VIDEO: According to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), the number of volunteer firefighters hit an all-time low in 2011. Since then, volunteer fire departments struggle to increase staff to meet the rising number of calls. Many La Crosse County fire departments are considered volunteer departments.
- PUB DATE: 8/13/2017 4:30:28 AM - SOURCE: WXOW-TV ABC 19 LaCrosse

Firefighters from Howard responded to reports of a garage fire around 4:15 AM Saturday at 1726 Island Court. When they arrived, they found smoke and flames coming from a detached two-car garage. That garage was within eight feet of a story-story home on the same property. Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading, and contained it to the garage.
- PUB DATE: 8/12/2017 11:15:17 AM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

VIDEO: An area fire department is beginning to put new rescue equipment into use that will help firefighters respond better to a crisis. The department was able to purchase 24 units containing a backpack, two bottles, and a mask for $143,000 through a federal FEMA grant. Chief Steve Schreiber explained, “This piece of equipment is probably, for structure firefighting, the number one used piece of equipment.
- PUB DATE: 8/12/2017 7:14:42 AM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News

A fire burned through a barn in the Town of Utica late Thursday night. Multiple fire agencies were called to battle the fire. They arrived to see it fully engulfed. "When we got here it was already down to the barn floor," said Tim Oliver, Fire Chief for the Utica Fire Department. "There was no hay in it, it was fed with air," he added.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 6:07:40 AM - SOURCE: WGBA-TV NBC 26 Green Bay

A judge ordered the Holmen fire chief to spend two days in jail and suspended his driver’s license for one year after he was convicted of drunken driving. Paul Menches, 61, pleaded guilty Wednesday in La Crosse County Circuit Court to second-offense operating while intoxicated. Circuit Judge Scott Horne imposed a $1,454 fine and ordered him to report to jail on Monday.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 5:34:26 AM - SOURCE: Lacrosse Tribune

The Madison Fire Department says about 30 people were displaced after an overnight apartment fire. The fire involved two units in the building in the 2200 block of Carling Drive. Firefighters are still investigating the cause, but say because of concerns about the electrical system in the building, they can't allow any residents to stay.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 4:24:47 AM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV 27 ABC

A 16-year-old girl faces two counts of vehicular homicide and vehicular manslaughter in a crash into an Akron fire truck that killed two teenage girls. The July 14 crash killed, Briyana Hayes, 15, and Lashae Johnson, 16, both of Tallmadge. The driver is also charged with vehicular assault, operating a vehicle on a temporary permit without a licensed driver, operating a vehicle with more than one juvenile passenger and other traffic charges, Akron police Lt.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland Plain Dealer & Cleveland.com

Another firefighter has lost his life to a 9/11-related cancer. Retired Firefighter Michael Duffy, a 20-year veteran of the department who spent time at Ground Zero after the terror attacks, died on Aug. 8, officials said Thursday. Duffy joined the FDNY in 1982 and spent his entire career at Engine 310 and Ladder 174 on Snyder Ave.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

The way Cezary Milewicz sees it, his lot in life hinged on two chance occurences: a pre-paid postage stamp and the decision to take an evening stroll. The first came in his native Poland. Born in Korsze, a town of 4,724 in the country's northeast corner, Milewicz first set foot in a firehouse when he was 5.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant

The Aptos/La Selva Fire Protection District Board of Directors at its meeting Thursday denied Chief Jon Jones’ request to extend his contract by two years and appointed Division Chief Todd Skrabak as interim chief until the next board meeting. Jones’ three years of leadership ends after heavy criticism by his station’s firefighters’ and chief officers’ unions.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Cruz Sentinel

The son of a Kansas City firefighter killed in an explosion is breaking his silence. James Kilventon is publicly questioning the convictions of five people held responsible in the fatal arson which killed a total of six firefighters back in 1988. “I just want to get to the bottom of it. I mean I want closure.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KMOV-TV CBS 4 St. Louis

A 10-alarm fire that reduced a luxury apartment complex in Waltham to a smoldering pile of rubble last month and caused $110 million in damage was intentionally set, authorities said, and cash rewards are being offered in the hopes of catching whoever sparked the blaze. The 264-unit building on the banks of the Charles River went up in flames during the early morning hours of July 23 and the roaring inferno damaged two other nearby structures and at least 20 vehicles, according to a joint press release issued by State Fire Marshal Peter J.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald

Police arrested a Waterloo man after he allegedly impersonated a DeForest firefighter twice to scam Casey's General Store. Charles Moss, 47, first entered the DeForest convenience store in July where surveillance cameras caught him taking cell phone chargers and attempting to return them to collect the refund.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 8:17:54 PM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV 27 ABC

They run to the places we would typically run away from. Putting themselves in the most dangerous places, for fire fighters it's all part of the job. But it doesn't end there. What happens after they fight fires, can be considered the scariest part of the job. According to the International Association of Fire Fighters, cancer caused 61 percent of deaths among full time fire fighters from 2002 to 2016.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 5:06:14 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

A Janesville firefighter is headed to the World Police and Fire Games for the first time. Jen Prochnow has been a firefighter in Janesville for more than 16 years. She started doing CrossFit nearly five years ago and recently qualified for the international competition. “I train a lot on my off days,” she said.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 6:42:44 AM - SOURCE: WMSN-TV Fox 47 Madison

Kenosha Fire Chief Charles Leipzig said work to bring a new fire station to the shuttered Bain Elementary School site is going strong. Two fire stations — Station 3, 2121 Roosevelt Road, and Station 5, 2125 Washington Road — are set to close and be merged into a “super” station at 2210 52nd St. “It’s a responsible plan,” Leipzig said.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 1:57:09 AM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

Everything failed in an instant. Severed lines snuffed out power to the command center directing the emergency response to the deadly Gatlinburg wildfires the night of Nov. 28 and plunged firefighting and rescue efforts into darkness and chaos. Sevier County began releasing records Wednesday documenting the confusion caused by the collapse of communications systems as fire swept into the city.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Knoxville News Sentinel

Nearly two dozen Palm Beach County firefighters are suing a publicly-traded company claiming a siren it produces for emergency vehicles robbed them of their hearing. In the lawsuit filed this week in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, current and former firefighters for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and West Palm Beach and Boca Raton fire departments say Federal Signal Corp.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palm Beach Post

Five firefighters were hospitalized after battling an electrical fire in the borough Wednesday afternoon. At 3:30 p.m., Fame Fire Company was dispatched to North Darlington Street at the corner of West Gay Street for a report of an odor of smoke. Fire crews arrived to find an active house fire. After firefighters entered the building, a distress call was sent out because Assistant Chief Mark Scanlon had collapsed and lost consciousness due to what is believed to be carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Coatesville Daily Local News

One firefighter recruit has been fired and three others resigned because of a noose found hanging over a black firefighter’s seat, Pompano fire officials say. An investigation into the noose, which was found at the Pompano Beach Fire Training Center, concluded Wednesday. Pompano Beach Fire Chief John Jurgle said he acted as soon as he heard last month about the racist symbol, which was directed at the only black recruit in a class of six.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun Sentinel