Four employees of the Billerica Fire Department have been handed lengthy suspensions and one demoted following a town investigation into a months-long sex scandal, first reported in April. "All employees involved have acknowledged violations of the rules and regulations of the department and have accepted the discipline that has been imposed by the town," said Town Manager John Curran, in a statement posted to the town's website Wednesday.
- PUB DATE: 6/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Republican

A poorly performing computer program at the Knox County E-911 Center is placing law enforcement officers and firefighters in danger by depriving them of updated information on emergency calls, authorities said Wednesday. The $6.2 million Intergraph Computer Aided Dispatch program went online two years ago and has been problematic ever since.
- PUB DATE: 6/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Knoxville News-Sentinel

On June 21, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: One person was injured after a silo explosion Wednesday evening. Officials said it happened just after 6:30 p.m. at a home on County Road S in the Town of Emmet. According to the Marathon County Sheriff's Department, several people were clearing brush on the property and putting it inside a concrete silo to be burned.
- PUB DATE: 6/21/2017 9:48:33 PM - SOURCE: WAOW-TV ABC 9-Wausau

It’s hard to go against family history. The Derrick family has a total of 154 years of service in Lake Geneva over three generations. And Lake Geneva Fire Capt. Ryan Derrick is a part of that legacy. Derrick, who was officially promoted to captain in May, started his career with the Lake Geneva Fire Department in July 2000.
- PUB DATE: 6/21/2017 1:22:27 PM - SOURCE: Lake Geneva News

On June 20, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

The chief of the McDonald Volunteer Fire Department was killed in an explosion in West Virginia. Scott Albertini, died Tuesday morning at the Midland Resource Recovery plant in Barbour County, West Virginia. Two people were killed and one person was injured in an explosion at the same plant last month.
- PUB DATE: 6/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KDKA-TV CBS 2 Pittsburgh

Thirty-two members of the Chicago Fire Department’s brass resigned their exempt positions Monday and returned to rank-and-file status in a fight over pay and benefits that will cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bosses will return to their career service ranks of battalion chief and, in one case, paramedic field chief, but will continue to “act up” in their exempt positions.
- PUB DATE: 6/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times

The city of Houston is gearing up to play hardball with its firefighters union in advance of contract mediation by passing less favorable employment terms that would take effect if the firefighters' current agreement lapses next week. The changes subject to City Council approval Wednesday would come a month after the fire union declared an impasse in negotiations with the city.
- PUB DATE: 6/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

A Kansas City firefighter is awake from a coma after suffering a heat stroke, and doctors are trying to determine if energy drinks may have played a part in his condition. The Kansas City Fire Department says he was participating in a training exercise last Saturday, June 10, when he suffered a heat stroke.
- PUB DATE: 6/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCTV-TV CBS 5

The Los Angeles Fire Department could soon seek federal permission to fly drones, a tool that officials say could help them track down missing hikers, gauge the risks in burning buildings and search confined spaces. A Los Angeles City Council committee voted Tuesday to allow the department to start seeking Federal Aviation Administration authorization to use “unmanned aerial systems,” despite objections from groups concerned about privacy rights.
- PUB DATE: 6/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

The cause of a fire at a La Crosse business is under investigation. It happened at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday at Michaels Truck Equipment located at 1745 Miller Street in La Crosse. Firefighters said smoke was seen coming from the front of the building. Crews used a hose line to put out the fire. No one was in the building at the time.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 10:56:21 PM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News

VIDEO: Local firefighters participated in a structural collapse training Tuesday. Eau Claire Fire and Rescue crews practiced building raker shoring systems, which are used to stabilize structurally compromised walls, at Fire Station No. 10 on Hastings way. More than 80 firefighters participated in the hands-on training and firefighters said they work on this type of training every year.
- PUB DATE: 6/20/2017 10:56:19 PM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News

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