VIDEO: It has been two weeks since the La Crosse Fire Department assumed fire and first responder coverage of the Town of Medary. The Onalaska Fire Department previously provided the coverage for the Town of Medary for more than two decades. "Geographically, it poses problems for either department," said Chief Ken Gilliam with the La Crosse Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 6:42:04 AM - SOURCE: WXOW-TV ABC 19 LaCrosse

VIDEO: Oconto police and firefighters helped an elderly woman who was trapped in her home due to heavy snow. The woman had reportedly been stuck inside her home since Saturday and didn't have any friends or family in the area to help her. On Sunday afternoon, Oconto PD and Fire responded by shoveling her front porch and steps, creating a walking path to the road.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 5:54:23 AM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

A Pulaski man was sentenced to nine months in jail for starting a fire four years ago that destroyed a shed and ATV at his former girlfriend’s residence in the town of Stiles. Casey Messenger, 29, is serving the time as a condition of four years probation granted by Judge Michael T. Judge. ‘It’s time for (the victim) to get some relief from what she has lost,” Judge said, referring to the long delay between the incident and the filing of charges.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 5:04:53 AM - SOURCE: Green Bay Press-Gazette

The Oshkosh Police and Fire Commission is holding a meet and greet tomorrow so the community can learn about the candidates for Fire Chief. There are four finalists being considered for the position. Michael Callahan, John Christian, and Dan Zaccard are all from Illinois. Michael Stanley is from Colorado.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 2:35:03 AM - SOURCE: WHBY-AM 1150 News Talk

The memories of the blast five years ago that robbed Kirk Wines of his friends and first responder colleagues remain vivid as ever, but he keeps them filed neatly away. The amiable owner of West’s Old Corner Drug Store stays busy filling prescriptions, chatting with customers and minding his emergency pager as a captain of the West Volunteer Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Waco Tribune-Herald

New questions emerged Monday about the FDNY’s denial of 9/11-related disability benefits to a retired firefighter who labored at Ground Zero and then suffered severe psychiatric illness before dying in a mental hospital. Joe Battista spent months at the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 attacks and developed serious health issues, and severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that led to repeated hospitalizations.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

Nick Reeder's life was just coming into focus last week--four years ago, he found Amanda Sawyer. "We met on an online profile, yeah and we had a blind date and were inseparable after that date. It was love at first sight definitely," said Nick Reeder. Nick says she did it all--mother, worker, wife and she loved that he was a firefighter, even decorating their home with fire memorabilia.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KABC-TV ABC 7 Los Angeles

Just as fire departments are getting used to working with millennials, another generation is coming along. This generation is significantly different from their predecessors and will require some adaptations in leadership and management for them to contribute to their fullest. The newest generation, born after 1995, is just now entering the workforce.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

The Auburn fire chief has chastised the Oxford town manager for allegedly prohibiting the use of any town emails or social media to distribute a retirement party flyer for the Oxford fire chief. A retirement party for Oxford Fire Chief Sheri R. Bemis is scheduled for 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Auburn Elks Lodge, 754 Southbridge St.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

On April 14, 7 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: Neighbors in Kronenwetter are being credited with possibly saving a life after they helped shovel out a person having a medical emergency Sunday afternoon. First responders arrived and found the home was snowed-in. Neighbors grabbed their shovels to help out. Wimmer was one of the neighbors that helped clear a path.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2018 3:03:23 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

VIDEO: A fire that broke out inside a Marathon County home Monday is under investigation. Crews were called to the home on N. 25 Street around 1 p.m. The Town of Wausau Fire Chief Kevin Yolitz said the fire was contained to a bedroom. According to Yolitz, two people were inside the home when the fire sparked and were able to get out safely.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2018 2:17:43 PM - SOURCE: WAOW-TV ABC 9-Wausau

Richard Linenberg and Kurt Prise know all about adrenaline rush. It’s what sustained them when they suddenly got out of bed in the middle of the night to fight fires. The two long-time Oakdale Area Fire Department firefighters are ready to leave the adrenaline rush to the next generation. After a combined 64 years of service, they officially retired Tuesday and were honored by their fellow firefighters with a plaque and pizza party.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2018 7:46:45 AM - SOURCE: Tomah Journal

On April 15, 3 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On April 13, 4 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

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

Property owners in the village could see a reduction in their property insurance premiums thanks to the efforts of the local fire company. Rochester Fire Company officials received word at the beginning of the year that the company’s Insurance Services Office rating had improved by two points. ISO was formed in 1971 as an advisory and rating organization for the property/casualty insurance industry to provide statistical services to develop programs and to assist insurance companies in meeting state regulatory requirements.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2018 4:46:02 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

Ed Hutchinson became Greensburg's fire chief when Harry Truman was president and retired 53 years later, and through those decades he was a community leader whose impact stretched far beyond the city's fire halls. “He was not only a fire chief, but a great community servant. I am stunned today,” Greensburg Mayor Robert Bell said Sunday of Hutchinson's death Sunday morning at age 96 at Excela Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

The controversial program that pays veteran Los Angeles police officers and firefighters nearly double for the last five years of their careers received a flood of new enrollees in February, records show. The rush to join the Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or DROP program, coincided with a Times investigation in February that found the program, which was created in 2002 to keep veteran officers and firefighters on the job, allows participants to file workers' compensation claims and then take extended injury leaves at nearly twice their usual pay.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

The FDNY’s “zero tolerance” for drug abuse has gone up in smoke. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro has quietly abandoned the department’s once-trumpeted policy calling for the firing of anyone caught using illegal or prohibited substances, The Post has learned. In the last month, 26 firefighters who had tested positive on urine tests since 2016 were returned to full duty, insiders revealed.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post