VIDEO: Rock County law enforcement agencies are setting up a system to streamline their emergency response and save time in case of a crisis. The system is called MARS, or the Mutual Aid Response System. It’s similar to MABAS, or the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, already used by fire departments statewide.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 9:34:58 PM - SOURCE: WMSN-TV Fox 47 Madison

VIDEO: The Cross Plains fire chief tells 27 News people were home at the time a fire started in a home near Dale Court and Laufenberg Boulevard, but everyone made it out okay. No firefighters were hurt, the chief added. A crew will remain on scene overnight to monitor hot spots. The chief says the fire was so bad that at one point flames were through the roof.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 9:18:28 PM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV 27 ABC

A Mukwonago man, former chief of the Tichigan Volunteer Fire Department, has reached a plea deal in a case in which he was accused of misappropriating more than $20,000 in fire department funds — using the money for personal gain. Todd Bluhm, 48, on Tuesday, March 20 pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor counts of theft-business setting, less than $2,500.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 5:34:35 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

VIDEO: One person was killed and 15 people are now without a home following an early morning fire on Milwaukee's north side. The two-alarm blaze started just before 4 a.m. Wednesday -- near the intersection of 20th & North Ave. Firefighters were battling the fire on two fronts -- as the two homes next to one another both caught fire.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 7:11:01 AM - SOURCE: Today's TMJ4

The Town of Beloit and Town of Turtle voted Tuesday to merge their fire departments so they can operate autonomously but share equipment, facilities and staff, according to a release. The board members voted unanimously to approve the operational merger, which will also allow the departments to keep their own identities and budgets, officials said.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 5:32:01 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

VIDEO: Calling 911 just got more expensive. Green Bay City Council members on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve an increase in the city's ambulance rescue fees. The Green Bay Metro Fire Department sought the fee hike to be able to collect more money in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, but the move also will help the agency cover growing expenses, Fire Chief David Litton said.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Green Bay Gazette

Supervisor Aaron Peskin had harsh words about the Fire Department response to Saturday’s fire in North Beach. Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle IMAGE 1 OF 16 Supervisor Aaron Peskin had harsh words about the Fire Department response to Saturday’s fire in North Beach.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate.com)

A state district judge on Tuesday ordered Houston's city secretary to finish reviewing firefighters' petition asking for pay parity with police, giving her until April 27 to validate the eight-month-old signatures. Firefighters submitted a petition last July asking for a ballot referendum that would grant firefighters the same pay as police officers of equal rank, but City Secretary Anna Russell did not validate it in time for the November election.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Deputy Fire Chief of Operations John F. Sullivan announced Tuesday that he is leaving the department after more than 30 years to lead the Brookline Fire Department. The deputy chief, who will start as chief in Brookline March 26, has served for eight years in his current post, and been present at some of the seminal moments in department history.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Fire Chief Thomas Jenkins, IAFC president and chairman of the board, testified today before a Congressional panel that the IAFC is concerned about the escalating costs and damages caused by wildland fires. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there were approximately 71,500 wildland fires reported last year, which burned almost 10 million acres.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: About the International Association of Fire Chiefs

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Dennis Jones has agreed to submit to random drug tests as he seeks to require the same of rank and file firefighters and paramedics. The fire union is voting this week on a new contract that for the first time requires random drug testing of the county's first responders.
- PUB DATE: 3/21/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Bay.com

VIDEO: The Holiday Inn in Grand Chute, 150 S. Nicolet Rd., was evacuated Tuesday due to a fire. The fire was not inside the building, according to a hotel spokesperson. The fire was contained to a trash chute outside the building, a fire official said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2018 5:36:26 PM - SOURCE: NBC26

The City of Onalaska is facing the possibility of having to replace both its police chief and fire chief at the same time. One of the ideas floated by city leaders proposed not filling those positions and instead creating the position of a safety director to oversee both the police and fire departments.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2018 4:45:30 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

VIDEO: A part-time Menomonee Falls firefighter is facing criminal charges for a Facebook post threatening Gov. Scott Walker. Wisconsin State Capitol Police got the call March 8 reporting an alarming post on Facebook that read, "I suggest we take all our firearms to the governor's mansion and execute the parasite.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2018 4:42:36 PM - SOURCE: WISN-TV ABC 12 Milwaukee

On March 19, 7 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On March 18, 20 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Mayor Joseph M. Butler on Monday night received no support for hiring the same consultant that completed a study on the operations of the city’s fire department three years ago. City Council members Cody J. Horbacz. Mark C. Walczyk and Ryan Henry-Wilkinson voted against paying $24,000 to Center for Public Safety Management, a Washington, D.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

President Donald Trump told the city’s first responders they are saving lives — and “the whole country is talking about it” — during a brief visit Monday afternoon to Manchester Central Station, the birthplace of the city’s Safe Station program. First lady Melania Trump, Mayor Joyce Craig and Gov. Chris Sununu joined the President when the presidential motorcade stopped at Central Fire Station en route to Manchester Community College, where Trump gave a speech detailing his “Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Manchester Union Leader

Volunteers in Lycoming County aren't sure how long it will take for a firefighter to recover after she was critically injured Sunday on the job. The 62-year-old woman was helping to put out a fire when a truck ran over her. The injured firefighter asked that we not use her name in the story but tells Newswatch 16 she's doing well.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNEP-TV Newswatch 16

Expected subsidization from AT&T could mean that FirstNet subscribers will pay little or no upfront money to purchase new Sonim Technologies devices—a development that is just part of the economics “sea change” happening within the industry, Sonim Technologies CEO Bob Plaschke said last week during IWCE 2018.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgent Communications