Broward County’s firefighter-paramedics are used to wearing protective gear for battling blazes. Now they’ll be getting new protection — body armor vests and helmets — for when they’re assisting victims in incidents involving guns or other dangerous weapons. It’s a sign of the times, officials say, with the proliferation of active shooter and mass casualty cases across the country, including deadly incidents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in January and at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last year.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun Sentinel

A City of Houston Hurricane Harvey Preparation Plan, obtained by Channel 2 Investigates, shows the Houston Fire Department has shockingly little flood rescue equipment, and it appears to have contributed to millions of dollars in losses for the city in totaled fire trucks. “The reason I think we sank six engine companies is (that) they’re not built for a high-water environment,” said Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston

The National Fire Protection Association announced the launch of the NFPA Fire and Life Safety Policy Institute. The Policy Institute will look at a range of issues and advise policymakers on how to improve safety for their citizens, according to NFPA. “We have made tremendous progress in reducing loss from fire since NFPA’s inception, but we are painfully reminded every day that there is more to be done,” NFPA President Jim Pauley said.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

On September 16, 3 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On September 17, 4 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

A Madison man shot and killed his wife weeks ago and blew up their Southwest Side house on Wednesday as an attempt to cover up the homicide, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said Sunday. Lee Anne Pirus, 50, was identified by the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office as the body found amid the rubble of a house at 7806 Stratton Way.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 3:16:57 AM - SOURCE: Madison.com-Wisconsin State Journal-Capital Times

Firefighters extinguished what they determined to be an intentionally set fire early Sunday morning. The blaze caused $6,000 in damage to 1240 Superior St., a vacant home set to be razed by order of the city, according to a Racine Fire Department release. The fire was set to the rear of the house at about 5:45 a.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 2:25:06 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

When Alexander Bingham graduated from the Houston firefighter training academy in 2016, one of his classmates was missing. Steven Whitfield, a cadet in Bingham's class, had perished in a training accident in March 2016 and would not graduate alongside those who had become his brothers. Bingham and his classmates still mourn Whitfield's death, but on Saturday, Bingham said, he felt uplifted by the celebration honoring Whitfield and 189 other firefighters during this year's Fallen Fire Fighter's Memorial ceremony in Memorial Park.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Colorado Springs Gazette

The city of Trenton has approval to layoff 64 firefighters who are currently being funded by a federal grant that runs out at the end of October, according to a plan approved by the state. The layoffs are set to occur Nov. 1, 2017, and affected firefighters would need to be officially notified no later than Saturday, Sept.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NJ.com

Alarms were ringing inside a dormitory at UConn in the early morning of October 16, 2016, and as firefighter Dana Barrow began driving out of a firehouse garage, the right front tire of his Chevy Tahoe bumped into something, bringing the SUV to a sudden stop. One second passed. And then Barrow, focused on a possible fire emergency, pressed the gas pedal, inching the 7,130-pound vehicle over the obstruction blocking his way.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant

Santa Cruz firefighter Clayton Ogden died, at age 47, after a short bout with cancer this summer. This week, Santa Cruz Fire Chief Jim Frawley posthumously awarded Ogden the Medal of Valor for his involvement in protecting a civilian during the fatal Feb. 26, 2013 shootout that left two Santa Cruz police officers dead.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Cruz Sentinel

A former Cleveland firefighter has filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming the department and city officials mishandled a complaint he filed following an altercation with two other firefighters last year. Samuel Livingston, who was hired as a firefighter in 2000, is seeking an unspecified amount in damages accusing the department of reverse discrimination after an April 5, 2016 physical altercation with his coworkers June Colon and Larry Gray.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland Plain Dealer & Cleveland.com

On September 15, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: Madison Fire Chief Steven Davis says a body was found at the site of a home that exploded Wednesday afternoon in the southwest part of the city. Davis says the body was found around 9:00 a.m. Friday morning and his teams have suspended their investigative work while the medical examiner is at the site.
- PUB DATE: 9/15/2017 9:46:18 AM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV 27 ABC

Fire destroyed a detached garage and spread to a house on Roger Court on Thursday afternoon. There were no injuries and everyone, including a dog, evacuated before firefighters arrived, said Assistant Fire Chief Chad Gerrits. Officials estimate that the fire did about $65,000 in damage to the buildings and about $30,000 in damage to their contents.
- PUB DATE: 9/15/2017 7:58:23 AM - SOURCE: Appleton Post-Gazette & Post Crescent.com

A Fond du Lac man was rescued Wednesday night from Lake Winnebago after falling in the water at the Lakeside Park Marina. A crew from Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue, along with city police, were called to G Dock about 8 p.m. for a report of a man who had fallen in the water in an area of the lake called the "Big Hole" in Lakeside Park.
- PUB DATE: 9/15/2017 3:38:03 AM - SOURCE: Appleton Post-Gazette & Post Crescent.com

City Councilor Eric Spear will ask the City Council on Monday to authorize spending $39,000 for "consultants to come in and do an assessment of the Fire Department." Spear noted "a similar assessment was done on the Police Department." "In all these cases, we're trying to provide services but also control spending.
- PUB DATE: 9/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Former Shreveport Fire Chief Craig Mulford, who lost his job after being accused of impeding a police investigation into the mistreatment of two mentally challenged men who were regular visitors at a fire station, has reached an agreement with the city where he was reinstated with back pay and then immediately resigned.
- PUB DATE: 9/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPXJ-TV & KTBS-TV

The Philadelphia Fire Department is mourning the loss of a firefighter who served the department for 23 years. According to officials, 60-year-old Lt. Kenneth Greene Sr. died Thursday at Einstein Hospital after being transported to the hospital September 3 while on-duty at Engine 37. Lt. Greene, a veteran of the United States Army, had served the Department for 23 years on several engine and ladder companies.
- PUB DATE: 9/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTXF-TV MyFox 29 Philadelphia

In rural Montana, where you and your neighbors are your own first responders come fire, flood or heart attack, being dropped as a customer by Verizon Wireless could have serious impacts, readers told us. Kim Barlogio lives southeast of Hammond in the remote southeastern corner of Montana. She was among the Montanans who recently received a letter from Verizon informing her she would no longer be a customer after "using a significant amount of data while roaming off the Verizon Wireless network.
- PUB DATE: 9/15/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Great Falls Tribune