On Sept. 10, a powerful regulatory agency will begin the process of deciding an issue that has split the community of Julian — whether to disband its 34-year-old volunteer fire department in favor of the County Fire Authority assuming control and staffing. The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), which has countywide jurisdiction but is independent of county government, will hear the pros and cons during what promises to be a lengthy hearing.
- PUB DATE: 9/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune

A Tyler hospital, an affiliated ambulance company and an Oklahoma agency have agreed to pay about $21 million to settle a federal kickbacks lawsuit, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The former East Texas Medical Center, its former subsidiary Paramedics Plus and the Oklahoma agency Emergency Medical Services Authority agreed to settlements totaling $20,949,000, according to the federal government.
- PUB DATE: 9/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tyler Morning Telegraph

While the sun was shining down and drying out roads and fields, the National Guard returned to the interstate to stack sandbags and attempt to hold back the rising Baraboo River. The ramps from Highway 33 to Interstate 90/94 were closed Thursday while trucks from the National Guard dropped off pallets of sandbags.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 6:15:52 PM - SOURCE: wisc news

VIDEO: Warning signs being installed by the Milwaukee Fire Department on vacant homes in the city are causing a bit of a dispute. They are being put up to help reduce risk in a fire, but that is not the way some city leaders see them. The placards are being nailed on some of Milwaukee's most run-down, abandoned homes.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 4:45:29 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

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

The Poynette Fire Commission convened Aug. 21, and voted to potentially set the course for a new direction of the EMS department. The vote to explore coverage options with Divine Savior, hiring full-time EMS staff, or perhaps a mix of either, is aimed at solving a long-standing, severe shortage of weekday daytime coverage.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 1:41:17 AM - SOURCE: Poynette Press

An explosive wildfire spewing flames 300 feet into the air roared into a second northern California county on Thursday after forcing closure of a stretch of the Pacific Coast’s primary interstate in both directions. Scores of homes and seasonal residences were threatened by the Delta Fire, and some mandatory evacuations were ordered.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

Two York City firefighters badly hurt when they plummeted four stories as the burned-out Weaver Piano & Organ building collapsed in March have sued a local engineering firm. Assistant Fire Chief Greg Altland and wife Lisa Altland, as well as Firefighter Erik Swanson and wife Donna Swanson, on Tuesday, Sept.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: York Dispatch

A fast-moving wildfire in northern California forced the closure of dozens of miles of the Pacific Coast’s primary interstate in both directions and suspended Amtrak service into Oregon on Wednesday night. The human-caused Delta Fire is burning on both sides of Interstate 5 north of Lakehead in California’s Shasta County, which, earlier this summer, was ravaged by the deadly Carr Fire near Redding.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

Firefighters who died from cardiac arrest were much more likely than those who died of other causes to show signs of both atherosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease at autopsy, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Journal of the American Heart Association Report

An emotional Hillary Sanford received pay and benefits last week that were more than two years overdue when the Brooksville City Council voted to settle her wrongful termination case. Brooksville Fire Chief David Freda fired Sanford — a captain in the department — in 2016, and an arbitrator later ruled the move unjustified.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Tribune and TBO.com (Tampa Bay Online)

The City of Newburgh’s fire department will receive a third grant from a federal program after the depletion of funds from the second grant forced the city to lay off five firefighters at the end of July. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney announced Wednesday the Federal Emergency Management Agency approval of Newburgh’s application for $1.
- PUB DATE: 9/6/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Middletown Times Herald-Record

On September 5, 3 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

As storms continued to roll through the area Wednesday, damage spread into the Portage area. One Portage family was outside their East Carroll Street home Wednesday afternoon inspecting damage from a massive tree that fell in their backyard. It crushed a shed and branches punched holes in the tops of the house and the garage.
- PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 6:06:16 PM - SOURCE: wisc news

Wesley United Methodist Church was a "landmark" in Marshfield for over a century. But now, a fence surrounds it and part of the structure is rubble, with nearly the entire roof and center of the building gutted by a fire Sunday afternoon. The building is sagging and much of the east end of the church is destroyed.
- PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 3:41:20 PM - SOURCE: Marshfield News-Herald

At the Milton City Council meeting, during public comments, Town of Milton and Joint Fire Commission chairman Bryan Meyer expressed concern about where the discussion about the fire department might lead. He noted the town and city have an intergovernmental agreement and joint ownership of the fire department.
- PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 1:01:41 PM - SOURCE: Milton Courier

On September 3, 7 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

North Shore Fire/Rescue officials on Tuesday evening, Sept. 4 battled a two-alarm fire at a home in Whitefish Bay. It happened around 6:15 p.m. near Hampton and Newhall. Fire officials said arriving firefighters found heavy smoke and fire in the attic. It was difficult to extinguish because it would flare up again once they knocked it down.
- PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 3:29:25 AM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

A new fire chief is on the job in Fairfax County. Chief John Butler, a retired Marine and former fire chief in Howard County, was sworn in Tuesday. He was chosen to help fix the past problems of bullying and harassment. Before a large crowd, John Butler, Fairfax County's first African America fire chief, spoke about his childhood in Liberia.
- PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA-TV 9 DC

Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña on Tuesday warned of dire consequences — including possible layoffs of more than 800 firefighters and deferred maintenance or upgrades on aging equipment, if voters approve the firefighters’ pay parity initiative on the November ballot. Peña’s warning came during a City Council Committee on Budget & Fiscal Affairs meeting to provide city leaders with their first look at how the Houston Fire Department might handle the costs of the ballot measure, which proposes to raise firefighter pay to that of their police peers.
- PUB DATE: 9/5/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle