VIDEO - It was his daughter’s nighttime habits that turned Joel Sellinger from a firefighter into an inventor. "She'd fall asleep. I'd go shut her door. I'd wake up in the morning, and her door would be open because she had gone to the bathroom or gotten a drink of water," he said. Keeping bedroom doors closed in your home when you go to sleep is critical in keeping your family safe.
- PUB DATE: 10/16/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

The city has suspended an improper practice at the Fire Department involving calculations of unused sick time and payment for that time to firefighters, according to Mayor Joseph J. Solomon. “Activities that may have occurred in the past, when brought to the attention of our fire chief and myself, were suspended way back in July,” Solomon said.
- PUB DATE: 10/16/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Providence Journal

Firefighters who worked in and around the site of a massive natural gas leak sued the Southern California Gas Co. on Monday, saying the utility knowingly let them be exposed to dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. A blowout in a well at the underground Aliso Canyon storage field about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Los Angeles was discovered on Oct.
- PUB DATE: 10/16/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNBC-TV NBC 4 Los Angeles

On October 11, 6 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

The Federal Aviation Administration is asking operators of unmanned aircraft or drones to consider the consequences when flying could interfere with firefighter, law enforcement or medical flight operations. Drone operators are now more likely than ever to face serious civil penalties for interfering with first responders, even for first-time offenses, according to a press release from the FAA.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2018 5:25:02 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

The Racine Fire Department was called out to a possible structure fire near Green Street and 3 Mile Road Sunday night, Oct. 14. People inside were able to extinguish most of the bedroom fire before fire crews arrived. So when firefighters got to the scene just after 7 p.m., they cooled down the area of the bedroom closet where the fire started.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2018 4:44:13 AM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

One person died, a second was transported for medical treatment and a third person was arrested following an Oct. 14 crash in the Town of Sun Prairie. According to Sun Prairie Asst. Fire Chief Bill Sullivan, shortly after 4 p.m., the Sun Prairie Fire Department responded to a motor vehicle accident with multiple injuries in the 2600 block of County Highway T in the Town of Sun Prairie.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2018 1:42:06 AM - SOURCE: Sun Prairie Star

A firefighter survived a frightening fall off a ladder on Sunday night. The incident happened on Mayflower Avenue in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx at around 9 p.m. The firefighter, who was rushed to Jacobi Hospital, was said to have suffered back and neck injuries after falling off a ladder that was propped next to a third-floor window, CBS2’s Natalie Duddridge reported.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS New York

A firefighting family is dealing with the loss of their own home after a fire on Friday night. The Oraville home of Vergennes Fire Chief Chad Sherman is a total loss, firefighters say. His wife, Trish, and oldest son, Hunter, are also volunteers with the Vergennes Department. “We all practice fire safety and prevention, it’s our number one job,” said Travis Skinner, an area firefighter who knows the family.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Belleville News-Democrat

VIDEO - Both directions of Highway 1 near Bodega Bay in unincorporated Sonoma County have reopened after a solo-vehicle crash involving a Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office patrol vehicle and a house fire, the California Highway Patrol said. The crash occurred shortly after 5 a.m. in the 600 block of Highway 1 near Smith Brothers Road, authorities said.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPIX-TV CBS 5 San Francisco

The Midlothian Fire Department was first in 1906. It then took 110 years for the department to hire its first female firefighter. Then a couple of months later, the department hired a second. And, now, that number stands at three. With this week being the public observance of Fire Prevention Week, it’s important to remember the civil servants who are among the first to respond to a call.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Midlothian Mirror

Firefighters in Detroit are reportedly “bracing” for another series of Devils Nights this Halloween after the city decided to end its annual volunteer-led anti-arson campaign, called Angels Night, according to a fire official. The decision to end Angels Night and replace it with a more celebratory community event, dubbed ‘Halloween in the D,’ was announced by the city late last year.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Detroit Free Press

Firefighters from eight Wood County fire departments will be a little safer thanks to a $656,429 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The grant pays for 95 percent of the cost of replacing all eight departments' self-contained breathing apparatus, Hewitt-Area Fire Department Chief Brian Hafermann said.
- PUB DATE: 10/14/2018 2:39:02 PM - SOURCE: Marshfield News-Herald

VIDEO: The smoke has cleared but the damage remains at an apartment building on Milwaukee's east side. Several residents inside were dangling out of the windows, waiting for help when a fire broke out Friday night, Oct. 12. Those rescued were taken from the high rise by the fire department's ladder. "I saw one of my friends being taken out on a stretcher," said Leslie Zimmermann.
- PUB DATE: 10/13/2018 10:51:46 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

On October 7, 6 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

A woman accused of obstructing firefighters and emergency workers who were handling a potentially deadly gas leak Sept. 11 in Boyd has been charged with two felonies. Sara A. Gordon, 39, no address given, was charged in Chippewa County Court with intentional obstruction of emergency or rescue persons and second-degree recklessly endangering safety.
- PUB DATE: 10/12/2018 3:26:21 AM - SOURCE: Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

State police identified the Hanover firefighter killed Thursday night as Lt. Brad Clark. Clark was killed and three others firefighters were injured after their firetruck was rear-ended on I-295 in Hanover County Thursday night. "The trooper's preliminary investigation reveals that Hanover Fire Engine and EMS was on scene providing assistance with a two-vehicle crash with all of its emergency equipment activated, when a tractor-trailer traveling southbound struck the engine in the rear," Hill said.
- PUB DATE: 10/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVR-TV CBS 6

A San Antonio firefighter died while battling a blaze in the Spartan Gym last year after the Fire Department failed to safely search the building, keep track of fellow rescuers and adequately ventilate the smoke-filled structure, a federal report released Thursday states. The review by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an agency that seeks to improve workplace safety, concluded that some of the San Antonio Fire Department’s tactics actually made conditions worse inside the gym where firefighter Scott Deem, 31, died after he became lost.
- PUB DATE: 10/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Antonio Express News

VIDEO - A fire in a vacant home in Fresno almost killed a homeless man but firefighters arrived in time to cut a hole in the side of the building and pull him to safety. The dramatic rescue was captured on a video camera attached to a firefighter’s helmet. Fire Chief Kerri Donis praised the heroism of those who saved the homeless man but said the rescue simply underscores the larger problem of too many vacant buildings in Fresno catching fire.
- PUB DATE: 10/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Federal investigators probing the deadly natural gas explosions that rocked three northern Massachusetts towns last month are blaming faulty work orders given to the work crews by the local utility. The investigators say Columbia Gas failed to instruct the workers to deactivate pressure sensors when taking an old cast-iron gas main out of service.
- PUB DATE: 10/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today