Jim Schanel has feared for his life during his four-decade career as a wildland firefighter. He fought Hayman, Waldo Canyon, Black Forest, the 117. But the day that haunts him — the day he can’t recall without tears — is June 30, 2013. That’s the day he thought a wildfire had killed his son. Schanel was battling Colorado’s West Fork fire with a Type I incident management team, protecting structures near the headwaters of the Rio Grande River, when he got a call: “Your son is missing.
- PUB DATE: 7/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Gazette

VIDEO: Some residents are out of their home following a fire in Oneida Sunday night. The Outagamie County Sheriff's Department says the call came in around 2:00 pm Sunday afternoon at a home on County Road C. Flames and smoke were showing at that time, and everyone was able to get out safely. Officials say the home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.
- PUB DATE: 7/22/2018 8:23:23 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

VIDEO: Milwaukee police and firefighters were on the scene of a fatal crash Sunday, July 22 near 53rd and Howard. It happened around 6:20 p.m. The medical examiner confirmed for FOX6 News one person died as a result of the crash. MFD officials said the deceased was a retired firefighter, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
- PUB DATE: 7/22/2018 7:58:13 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

VIDEO: Officials in Brown County are investigating an accident involving a semi-tractor and a 4-year-old boy that happened in the Village of Denmark. The boy and other children were getting candy during the annual Lion's Parade on County Highway KB. They say just before noon, the boy's leg was partially run over by a semi-tractor with a full-size milk tanker trailer.
- PUB DATE: 7/22/2018 10:49:56 AM - SOURCE: NBC26

A community backing their firefighter, with a benefit for Ryan Welch -- the firefighter who was hurt in the explosion in Sun Prairie. A group of girls who had never met him came up with the idea of a fundraiser for Welch's family, which was held Friday night at Callahan's Sports Pub in Madison. The girls said they just wanted to help the Welches in their time of need.
- PUB DATE: 7/22/2018 9:22:12 AM - SOURCE: WXOW-TV ABC 19 LaCrosse

La Crosse firefighter Jake Lincoln holds up his son Wrigley, 3, so he can wash the new Engine 4 at the La Crosse Fire Department’s Fire Station No. 4 during its wetdown ceremony. The engine is dedicated to La Crosse firefighter Donald Asselin, whose death at in 1997 at the age of 46 of renal cell carcinoma, a rare form of cancer that tends to strike firefighters, ultimately helped spur the development of state and national standards to help shield firefighters' from exposure to harmful chemicals produced by fires.
- PUB DATE: 7/22/2018 6:47:36 AM - SOURCE: Lacrosse Tribune

The contractor that cut into a 4-inch pipe carrying natural gas underneath downtown Sun Prairie on July 10 just before an explosion leveled a city block and killed a firefighter was not registered to do business in Wisconsin, according to state records. The Journal Sentinel confirmed Thursday that Michigan-based VC Tech, Inc.
- PUB DATE: 7/20/2018 7:57:04 AM - SOURCE: Journal Sentinel

VIDEO: It’s a first for “The Hop.” Emergency responders will conduct a mass casualty drill Friday morning on the streetcar tracks in Milwaukee. Officials tell CBS 58 the scenario for the drill is a suspicious package detonating with multiple people on the streetcar. There will be live actors playing the victims.
- PUB DATE: 7/20/2018 6:50:30 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

A tourist duck boat capsized in a lake near Branson, Missouri, killing at least 17 people, including children, as severe thunderstorms struck the area Thursday night, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. Seven others were injured when the boat plunged into Table Rock Lake, officials said. "Our thoughts and prayers right now are with these family members," Missouri Gov.
- PUB DATE: 7/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

Just when you thought the legal battle between the city and the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association was over, another is beginning. The union has filed a lawsuit, challenging the city's enforcement of "free speech zones." The particular location is the free speech zone at the Semmes Branch Library on Judson Road.
- PUB DATE: 7/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSAT-TV ABC 12 San Antonio

Former Davenport Fire Chief Lynn Washburn is a finalist to lead the Ames (Iowa) Fire Department. The announcement came less than two hours after the latest court hearing over her employment dispute with Davenport ended. Washburn, who was fired in 2017, is one of two finalists for the fire chief position.
- PUB DATE: 7/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Quad-City Times

Murray County assistant fire chief Chris Butler, a 21-year veteran of the department, has resigned after being arrested for two counts each of simple battery and willful obstruction or hindrance of a firefighter, both misdemeanors, after a dispute at the scene of a fire earlier this month. According to a Murray County Sheriff’s Office incident report, on July 4 around 10:40 p.
- PUB DATE: 7/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Union Recorder

VIDEO - Most of Omaha's fire stations are now equipped with state-of-the-art equipment to alert them to emergencies. It's been five months since KETV Newswatch 7 first reported on firefighters at two stations using a "pop can" alarm as a backup to the broken system. Firefighters placed pop cans on top of a printer and listened for the sound of the cans falling to the floor to alert them to an emergency.
- PUB DATE: 7/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KETV-TV ABC 7 Omaha

On July 19, 4 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Firefighters were called to Marth Wood Supply near Marathon Thursday evening. According to dispatch reports, there was a fire in a dryer. It was called in around 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The business is located north of Marathon on State Highway 107. It makes wood shavings and animal bedding, among other things.
- PUB DATE: 7/19/2018 6:05:51 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

Clare Wolf felt like Superwoman. After trying out her hearing aid devices, the Rubicon firefighter could, for the first time, hear the air flowing through vents, water dripping down the drain and birds softly chirping in the morning. Wolf is a finalist for the Oticon Focus on People Awards, one of three people competing for votes in the adult category.
- PUB DATE: 7/19/2018 5:37:29 PM - SOURCE: wisc news

VIDEO: First responders in Appleton have a new tool to use when dealing with children during a crisis. As Kris Schuller reports it's called a Reach Bag - designed to comfort those kids that emergency responders often care for. Outside the Appleton Police Department, first responders accept a special gift.
- PUB DATE: 7/19/2018 4:51:48 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

VIDEO: The search for a new fire chief in the Holmen Area Fire Department is over. Holmen Area Fire Department Fire Board members approved the hiring of Buck Manley as assistant chief/chief. The board originally interviewed Manley for the assistant fire chief position; however, during the hiring process, they determined that he exceeded not only those expectations, but the expectations set for fire chief.
- PUB DATE: 7/19/2018 3:27:40 PM - SOURCE: WXOW-TV ABC 19 LaCrosse

On July 18, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

It's been called the Forgotten Fire. On the night of Oct. 8, 1871, a devastating forest fire ripped through Peshtigo and the surrounding area, killing 1,500 people and destroying a swath of land 10 miles wide and 40 miles long. It was the deadliest forest fire in American history. But that same night, a fire in Chicago grabbed headlines and attention, overshadowing the deadlier Wisconsin blaze.
- PUB DATE: 7/19/2018 6:20:04 AM - SOURCE: Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter