On March 27, 7 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

A fire Wednesday morning damaged Country Squire Inn on Highway 12 in Wisconsin Dells. The building is at 831 Wisconsin Dells Parkway. Lake Delton fire and police departments were called to the scene. Firefighters at the scene said the fire was contained to vacant apartment units. No one is injured and no one is displaced.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 8:51:22 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

On March 23, 10 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

A firm, fair and compassionate leader with a great workplace demeanor — that’s how colleagues were remembering former Kenosha fire chief Richard Thomas on Tuesday. Thomas, a member of the Kenosha Fire Department for 35 years and chief from 1991 to 1999, died Sunday. He was 75. “We had a tremendous working relationship,” said Richard Bosanko, retired assistant fire chief.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 1:41:11 AM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

The state Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Allentown firefighters, finding that their union can negotiate the minimum number of firefighters on a shift because it has a direct impact on safety. In a unanimous decision Tuesday that affects municipalities with professional fire departments across Pennsylvania, the court rejected Allentown's argument that shift staffing was an issue for managers to decide because of its impact on city finances.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Allentown Morning Call

FirstNet board members today voted unanimously to authorize FirstNet CEO Mike Poth to finalize the 25-year contract this week—an award to AT&T, although the carrier was not mentioned during the special board meeting—to build and maintain the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN). “This is a very, very special day,” FirstNet Chairwoman Sue Swenson said during the board meeting.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgent Communications

A recent "forensic audit" ordered by the selectmen and conducted by the town account found nothing substantial against Fire Chief Peter Martell. He had been placed on paid administrative leave for 10 weeks awaiting the results of the audit. On Jan. 10, Chief Martell was chastised for spending $33,814 of town money, funds approved by town meeting, for a 2017 Ford Expedition without consulting selectmen and for submitting an electric bill from his home address along with two Fire Department bills.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Palo Alto’s four battalion fire chiefs will get pay raises of 15.5 percent under a labor deal the City Council approved Monday. Three council members, Eric Filseth, Lydia Kou and Greg Tanaka, objected to the raises. Filseth commended the Fire Department’s good work, but characterized the raises as “excessive” especially because of escalating fire service costs.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mercury News

Fire officials across Ohio are backing a proposal by Gov. John Kasich to abolish the industry-controlled agency that regulates manufactured homes, saying the commission does too little to protect manufactured home residents from deadly fires. The Ohio Fire Chief’s Association last week sent a letter to Ohio lawmakers expressing support for a provision in the state budget that would do away with the Manufactured Homes Commission and fold its responsibilities into the Ohio Department of Commerce.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Dayton Daily News

A firefighter was assaulted by a man while on the scene of a travel trailer fire just north of Tulsa early Wednesday. The man was identified as 48-year-old Michael Fisher. The incident happened in the 6200 block of North Wheeling at around 3 a.m. The Turley Fire Department was called to the fire involving a 5th wheel trailer being used for storage.
- PUB DATE: 3/29/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOTV-TV CBS 6 Tulsa

On March 28, 1 residential fire fatality was reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: It's been more than one month since a fire broke out at Encore Bar and Grill in Altoona. On Tuesday, crews were able to get inside the building, for the first time, to try and find out how the fire started. The Altoona Police Department is being joined by insurance companies, contractors who worked on the building in the past and previous owners to dig through the debris.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 1:46:04 PM - SOURCE: WQOW-TV ABC 18 Eau Claire

A fire that did $30,000 in damage to a home in Beaver Dam also killed a cat living in the home, according to a release from the Beaver Dam Fire Department. Firefighters were called at 3:34 a.m. Tuesday to N5942 S. Center Road in the town of Beaver Dam on a report of a fire in the basement and possibly the kitchen.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 5:42:47 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

On March 27, 6 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

As the NCAA basketball tournament draws to a close, the Waukesha police and fire departments are gearing up for their own championship of sorts. But they're not playing for a trophy – they're playing for charity. Members from both departments will clash in the seventh annual Waukesha Police and Firefighter Basketball Challenge at 7 p.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 1:41:27 AM - SOURCE: WaukeshaNOW

People were hanging out windows and running barefoot for their lives early Monday morning as a fire raged through a three-story West Oakland residential building with a history of complaints, killing at least three people and sending another four to the hospital, authorities said. Three were confirmed dead and one was still unaccounted for on Monday night, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

Milan or Hartford? That was the choice Reginald Freeman was faced with when the job of Hartford fire chief was offered to him more than a year ago. "I was poised to go to Italy for 14 months," said Freeman, who was the fire chief of Lockheed Martin's aeronautic headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas, at the time.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant

More than half of firefighters' line-of-duty deaths are caused not by external dangers such as flames or building collapses, but from cardiovascular reactions to the physical stress of the job, experts say. Hanover Park Fire Chief Craig Haigh believes his department can help bring down those numbers as the main test subjects of a 21-month national research project.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Herald

The chief of the Lake Arrowhead, TX, Volunteer Fire Department said his worst nightmare came true this weekend when he received a call that his fire station was on fire Saturday night. Fire Chief Mike Hall was just two bites into dinner when his cell phone rang around 7 p.m. "The ambulance crew called and asked 'Are you alright?' and I asked why and they told me the fire station is on fire," Hall said.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

Several people were arrested and detained Friday after a Clayton County firefighter found his stolen car at an alleged chop shop, Channel 2 Action News reported. The firefighter’s car was stolen outside Fire Station No. 1 in Morrow, where he works. He used an app to find his car, the news station reported.
- PUB DATE: 3/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution