A couple of days ago, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood got a “Godspeed” text from Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña. He also got a similar text from Corpus Christi Fire Chief Robert Rocha, Hood said during an afternoon briefing on Harvey. But, oh, how the tables have turned. “They are going through those challenges (now) and I had to reciprocate with texts and phone calls to them because of what they are going through,” Hood said.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Corpus Christi Caller-Times

A veteran FDNY captain threw water on the notion that the job of New York’s Bravest is dangerous, insisting in a pitch to potential minority recruits that firefighters “do not run into burning buildings.” Capt. Paul Washington, who launched a landmark racial-discrimination lawsuit against the city, is now getting heat for his “ridiculous” and “insulting” comments last March to a group of young people at Borough of Manhattan Community College.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

The state's plan to cutback on the number of firefighters that worked in the Atlantic City Fire Department hit a setback Friday. In a ruling released Friday, Judge Julio Mendez blocked the state's efforts to reduce the number of firefighters from 198 to 148. The state, who took over control of Atlantic City in November, has been trying to find ways to cut costs in the resort town.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Jersey Times

The Tulsa Fire Department is replacing five of its most expensive ladder trucks after years of malfunctions and mounting maintenance costs rendered the $1.4 million assets unusable for firefighting operations. The E-One truck and Bronto Skylift ladder combos, purchased under the previous Fire Department administration, were a major expense.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tulsa World

The “Safe Stations” initiative in Anne Arundel County has taken off over the past month, offering opioid addiction help to 45 people over the last three weeks. At 15 people a week, according to Anne Arundel police, its popularity is well beyond what county officials expected. The program — which turned police and fire departments into veritable safe havens for those addicted to drugs looking for help — originally launched with the expectation that its capacity would be about five people per week.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Capital Gazette

VIDEO: A vehicle is completely destroyed after catching fire on I-94 in Farmington. It happened around 7 p.m. Saturday on I-94 eastbound near mile marker 268. Firefighters found the SUV fully engulfed in flames when they arrived to the scene. Two people inside the vehicle managed to escape unharmed.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2017 6:17:16 PM - SOURCE: Today's TMJ4

Fire broke out on the balcony of a third-floor condominium in HarborPark Saturday afternoon, causing the evacuation of the building and displacing several residents overnight. The Kenosha Fire Department was alerted to the fire at 420 57th St. at about 5:25 p.m. The fire appeared to have started on the balcony of a third-floor, corner-unit condominium.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2017 9:28:50 AM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

On August 25, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.

On August 24, 3 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Guests and staff evacuated a restaurant on Madison's West Side Thursday night after a fire started on the kitchen's stove top, the Madison Fire Department said. The fire at the Denny's, 433 South Gammon Road, started around 6 p.m., Fire Department spokeswoman Cynthia Schuster said in a statement, and the firefighters arrived to see black smoke coming from the rooftop exhaust.
- PUB DATE: 8/25/2017 3:11:54 AM - SOURCE: Madison.com-Wisconsin State Journal-Capital Times

In case of emergency, the city and Milwaukee County Emergency Management will have a new partner: Kwik Trip. The city is entering into a memorandum of understanding with Milwaukee County Emergency Management and Kwik Trip for the latter to supply assistance, if needed, during certain emergencies. Oak Creek Fire Chief Tom Rosandich said the city was asked to come forward as a model for the county knowing Oak Creek has multiple Kwik Trip locations locally.
- PUB DATE: 8/25/2017 1:56:59 AM - SOURCE: My South Now

The man police say intentionally struck and killed a firefighter who was collecting donations for charity pleaded guilty Thursday as part of an agreement with prosecutors. Grant Taylor, 24, of Lansing, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to second-degree murder and other charges in a plea deal in the death of firefighter Dennis Rodeman.
- PUB DATE: 8/25/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lansing State Journal

Kansas City firefighters now take two simple safety steps that might have saved the lives of two colleagues in a 2015 building collapse. The steps were among the recommendations in a federal report released Thursday. Emergency tones are sounded, as they were two years ago, when firefighters are ordered out of a collapse zone.
- PUB DATE: 8/25/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the IAFC Company Officers Section (COS) have released a new publication exploring the importance of succession management in the fire service and offers simple steps fire chiefs can take to prepare their fire department for the future. “Succession Management for the Fire-Rescue Service – Understanding and Applying the Process” is a user-friendly 34-page guide providing steps for departments to start their own plans and includes a history of succession management in the fire-rescue service.
- PUB DATE: 8/25/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs

Seventy retired and active firefighters from Scranton, Dunmore and Wilkes-Barre suing a siren manufacturer claim its devices caused hearing loss. In five separate but similar lawsuits filed Tuesday in Lackawanna County Court, the firefighters — most of whom are retired — claim they suffered hearing losses from firetruck sirens manufactured by Federal Signal Corp.
- PUB DATE: 8/25/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Scranton Times & Tribune

A new study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows scientifically for the first time that an individual’s ability to respond quickly to a residential fire determines who dies and who gets injured. Home fire deaths, the NIST researchers state, are more likely among those they define as frail populations—persons who are not in robust health and primarily age 65 and older—while nonfatal injuries occur more often in adults ages 20 to 49.
- PUB DATE: 8/25/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NIST.gov

On August 24, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: Cars flew down Interstate 39/90 without a problem Thursday afternoon, but fire departments along the highway are concerned about getting to the scene of a crash when traffic backs up in the construction zone. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is expanding about 45 miles of I-39/90 from the Illinois state line to the Beltline in Madison.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2017 5:08:59 PM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

VIDEO: Firefighters will be sleeping a little easier at Wausau's firehouse thanks to a donation from the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin. Wausau Fire Chief Deputy Josh Klug said the support of the community is overwhelming. “Anytime your community does that, you're pretty fortunate and pretty blessed,” Klug said.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2017 1:38:49 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

A man was taken to a hospital Wednesday after a cooking fire in his apartment, according to a release from the Madison Fire Department. Firefighters were called at 7:41 p.m. Wednesday to an apartment in the 1100 block of High Point Road on a report of a fire. Fire officials said the man began heating olive oil to make dinner when he stepped out of the kitchen for a minute or two.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2017 7:50:22 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison