They’ve been talking since 2015 about a three-way merger. Now the Deer-Grove, Cambridge and Marshall EMS departments are taking a significant step toward that possibility. In coming weeks, they expect to jointly put out a request for proposal (RFP) seeking a consultant to study the idea. A consultant could be on board this spring.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 3:15:51 AM - SOURCE: Monona / Cottage Grove Herald Independent

The West Salem Volunteer Fire Departments are seeking volunteers to bolster their daytime coverage. Fire department spokesperson Scott Johnson said The fire department is close to capacity during the evening hours but lacks the necessary volunteers for adequate daytime coverage. “Unfortunately, our daytime coverage is slim as most members work outside of West Salem,” he said.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 3:14:06 AM - SOURCE: Coulee News

One Sun Prairie firefighter received minor injuries and a television journalist was shot with a pellet gun while fire department crews were responding to a duplex fire in the 5500 block of Larry Lane in the Town of Burke. The firefighter was treated and released at the scene. Four residents of the duplex escaped the badly damaged building.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 2:13:31 AM - SOURCE: DeForest Times

On March 23, 4 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

She was blue when her neighbor found her at lunchtime, unconscious and slumped in an overstuffed leather chair. Minutes later, her studio apartment is crammed with people in uniform who have been summoned to save her. Getting there after the 911 call had been excruciating, even with light afternoon traffic: an 11-block drive with sirens wailing, followed by a cramped ride in a slim elevator that crept slowly toward the ninth floor, as if powered by AAA batteries.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Times

A construction worker called 911 as he frantically honked his horn to warn other workers away from a fire at an unfinished apartment building in Overland Park — one of 69 calls reporting a massive blaze and flaming embers raining down on nearby homes. The 911 dispatch recordings, released to The Kansas City Star on Thursday, reveal workers’ and residents’ frantic pleas for firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star

Pushback from Belle Haven residents forced Menlo Park’s fire district to drop a plan to seize two residential properties to expand its station. About 50 residents packed Tuesday night’s meeting of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, held inside a small classroom at its 300 Middlefield Road fire station.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mercury News

A fire chief in Kansas finds himself the target of anger and frustration over, of all things, stickers. Sedgwick County certainly isn’t the first fire department to wrestle with a "stickergate" controversy. I’m guessing most departments have had at least one. That helmet and apparatus decals could set off a department-wide dust up is not surprising.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

VIDEO: A Kansas City firefighter is anxious for an arrest, after someone broke into his home and stole his belongings while he was on duty. The break-in happened Tuesday night around 9 o’clock in a South Kansas City neighborhood near Little Blue Road and Breckenridge Avenue. The victim, Sammy Belgiere, is an 18-year veteran and captain with the Kansas City, Mo.
- PUB DATE: 3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDAF-TV Fox 4 Kansas City News

VIDEO: It takes a lot of training to become a wildland firefighter, but 26 people in Lac du Flambeau are well on their way. The Bureau of Indian Affairs- Great Lakes Agency offered a five-day course on Wildland Fire Training this week. Many of the participants hope to make a career out of it. "I really would like to make a career out of it throughout my life.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 4:47:24 PM - SOURCE: WJFW-TV NBC 12 Rhinelander-Wausau

On March 20, 8 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

As a devoted runner, cyclist, firefighter and father, Saukville resident Erik Kopp is no stranger to challenges, but the health issues that surfaced late last year have been giving him the fight of his life. Last November, Kopp, 36, learned he has a rare, difficult-to-treat form of cancer — hilar cholangiocarcinoma — and will ultimately need a liver transplant.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 2:08:31 AM - SOURCE: Ozaukee Press

Talk about big shoes to fill. Standing at 6’9", City of Miami Fire Chief Maurice L. Kemp is not only literally a towering figure at the department, but the 32-year vet is a respected leader within the city of Miami. After more than decades of service with the City of Miami Department of Fire Rescue, Chief Kemp is retiring.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFOR-TV and WBFS CBS 4 Miami

Memories come in all shapes and sizes. Chris Fields has a trunkfull, packed away from a 31-year career as an Oklahoma City firefighter. From fighting infernos to rescuing pets, Fields has done it all. "You roll up and prepare yourself for what you're going to see," Fields says. But nothing could have prepared Chris for April 19, 1995.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox 6 Now

Lawyers for the city and the firefighters’ union will present their arguments before the state Appellate Court on May 24 on whether an issue over eight demoted fire captains goes to arbitration. Union President Daniel Daugherty said the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191 has been waiting for the case to move forward in the state Appellate Division, Fourth Department, in Rochester since last fall.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

At least 10 homes in Nassau County, Florida, were destroyed in a wildfire caused by a man who was burning books Wednesday. Only a few minor injuries to emergency personnel have been reported in what's being called the Garfield Road Fire, according to the Florida Forest Service. But it has burned an estimated 350 to 400 acres near Bryceville, about 20 miles west of Jacksonville.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

Selectman Raquel Welch told the board Monday evening that she wanted to speak with the fire chief about firefighters washing their personal vehicles at the Fire Station. Welch said when she drives past the station on nice days, she sees people washing their private vehicles. “It’s not a car wash,” she said.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sun Journal

The lawsuit filed by a fired firefighter against the city and its fire department is still ongoing, despite both agencies denying his request for permission to present a late claim. Former American Canyon firefighter/paramedic Carlos Teruel, 34, says he was let go shortly before his probationary period expired and since officials declined to tell him why, assumes it can only be because he took time off to care for his sick wife and small children.
- PUB DATE: 3/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Vallejo Times-Herald

A cow died and a portion Highway 151 was closed for several hours Wednesday after a cattle trailer pulled by a semi tractor started on fire. According to Beaver Dam Fire Capt. Russ Johnson, the fire department responded at 12:21 p.m. to a report of a trailer on fire on Highway 151 in the northbound lanes one-quarter mile south of Highway C.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2017 9:08:05 PM - SOURCE: wisc news

In some ways Wednesday night’s Fond du Lac City Council meeting looked like a Fire Department mutual aid call. The Council honored Assistant Chief Steve Beer for his 27 years and 2 months with the fire department. He’s leaving to become the Fire Chief in Hutchinson, Kansas. Fellow firefighters from throughout the County attended the meeting for the proclamation.
- PUB DATE: 3/22/2017 9:02:56 PM - SOURCE: KFIZ