Kokomo’s fire union is taking the city to court in the latest development of what’s become a months-long battle over the two sides’ collective bargaining efforts. The Professional Firefighters of Kokomo Local 396, in a civil suit filed this week in Howard Superior Court 4, is requesting that Judge George Hopkins prohibit the city from terminating the existing fire contract at the end of this year and "until such time that the matter can be arbitrated.
- PUB DATE: 12/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News and Tribune

The sun had set Tuesday when Tim Hurley and his strike crew from the U.S. Forest Service’s Kernville station first made it to the front lines of the Creek fire above Sylmar. Flames were shooting sideways as they tore through the dry brush, fueled by erratic Santa Ana winds. Hurley immediately got to work manning an engine with one goal: to keep the fire from jumping Oro Vista Avenue into the dense tract of homes below.
- PUB DATE: 12/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News

A New York firefighter who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer will fulfill his lifelong wish to attend the Super Bowl, his fire department says. In a Facebook post Sunday, the Tarrytown Fire Department said the NFL made Bill Duggan’s dream come true with tickets to the big game. “A couple of weeks ago, he was given earth shattering news that he had terminal brain cancer and only had a brief time to live,” the post reads.
- PUB DATE: 12/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC New York

Preliminary autopsy results on the body of a Baldwin woman found in Pine Lake Sunday morning indicates she was heavily intoxicated before she apparently fell into the water and drowned. A press release issued by the St. Croix County Sheriff's Department Tuesday afternoon stated Kristelle M. Wolle's blood alcohol content was .
- PUB DATE: 12/10/2017 7:23:11 PM - SOURCE: Rivertowns

Wisconsin regulators can’t enforce a rule requiring sprinklers in large apartment buildings, Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel said Friday in a victory for builders looking to save on costs. The state Department of Safety and Professional Standards adopted a rule in 2008 that requires sprinklers in apartment buildings built after Jan.
- PUB DATE: 12/10/2017 1:07:50 PM - SOURCE: Wisconsin Gazette

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

A rollover crash on Thursday on the North Side left one person in a hospital, the Madison Fire Department said. When firefighters arrived, they found the injured driver standing outside of the vehicle, which was upside down and on its roof, said fire department spokeswoman Cynthia Schuster. The driver's vehicle was the only one involved in the crash, which occurred at the intersection of Sherman Avenue and Northport Drive.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 6:31:04 AM - SOURCE: Madison.com-Wisconsin State Journal-Capital Times

A consultant will evaluate if Fitchburg’s standalone fire and EMS services are the most efficient setup for the city or if a “fire-based EMS” department would be better. The Common Council approved $30,000 for the study on a 6-2 vote at its Nov. 14 meeting as an amendment to the 2017 budget. Ald. Julia Arata-Fratta (Dist.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 6:13:37 AM - SOURCE: Fitchburg Star

Town Fire Chief Ed Umnus has removed his name from the ballot for the fire chief position for 2018, he said in a Facebook post and the town administrator verified. Assistant Chief Bill Vrchota will step into the chief's role on Jan. 1. Umnus has served with the Town of Burlington Fire Department for almost 28 years and has served as fire chief for six, according to a Facebook post by Umnus announcing he was stepping down.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 2:17:11 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

Ciganek had learned she had a four inch by four inch mass on her ovary. A few weeks later, she was told she had stage 4 colon cancer. Ciganek started a new, aggressive chemotherapy regimen at Froedtert Hospital, which worked well at the time. Her chemo was followed up by surgery. Ciganek got her first sign something was wrong when she jumped off a rig following a fire call — and felt excruciating abdominal pain.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FOX 6 Now

A Milwaukee Fire Department acting lieutenant repeatedly groped a co-worker and gave her low marks on her work evaluation after she complained, according to a criminal complaint charging him with a felony. Michael Peden, 35, was charged Thursday with second-degree sexual assault after his arrest last weekend.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Tucson Fire Department Chief Jim Critchley announced his retirement Thursday after six years as head of the department. Critchley sent out a memo to Tucson Fire Department personnel Thursday saying he loved his job, but decided to retire and focus on his family, department spokesman Julian Herrera said.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tucson Arizona Daily Star

A jury awarded a former firefighter $245,000 in damages Thursday, deciding she had proved two allegations in her federal lawsuit against the city of Tampa: That she was discriminated against because she was pregnant and the city retaliated against her when she complained. But on the third allegation, the seven-person jury did not find that the city discriminated against Tanja Vidovic because of her gender.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times and Tampa Bay.com

Firefighters across Southern California are battling six major wildfires with brutal Santa Ana winds expected to continue fanning the flames through Saturday. The newest blazes, the Lilac fire in San Diego County and the Liberty fire in Riverside County, are now being fueled by continued Santa Ana winds and low humidity, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

A Milwaukee Fire Department acting lieutenant repeatedly groped a co-worker and gave her low marks on her work evaluation after she complained, according to a criminal complaint charging him with a felony. Michael Peden, 35, was charged Thursday with second-degree sexual assault after his arrest last weekend.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

PHOTOS - A U.K.-based fire service has said it is “seriously unimpressed” with a 22-year-old man after five firefighters spent an hour freeing his head from a microwave oven he had “cemented” himself inside as part of a stunt he was filming for YouTube. The man, based in the English city of Wolverhampton, had mixed quick-dry spackling paste and poured it around his head, which was protected by plastic bag inside the microwave, which was intended to act as a mold, according to West Midlands Fire.
- PUB DATE: 12/8/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: TIME

On December 7, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.

After nearly 32 years of service with the Merrill Fire Department, Battalion Chief Mike Drury will retire Friday, according to a news release. “I have always felt truly blessed with my calling to be a professional firefighter, as I believe it is one of the most admirable and respectable professions there is," he said in a Nov.
- PUB DATE: 12/7/2017 7:25:26 AM - SOURCE: Wausau Daily Herald

On December 6, 4 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On December 5, 11 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.