station one was built at a time when women weren't able to be firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2019 4:35:49 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

Cedarburg officials are exploring the possibility of outsourcing its emergency dispatch services to the Ozaukee County Sheriff's Office. With Grafton transferring to county dispatch last year, Cedarburg and Mequon are the last remaining Ozaukee County communities to still provide their own full-time emergency dispatchers.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2019 2:56:05 PM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

VIDEO: The Kern County Administrative office and the Kern County Firefighter's Association have not been able to settle on a two-year contract after the two sides failed to agree on how to cut overtime spending. The Firefighters Association voted against the county's offer last night, an offer that would have cut overtime spending by the department by $3.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KERO-TV ABC 23 Bakersfield

Keith Johnson could tell story after story about the vitriol he’s faced as EMS chief of Malvern Fire Company. “I had a gentleman literally in one breath thank me for my crew saving his daughter’s life," he said, “and in the second breath say: 'But your bill’s ridiculous, I’m not paying.’” In Berwyn, Fire Chief Eamon Brazunas has gotten scathing notes from folks upset about their ambulance bills because they wrongly assume that the service is free for taxpayers.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer

VIDEO: A massive fire early Thursday consumed 613 Automotive, a used car dealership at the south end of the village that was being used as the staging area and a set for the filming of an HBO miniseries. Ellenville Police Chief Phil Mattracion said the cause of the 1 a.m. fire at 188 S. Main St. (U.S.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Freeman

Rhode Island’s public employee unions have again scored a victory in the state’s Democrat-dominated General Assembly. In a series of final votes on Thursday, state lawmakers approved bills to mandate time-and-a-half pay to firefighters who average more than 42 hours a week and to lock in the wages and benefits in expired teacher and municipal public employee contracts until a new contract is in place.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Providence Journal - Metered Site

Around the U.S., many police departments, fire departments, emergency medical services, and other first responders are experiencing a shortage in staff. Fire Marshal Ricky Shores said Columbus Fire and EMS is currently about 25 people short and they only hire once a year. Shores said when Columbus Fire and EMS are at full staff, they have roughly 100 people on board.
- PUB DATE: 5/10/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVM-TV ABC 9

An investigation is ongoing into what caused a fire at the Weber Center at 428 Front Street S. in La Crosse. The theater was full when the fire broke out at about 9 o'clock, according to the fire department. Fire crews discovered that a stage curtain started on fire while a rehearsal of the play "Newsies" was being performed.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2019 9:20:41 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

A family of four is displaced after their home caught on fire in Janesville Thursday afternoon. The city’s fire department says crews responded to a fire on the 200 block of Walnut Street, where they found smoke rising from the home. Firefighters found that flames had moved from the bathroom ceiling fan to a wall and into the roof.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2019 4:39:08 PM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

One semi-truck was destroyed and two others were damaged in a fire outside a business in Middleton Thursday, an official said. Middleton Fire Chief Aaron Harris said firefighters responded to a report of a semi on fire at the UPS distribution center in on Murphy Drive. A Dane County Communications dispatcher said the center received a call at 11:25 a.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2019 2:35:44 PM - SOURCE: WMSN-TV Fox 47 Madison

The city’s firefighters union voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night against the ratification of a contract proposal that Mayor Joseph J. Solomon had heralded as a major advancement for Warwick’s finances. As proposed, the two-year deal provided no raises and it also resolved other issues, including a pension overhaul program that was reversed in a recent arbitration proceeding, according to Solomon.
- PUB DATE: 5/9/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Providence Journal