The plaintive wail of bagpipes fills in where 19 years ago sirens sounded. A prayer goes up from the same spot where firefighters called out over crackling radios hoping to hear something that would lead them to Lt. Thomas Spencer, Lt. James Lyons or firefighters Paul Brotherton, Timothy Jackson, Jeremiah Lucey of Joseph McGuirk who were lost inside the maze-like interior of the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse on Dec.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Patriot Ledger

At the heart of the battle is Chief of Department James Leonard, 59, a tough-talking officer who started as a firefighter in Brooklyn’s Engine 310 in 1979 and is now the highest-ranked uniformed officer in the agency — second only to Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro. But for all his success, what some in the FDNY call Leonard’s abrasive and aggressive manner — and allegations he sometimes uses misogynistic slurs — have put him out of step in a department striving mightily to get into the 21st century, sources told The News.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Daily News

A federal judge has ordered Delaware State Police to turn over the full accident report on the death of a Lewes firefighter who fell from a helicopter during a training exercise in 2016. Tuesday's order comes after a lawyer for the family of Timothy McClanahan issued a subpoena for an unredacted copy of the report and related materials.
- PUB DATE: 12/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Delaware News Journal

A graduate student in a University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering lab heard a whoosh and saw flames Monday morning during a routine test of an engine, according to a release. Emergency crews were called around 8:45 a.m. to the Engineering Research Building in the 1500 block of Engineering Drive, officials said.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 8:07:33 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

On December 3, 6 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On December 1, 8 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Multiple fire crews were on the scene of a barn fire in Stratford on Monday night. It was reported around 9pm on Kraus Street. Fire responders said no people were hurt. There were chickens and sheep inside the structure; several were killed. Firefighters were able to keep the flames from spreading to a nearby house.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 3:11:32 AM - SOURCE: WRIG-AM Fox Sports 1390

A federal investigation reviewing the 2016 fatal shooting of a Maryland firefighter found that 911 public safety call takers did not warn first responders that the possibility of guns had been reported at the scene and that volunteer firefighters were not wearing a common uniform the night of the incident that made it clear who they were.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post

A state district judge Friday evening granted a temporary restraining order blocking the implementation of a voter-approved charter amendment requiring the city of Houston to grant its firefighters “pay parity” with police officers of similar rank and experience. State District Judge Kristen Brauchle Hawkins granted the TRO Friday night at the request of the Houston Police Officers Union, which filed a lawsuit earlier in the day against the city and the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

From responding to emergencies at the Bippity-Boppity-Boo Boutique, to rescuing a downed princess, the Reedy Creek Professional Firefighters isn’t your traditional fire service. RCPF serves the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the exclusive government agency of Walt Disney World properties in Florida, providing all fire and emergency services for 38.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

It was the best bad place. To the south was a gun shop called Fins, Fur & Feather Sports, stocked with live ammunition. To the northeast, a propane yard. Across the street, a Fastrip gas station. All around, soaring, drought-crisp pines. And in the center? About 150 terrified people who had fled the ferocious Camp fire only to be stopped at the intersection of Skyway and Clark Road, forced to sit out the deadliest conflagration in California history.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

The city’s second-highest paid employee in 2017 will soon be without union protection if the City Council approves a new contract Thursday with the Uniform Fire Chiefs Association. The tentative agreement signed by Mayor Patrick Madden and Deputy Fire Chief Dave Paul, president of the UFCA, would remove Fire Chief Thomas Garrett from the union.
- PUB DATE: 12/4/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albany Times-Union

On December 3, 4 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: The Onalaska Fire Department is advancing its life-saving efforts. Both La Crosse and Onalaska Fire Departments have used a device called the "Knox Box" for the last 20 years. It's a vault-like device that hangs on doors or can be mounted on the side of buildings, containing a spare key, and allowing the departments a way into homes and businesses without having to break in.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 4:02:21 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Lake Mills. Santa arrived in Commons Park on Nov. 30 by fire truck, accompanied by a special friend to firefighters everywhere, Gavin Martin. The five-year-old garnered statewide attention this summer for raising over $6,000 for the Sun Prairie Fire Department after the explosion that rocked downtown Sun Prairie, July 10.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 1:09:15 PM - SOURCE: Lake Mills Leader

On December 2, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: A woman in Whitewater is training to become a 911 dispatcher all because a person in that same position helped save her life eight years ago. Back in June of 2010, Angieleek Lipski was 17-years-old and living in Clinton in Rock County. She says her mother and stepfather got into a heated argument and he grabbed a loaded gun.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News

The former Ogunquit fire chief has filed a complaint in York County Superior Court seeking to appeal his firing earlier this fall. Mark O’Brien had served with the Ogunquit Fire Department for 37 years before he was placed on leave, investigated and ultimately fired by the town manager, who had concerns about his ability to lead the department.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Central Maine

The afternoon of Aug. 15, Wilkes-Barre Fire Department’s Engine 1 filled up with 24.74 gallons of diesel fuel at the city pumps, a routine repeated 38 more times over the following eight weeks of daily patrols under the ramped-up community fire watches ordered by the mayor. Engine 1, based at the department’s headquarters at the East Ross Street station, took on 750 gallons total during the watches, almost double the fuel intake for the eight weeks in June and July, according to fuel logs obtained by the Times Leader through a Right-to-Know request.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wilkes Barre Times Leader

The thick black smoke from a savage warehouse inferno came quickly two years ago, but not quickly enough to spare 36 mostly young partygoers from the terror of knowing they were at life’s end: “I am going to die, mom,” one texted; a young couple fell into an embrace, dying of asphyxiation in each other’s arms.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times