A 4-year-old Racine boy drowned on Monday afternoon in Browns Lake, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling confirmed. The child went missing at about 5:10 p.m. according to emergency radio transmissions, and was located at about 5:40 p.m. The child was rushed by Burlington Rescue crews to Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington, dispatch reports indicated.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 2:16:07 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

PHOTO - Three Downey firefighters suffered injuries when their fire truck caught fire at the scene of a wildfire south of this Bannock County town. The fire was reported along South Marsh Valley Road around 11 a.m. Monday and initially threatened multiple houses that were about 100 yards from the flames.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Idaho State Journal

Houston voters will face $1.5 billion in city bonds and nine community college or school board races this November, but will not be asked whether to give firefighters a raise. Monday was the last day on which a candidate can file for the November ballot, and on which local governments can call an election.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

A dedicated wireless communications network for first responders answering the call on a large-scale incident is something most citizens might assume is already in place across the country. The unfortunate truth is that they would be wrong, but efforts are ongoing to present all 50 states with plans and options surrounding The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), which was designed to help public safety agencies coordinate their efforts amid emergencies and major events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods or terror attacks, to name just a few scenarios.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com

An upper-management union for the Orange County Fire Authority planned to tell the agency’s board of directors that “current tensions” in the department were created by Chief Jeff Bowman, who resigned last week, according to a letter written by the union and sent to the board on Sunday, Aug. 20. The letter also said the union – the Chief Officers Association, which represents battalion and division chiefs – met with Bowman a day before he stepped down and recommended he resign before it submitted a position paper, out of respect for him and “to save the organization further embarrassment.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orange County Register

A plea deal means a term of slightly less than six years for the driver of a Michigan firetruck that crashed last summer on Interstate 35W in Blaine, killing two fellow firefighters. Michael A. Johnson, 29, of the Upper Peninsula city of Baraga, pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash on Aug.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Salem Fire Department followed suit with its fellow first responders Monday, requesting the Board of Selectmen consider increasing the previously set staffing plans and potentially renegotiate the Tuscan Village development agreement. Both the police and fire departments have experienced decades of stagnant staffing, which department leaders say have caused longer emergency response times in Salem and more cases in which the fire department has to ask for assistance from neighboring towns.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Eagle-Tribune

Homeowners who were evacuated after a gas leak in the 4300 block of Crawford Drive in Madison were allowed back into their homes about five hours after the leak was detected. The Madison Fire Department says Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) found high readings outside of 4353 Crawford Drive around 8:30 a.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 9:22:19 AM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV 27 ABC

On August 19, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: There are no injuries but the second floor of a home in the Town of Dewey is a total loss after a fire Sunday, according to the Town of Dewey Fire Chief LeRoy Pukrop. It happened around 3:30 Sunday evening, and it took crews about two hours to fight the flames. The assistant fire chief was first on scene and saw smoke, and made the box alarms to call in aid.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 5:25:55 AM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

VIDEO: An historic building in Door County is likely destroyed after a fire that firefighters spent all of Sunday battling at a brew pub. Fire crews were called to Shipwrecked Brew Pub in Egg Harbor around 11 a.m. Sunday. The general manager of the restaurant says the fire started after an air conditioner on the second floor caught fire.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 5:16:10 AM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV 27 ABC

A Menlo Park Fire Captain sustained moderate burns in a house fire after the roof he was standing on gave out as the attic burned beneath him, late Friday. The Fire Captain, a seasoned veteran with the Fire District, had just guided a Probationary Firefighter as he cut a square ventilation hole in the roof of the residence, located on Nassau Drive near the Menlo Park-Atherton border.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV Oakland, San Francisco, Bay Area

The number of years was 63 that father and son, Louis “Butch” Chagnon and Michael Chagnon served on the Somerset Fire Department. It included a decade they served together answering the call on fires and medical emergencies, it was announced during a brief recognition by the Board of Selectmen for the retiring son.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Herald News

It's been nearly five years since Bay City's fire and police departments merged into a public safety agency. Now, a City Commissioner is proposing to increase the number of full-time firefighters, a move that would drastically change the course of the combined department. Commissioner Ed Clements, 8th Ward, has authored a resolution calling for the Bay City Department of Public Safety to staff no fewer than 22 full-time firefighters, instead of having a staff made up entirely of public safety officers who can fight fires and perform law enforcement tasks.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MLive.com

Police have cited York Township's assistant fire chief, alleging he improperly used the emergency lights on his duty vehicle to pull over a driver. If found guilty, Assistant Fire Chief Scotty Bowman, 32, who lives in the township, could face a substantial fine, plus about $150 in court costs and fees.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: York Dispatch

A former Atlantic City firefighter pleaded guilty Friday to health care fraud in connection with a large-scale prescription-drug fraud ring. It was the fifth guilty plea in the past two days and the first to involve a public employee. Federal authorities have been investigating health-benefits fraud in three Absecon Island municipalities, including Atlantic City, over the past few months.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Press of Atlantic City

Researchers found that a household product can effectively clean fentanyl spills. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Bowling Green State University President Mary Ellen Mazey announced that OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover has been proven effective in cleaning up fentanyl spills. Sodium percarbonate is an ingredient in the product, which has been shown to break down fentanyl.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

Holding a fundraiser to help some of their own, the “Axemen” Milwaukee chapter came together for four local firefighters on Saturday, August 19th. The group comprised of mostly firefighters grilling and hanging out at “The Point” bar in Walker’s Point. Raising money for two firefighters from Milwaukee and two from West Allis.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2017 8:54:42 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

VIDEO: Beloit Fire is bracing for big changes next year. That's when the Federal Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER) grant runs out. Without the funding, the department could lose three positions. "When I started in 1989, we were running 2400 calls a year," Beloit Fire Chief Brad Liggett said.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2017 5:13:17 PM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV 27 ABC

VIDEO: A barn is a total loss after a fire this morning in Chippewa County. The Chippewa Fire District says it happened just after 5 a.m. on 40th Street in the Town of Wheaton. The owner of the property was feeding farm animals when he saw the fire in the northwest corner of the barn. When crews first arrived on scene, they say the fire had extended the entire length of the 270 ft.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2017 3:50:06 PM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News