Utah’s emergency communications may be on the brink of collapse, lending urgency to a planned massive system upgrade. But the project is on hold while two industry giants brawl over the taxpayer-funded contract for new two-way radios and equipment. Florida-based Harris Corp. won the contract with a bid of some $50 million — a price that the state says is $30 million below that of the losing bidder, Motorola.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Salt Lake Tribune

Inova Health System, Inova Trauma and Blood Donor Services, and the Northern Virginia EMS Council, in collaboration with the Fairfax County and Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Departments, have launched Field Available Component Transfusion Response (FACTR) to provide blood to entrapped trauma patients on the scene.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Loudoun Now

First, the good news: Fatal drug overdoses in Louisiana appeared to level off in 2018 after years of steady increases fueled by the nationwide opioid epidemic. Now, the bad news. Even though the number of overdoses stabilized, it plateaued at a historically high number. And it would take many years of steep reductions to bring the rate back to where it was before the opioid crisis began.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baton Rouge Advocate

A man has died after he was found in a vehicle in the Chippewa River on Sunday morning in Chippewa Falls. The male was pronounced dead after he was transported to HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls, according to information from the Chippewa Falls Fire and Emergency Services Department. Battalion Chief Trevor Weiland said the male was pronounced dead after lifesaving procedures at the hospital.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 8:40:57 AM - SOURCE: Chippewa Herald

A West Haven firefighter/paramedic who was seriously injured only two days on the job 20 years ago has passed away. James Woodman was injured in October of 1999 when an ambulance he was riding in outside Yale-New Haven Hospital collided with a car. It was his last day on the job. Here is what the West Haven Fire Department Historical Library had to say about the firefighter's passing on its website: "It is with great sadness that we must share the news of James Woodman's passing.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: West Haven Patch

VIDEO: Two EMTs are out of their jobs after a controversial life-saving device indicated the pair didn't adequately deliver CPR during an emergency run in January that ended with a death. Michael Morgan and partner Julian Holts were terminated by Detroit's fire administration last month after using a Zoll monitor-defibrillator, a device designed to detect and evaluate cardiac rhythm problems and heart attacks — and it reports out CPR feedback, which the union contends was used against the men in their dismissals.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Detroit News

The design plans for a new fire station and a new state law that could fund its construction were the focus of the Pueblo West Metro District board meeting Tuesday. Because the fire department was unsuccessful in obtaining a $100,000 Colorado Department of Local Affairs grant that would have helped fund design and engineering costs for the fire district’s station two, Pueblo West Fire Chief Brian Caserta requested the board allow the use of up to $90,000 of the excise tax funds from marijuana sales tax to help fund an $180,000 design plan.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Pueblo Chieftain

Adair County’s rural firefighters are hoping a ballot measure to create a fire protection district will give them more reliable and fairly distributed funding, but a group of citizens advocating against the proposal believe the additional taxation is too much to ask. Sarah Crawford is the founder of “Axe the Tax Adair County” and organized the group to advocate against the proposal, which would create a fire protection district funded by property taxes rather than the current membership dues.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kirksville Daily Express

The attorney for a Lincoln Fire & Rescue captain who won a $1.2 million verdict against the city last month for retaliation after he reported discrimination wants a judge to order mandatory training on harassment, discrimination and retaliation for all department supervisors. In a motion filed this week, Troy Hurd's attorney, Kelly Brandon, also is asking Senior U.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lincoln Journal Star

A massive fire tore through the While Oaks apartment complex in Bayside on Saturday, March 30. Dozens of people are without a home as firefighters work to determine a cause. Residents are left wondering when and if they'll be able to get back inside. "We saw it spreading like wildfire," said Veena Attivilli, resident.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2019 8:55:20 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

On March 28, 9 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Authorities say a U.S Forest Service firefighter has been killed following a helicopter crash in Montgomery County. The Texas Department of Public Safety says the helicopter crashed Wednesday afternoon east of the Grimes County community of Richards near Bethel Road and FM 149 in northwest Montgomery County.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KBTX-TV 3

VIDEO: Detroit firefighters said people overdosing on drugs are being dropped off almost every night in front of fire stations. Officials said someone was overdosing on drugs Sunday morning, and his friends dumped his body in the parking lot of the fire station at Seven Mile and John R roads. Authorities said they dumped the man's body and drove away, leaving firefighters to deal with the situation.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDIV-TV NBC 4 Detroit

The sight of firefighters trying to rescue a flood-stranded resident in a paddle boat was just too much for members of the Bellevue Fire Department. “We were contacted,” said Bonnie Knutson, president of the nonprofit Bellevue Public Safety Foundation. “We sent it out to the board and the board said, ‘Yep, let’s do it.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Omaha.com Sarpy News

The union representing police and public safety officers in Cedar Falls recently issued a proclamation supporting career firefighters. But city officials note individual officers represented by the union fully support the public safety officer program. On March 4, Teamsters Local 238’s executive board made the proclamation.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

More than 500 fire departments across New York have already signed up for the 9th Annual RecruitNY Weekend. RecruitNY is a cornerstone campaign of the Firemen’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY), with the goal of increasing membership in the State’s volunteer fire service. The 2019 RecruitNY weekend is scheduled for April 27-28.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hudson Valley 360

On March 28, 3 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

March 28 was the final day of the Eau Claire Fire and Rescue's annual multi-company extrication training program. The training occurred at the Chippewa Valley Technical College's campus on Eau Claire's west side. The focus was on stabilizing vehicles before extrication could begin. Officials say these sessions are done as safe and as realistic as possible to give Firefighters the skills they need in the event of similar emergency incidents.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2019 6:31:33 PM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News

A Wednesday afternoon blaze at the former Ethan Allen School property leveled an approximately 100-by-50-foot steel maintenance building. The town of Delafield Fire Department and the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a fire at W323 S1050 Boy School Road at 4:03 p.m. Wednesday.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2019 1:06:06 PM - SOURCE: Lake Country News

Multiple Door County area fire departments were stretched thin Wednesday night as they battled two separate fires. About 6:20 p.m. the Egg Harbor Fire Department was called to Schartner's Farm Market, just off of State 42, for a storage barn that was engulfed in flames. Egg Harbor Fire Chief Steve Schopf said the barn is a total loss, and a nearby home also suffered siding damage from the heat of the fire.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2019 5:27:51 AM - SOURCE: Green Bay Press-Gazette