The Chicago Police Department has been holding frequent entrance exams — in May and June of this year with a third coming up in December — as it wraps up a two-year hiring surge to add 970 additional officers over and above attrition. But the Chicago Fire Department is a different story. There was a firefighters entrance exam in 2014.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times

Have you ever thought of being a first responder for the supernatural? Mary Barrett and her husband, Sean, a 33-year veteran of the Indianapolis Fire Department, launched Paranormal 911 in 2009 after being inspired by an evening of ghost touring. The couple now leads a team mainly consisting of firefighters, EMS providers and police officers on ghost investigation adventures, and has even gained national attention on the A&E show, “My Ghost Story.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

Three South Portland firefighters were training with a new $1.1 million ladder truck Tuesday morning when they accidentally hit a power line with the truck’s aerial, according to a statement released by City Manager Scott Morrelli Tuesday night. The contact with the electrical line caused a fire to the truck’s front right tire and shorted the controls of the aerial, keeping the firefighters from moving the extendable ladder away from the line, Morrelli said.
- PUB DATE: 10/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bangor Daily News

VIDEO: A fire station in Appleton received some major renovations Tuesday. Forty volunteers from Home Depot crowded Appleton Fire Station 3, on Grove St. "What's being renovated here is a kitchen. It was a total gut and remodel; we pulled out all the old existing cabinets, put in new cabinets," said Heather Janssen, the Home Depot specialty assistant store manager.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 3:49:52 PM - SOURCE: WLUK TV Fox 11

VIDEO: Just a few months ago in August, the 90-year-old Brin Building in Menasha went up in flames. The fire gutted the building, and is now slated to be torn down. A Neenah-Menasha firefighter paid tribute to that historic building in a very unique way, and it was particularly timely this week. It was a battle Fox Valley firefighters are unlikely to forget.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 1:36:59 PM - SOURCE: WLUK TV Fox 11

VIDEO: A house in Middleton was hit by lightning Tuesday afternoon sparking a fire. According to Dane County 911 Communications, a passerby called around 2:00 p.m. after seeing a house on fire on the 4500 block of Ellington Way. When fire crews arrived black smoke and flames were seen coming from the back of the home.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 1:19:23 PM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

VIDEO: The Greenfield Fire Department has a new way to battle blazes, and it starts with an educational bouncy house. Inside there are different rooms, including a kitchen, living room, and bedroom. And as you walk through, you get a lesson on fire prevention and safety through posted guides. Those with the department stress the bedroom is one space you really need to be aware of your surroundings.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 10:28:13 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Racine firefighters doused a fire in the second story of a four-family house at 1205 Geneva St. early Tuesday morning. The fire was called in at 4:08 a.m. and considered extinguished at 5:24 a.m., said Racine Fire Department Division Chief Jeff Perkins. He said the fire caused damage to the first and second floors, exterior and rear porch.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 9:03:12 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

The state Supreme Court is limiting an insurance company's payout in a massive northwestern Wisconsin wildfire. Logging equipment owned by Ray Duerr Logging LLC sparked the Germann Road Fire in Douglas County in May 2013. The fire consumed about 7,442 acres, destroyed 17 homes and forced dozens to evacuate.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 8:39:30 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

On October 29, 3 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On October 28, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

The Wheatland Town Board voted Monday to issue a 90-day notice to inform Silver Lake Rescue Squad of its intent to sever its contract with the service provider based on indications it will disband. “We need to be prepared ... for the demise of that organization,” Town Chairman William Glembocki said.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 1:48:48 AM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

Mayor John Anataramian and the city’s police and fire chiefs are calling for voter support of a referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot that would allow for the hiring of additional police officers and firefighters next year. They said more public safety personnel are needed partly because economic development and population expansions have grown the city to the point where the departments are currently overtaxed.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 1:47:54 AM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

Echoing the police union’s recent criticism of city management, the Janesville firefighters union is not happy with how city officials handled the latest round of contract negotiations. The two sides reached an agreement last week for a three-year deal that will last through 2021. But Janesville Fire Fighters Local 580 President Jason Daskam said the city has effectively severed a productive working relationship with the union.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Gazette Extra

Jeff and Matthew Barger were headed toward Dubuque on Monday afternoon when they saw thick black smoke and flames rising into the sky ahead. As the father and son continued south on U.S. 35/61/151, they soon saw a semi-tractor trailer engulfed in smoke in the distance. They drove past the line of cars pulled over to the side of the road, worried there might still be someone in the truck.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Dubuque Telegraph Herald

A jury has awarded more than $11 million in damages to a Country Club Hills firefighter who sued the city over alleged gender discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation, according to a court order. Dena Lewis-Bystrzycki, who filed suit against the city in 2012, had alleged she was passed over for a promotion and retaliated against for reporting misbehavior.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune

More than 50 fire districts across Colorado are requesting the same thing from their voters this fall: Give us a legal workaround to a property tax law that’s set to slash our budgets again. Lives are at stake, they say. “We’re way past the crisis point,” West Metro Fire Chief Don Lombardi said. “The fire districts have called 911, and no one is answering.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Denver Post

Several firefighters responded to a large house fire in north St. Louis. It was the second vacant house that was fully engulfed in flames in the area Sunday. Just before 2 p.m., firefighters responded to the 4500 block of Cottage Avenue, which is on the line of the Greater Ville and The Ville neighborhoods.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSDK-TV NBC 5 St. Louis

The wife of the French Settlement fire chief was arrested Monday and accused of embezzling $225,000 after her husband reported her confession to him, according to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office. Melissa Guitreau, 46, who acted as the secretary and treasurer of Livingston Parish Fire Protection District No.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baton Rouge Advocate

From Arcata on the North Coast to Hemet in the Inland Empire, California cops and firefighters are chipping in more money to pay for their pensions while the cities that employ them struggle to manage fast-rising retirement costs. The new pension charges – a 12 percent paycheck deduction in Sacramento, an extra 8 percent deduction in Clovis, a pay cut and 12 percent pension contribution in Oroville, for example – reflect a calculus at local governments that workers are better off in the long run putting money into the California Public Employees’ Retirement System today rather than banking on the $350 billion pension fund earning its way out of its recession losses.
- PUB DATE: 10/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sacramento Bee