Lightning striking a nearby tree early Monday is believed to be the cause of a fire that severely damaged a rural Marshfield home, authorities said. Town of McMillan Fire Chief Rodney Bauer said the fire broke out about 5:30 a.m. shortly after lightning struck a tree about 12 feet from the home. At least half the home was damaged.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 1:55:36 PM - SOURCE: WAOW-TV ABC 9-Wausau

On August 26, 9 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

A 61-year-old man admitted to starting three fires at a home in the 2500 block of Simonis Street on Friday morning, including in a bed where two people were sleeping, according to police. The man knew the residents of the home and fled the scene but was found just over 20 minutes after setting the fires, according to the Stevens Point Police Department.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Stevens Point Journal

It started as a quiet day, and firefighters at Jacksonville Fire Station 1 decided to use that to do some training. But things changed quickly. To take advantage of downtime Sunday, firefighters decided to conduct an elevator training at a parking garage near the Jacksonville Landing, fire officials said on Facebook.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFTV-TV ABC 9 Orlando

An arbitrator has ruled that city firefighters are entitled to out-of-title pay for shifts worked in which they took on the role of the department’s demoted captains. Daniel Daugherty, president of the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191, said arbitrator Richard Curreri ruled that the city will have to compensate firefighters who responded to calls while assuming the responsibilities of captains.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

Eight children were killed after a fire sparked in an apartment building in Chicago, fire officials said. The blaze ignited just before 4 a.m. on the second floor of a building on South Sacramento Avenue, according to Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago. The first call to authorities came when a woman who came home from work smelled the fire, he said.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

A Stockton fire crew had to act quickly after a man tried to take off with their fire engine early Saturday morning while they were fighting a fire. When engine 7 drove up to Jill Circle around 4:30 Saturday morning, fires were blazing at multiple spots on the street but another issue flared up as well.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTXL-TV Fox 40 Sacramento

There’s no guarantee that a different strategy would have resulted in a different outcome — that the victims would be alive today if something as mundane as an administrative spreadsheet had one more agency added. But in each of four fatal fires over the last 11 years, the structure of mutual aid calls for volunteer fire departments just beyond Peoria city limits has resulted in scenarios that appear to contradict the most basic tenets of firefighting.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Peoria Journal Star

A Fond du Lac family was displaced after their home started on fire early Sunday morning. Fond du Lac Fire/Rescue said the fire was started by careless smoking. They said the fire could've been a lot worse. The house did not have working smoke detectors, but fortunately, someone woke up and alerted the rest of the family.
- PUB DATE: 8/26/2018 5:56:22 PM - SOURCE: NBC26

The Dane County Regional Airport is back open after a small plane fire Saturday afternoon. The airport announced the reopening around 4:15 p.m., after crews were able to clear a runway after a small fire started in a private plane. Just after 2:00 p.m., a private Cessna Citation aircraft had a catastrophic failure during takeoff and had to abort.
- PUB DATE: 8/25/2018 3:36:24 PM - SOURCE: WMSN-TV Fox 47 Madison

The Sun Prairie High School football team went all out to celebrate first responders and honor fallen firefighter Captain Cory Barr. Players wore special jerseys spelling out Sun Prairie strong on the back. The team auctioned 20 of those jerseys with proceeds going to the Sun Prairie disaster relief.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 11:22:22 PM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Cambridge emergency officials are warning people to stay out of Koshkonong Creek after a high-water-related near-tragedy Thursday. Cambridge Fire Chief Terry Johnson said a canoe containing two children and an adult capsized about 4:30 p.m. Thursday in CamRock County Park, near the juncture of County Hwy.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 1:53:54 AM - SOURCE: Cambridge News / Deerfield Independent

An arbitrator overturned the demotion and suspension of the former firefighters' union president in relation to actions at a New Year's Day 2017 fire that killed three people, displaced 49 tenants and destroyed a building. The decision by the American Arbitration Association said there was no evidence that Chad Cunningham ignored orders or violated rules and ordered he immediately be returned to his former rank as lieutenant and be awarded back pay.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MassLive

The parents of a toddler killed when he became pinned in a door at a Scottsdale fire station have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city. The suit does not seek a specific damage amount in the death of 16-month-old Joey Reiss. However, a previous notice of claim filed against the city of Scottsdale had sought $9 million.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

Detroit police announced an arrest Thursday in the shooting death of Detroit firefighter Jack Wiley Jr. Detroit police said they arrested an 18-year-old man near the Southfield Freeway and Ford Road in Dearborn, said Capt. Michael McGinnis. "What his motives (were) ... I have no idea," said McGinnis.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Detroit News

Lawmakers will hold a hearing Friday on data throttling during the Mendocino Complex Fire after Santa Clara County’s fire chief said his department’s firefighters were put in danger when Verizon slowed the speed of their wireless transmissions while they were battling the blaze. The Select Committee on Natural Disaster, Response, Recovery, and Rebuilding, led by Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-San Rafael, and Assemblywoman Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, will hold the hearing to probe wireless provider policies for restricting cell phone plans during emergencies like wildfires.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle

On Savannah Highway, out beyond the car dealerships and across the street from a barber college, lies one of the most significant projects for the city of Charleston and its firefighters. The site is an empty L-shaped lot for now. It’s bordered by a doughnut shop, a park and a quiet residential neighborhood where neatly subdivided homes line gentle, swooping streets along a curve in the Stono River.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charleston Post and Courier

A nationwide telecommunications company that slowed internet service to firefighters as they battled the largest wildfire in California history says it has removed all speed cap restrictions for first responders on the West Coast. Verizon Senior Vice President Mike Maiorana says the service restrictions were removed as of Thursday and include Hawaii, where emergency crews have rescued people from areas flooded by Hurricane Lane.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

Four fire departments from the surrounding area converged on an apartment building located at 2695 Highway 64 in the Town of Forest to put out a fire that started in Thursday, Aug. 23, around 8:50 a.m. The building is located just west of County Road D in Forest Township and is owned by Randell Olson, according to St.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2018 1:57:00 PM - SOURCE: New Richmond News

The Appleton International Airport has been awarded $10.4 million by the U.S. Department of Transportation to build a regional aircraft fire and rescue training facility, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin announced Thursday. Baldwin worked to secure federal funding for the project after similar training facilities closed in Michigan and Minnesota, which made it difficult for airport firefighters to find a place to train in the region.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2018 1:53:09 PM - SOURCE: Appleton Post-Gazette & Post Crescent.com