Rural towns across Northeast Wisconsin are facing a problem in the way of emergency responders. They’re seeing a shortage of people filling those positions, and as a result, an increased response time. Last week, when a fire broke out in the Village of Suring, only a handful of firefighters responded.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 3:45:22 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

VIDEO: Blackhawk Technical College has a new way for future firefighters to train. Instructors say the new equipment is keeping everyone safer, including the trainees. Robert Balsamo has been in the fire service for more than 30 years. From his perspective, things are much different now in the training process.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 3:38:28 PM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

VIDEO: Tuesday marked the first unofficial day at work for the new La Crosse Fire Chief. Ken Gilliam, the incoming Fire Chief for the La Crosse Fire Department,spent the day meeting with current Fire Chief Gregg Cleveland about how the department works. "In the midst of trying to sell a house and by a house and uproot my family and get them down here I'm also trying to read, so it's been a lot of late nights.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 3:02:47 PM - SOURCE: WXOW-TV ABC 19 LaCrosse

The fire department is slated to move into its new fire station Wednesday, June 28, after sharing quarters with the police department for more than a year. The new fire station is located adjacent to Greendale’s Safety Center, 5911 W. Grange Ave., which houses the police department. The safety center and the fire station building will be connected via a shared hallway.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 1:11:05 PM - SOURCE: My South Now

A firefighter is dead and another is badly injured following a wreck in Lafayette County, MO. This accident happened shortly after 6 p.m. on Monday evening. It happened on Highway E just north of Wheatley Road, which is north of Interstate 70 in Lafayette County. The area is just south of Mayview, MO.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCTV-TV CBS 5 Kansas City

The Santa Paula City Council on Monday approved a resolution that, once finalized and in effect, effectively disbands its 114-year-old fire department. The tax-sharing agreement sets the terms for getting coverage from the larger Ventura County Fire Protection District. The district is paid for from property taxes, and Santa Paula will turn over 79 percent of what it gets once it joins, according to the agreement.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Ventura County Star

One of the seven U.S. sailors killed on the USS Fitzgerald after a collision with a container ship off the coast of Japan has been identified as Dakota Kyle Rigsby, a Fluvanna County volunteer firefighter. The U.S. Navy said Sunday night that 19-year-old Rigsby, a gunner’s mate seaman from Palmyra, was among the dead.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lynchburg News & Advance

For the third time in less than a year, the City Council has rejected a contract settlement with district fire chiefs in a continuing dispute if the current chiefs should be required to live in Springfield. A motion to give final passage to the contract failed by way of a 6-6 tie vote, needing seven votes to pass.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Republican

Seven of them were huddled next to a couch on the second floor. Another was just 10 feet from the front door. Eight others were found together wrapped in a rug, apparently having fallen all at once when the floor under them collapsed. They, like all the other victims of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire, died of smoke inhalation, their lungs and airways clogged with soot.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

VIDEO: The family of the man who died in a fire captured on video is devastated at the loss of their father, but were touched by the efforts of Good Samaritans who attempted to break down the door to attempt to save him. Police have identified the man who died as 72-year-old Willie Greer. His death came just two days before Father's Day.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 6:20:04 PM - SOURCE: Today's TMJ4

On June 18, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: The new La Crosse fire chief will take over July 1. But first, Ken Gilliam will meet with current chief Gregg Cleveland to learn more about the job and the city. Cleveland says he's organized a transition plan. It lays out current projects and is designed to familiarize Gilliam with programs and divisions of the department.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 4:45:05 PM - SOURCE: WXOW-TV ABC 19 LaCrosse

The Fond du Lac Firefighters Local 400 Charitable Fund has again stepped forward to help support the Agnesian HealthCare Foundation’s efforts to raise $2.5 million to add more private patient rooms at the Agnesian HealthCare Hospice Home of Hope residential facility. Peter O’Leary, Fond du Lac fire chief, and other Local 400 representatives, presented a $1,000 donation to Holly Brenner, Agnesian HealthCare Foundation president.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 3:08:04 PM - SOURCE: Fond du Lac Reporter

Police are alerting residents to beware of anyone posing as a West Allis firefighter and asking to come in to perform an inspection. A West Allis resident reported that a man came to his home saying he was from the West Allis Fire Department and wanted to do a “fireplace inspection.” The resident called police, who verified that the man was not a West Allis firefighter.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 1:08:10 PM - SOURCE: Greenfield West Allis NOW

On June 18, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: Firefighters from nearly half a dozen departments responded to a fire at a vacant Muskego business on Monday morning. The fire broke out near Tans Rd & Racine Avenue. Tess Corners Assistant Fire Chief Mike Wojnowski says the dumpster was directly next to the building, and the roofline of the structure caught fire.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 7:02:15 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Marshfield's Police and Fire Commission has chosen interim fire chief and longtime veteran of Marshfield Fire and Rescue, Scott Owen, as the city's new fire chief. "I'm extremely excited," Owen said. "I'm truly honored that the commission chose me, and to change over from the interim role to the full time chief, and looking forward to continuing to move the department ahead.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 3:13:42 AM - SOURCE: WIFC-FM 95.5

The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the death Saturday of Fire Chief Abraham Pitre, said Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz in a statement early Sunday morning. Diaz called the 44-year-old Pitre's death "sudden" and that the "circumstances of the incident remain under investigation by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: MyCentralJersey.com

When Columbus officials rolled out a plan to cut the number of paramedics on trucks responding to medical emergencies, they said it would save on the city Division of Fire’s bulging overtime budget. Six months later, overtime in the division is on track to bust its budget for the sixth time in seven years and reach its highest level in years, but fire Chief Kevin O’Connor said the plan is working.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbus Dispatch

The park seems out of place, a flat swath of green grass and American flags tucked amid Savannah Highway's bustling corridor of strip malls, car dealerships and gas stations. Thousands of motorists flood past each day navigating the snarl of congestion that defines this stretch of road. As they hurry by, the spot where dozens of men once waged the battle of their lives becomes a mere flash of scenery on a suburban landscape.
- PUB DATE: 6/19/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charleston Post and Courier