Off-duty firefighters are searching on both sides of the Cascades looking for Ken Ward. He is a fellow firefighter who has been missing since Oct. 16. Ward has been a firefighter at Mountain View King County Fire District #44 for 10 years and always shows up for work. When he didn't show up Monday, fellow firefighters and his family knew something was wrong.
- PUB DATE: 10/20/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4

On October 19, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

A paramedic received stitches Tuesday afternoon after an unconscious man's dog bit her as she helped try to revive him on Madison' south side, fire officials said. The Madison Fire Department said firefighters and paramedics responded to a report of an unconscious person in the basement of a home in the University Hill Farms-area neighborhood at 2:07 p.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 7:47:03 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

A family of five escaped a house fire in Appleton early Wednesday morning. The Appleton Fire Department says without working smoke alarms, it could have been “truly tragic.” Firefighters were called to the 200 block of N. Lawe Street at about 5:26 a.m. Crews arrived on scene to find smoke and flames in the basement.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 6:47:59 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

On October 17, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

La Crosse County emergency communications are getting a boost this year and by 2022 will have coverage as good as it can get, given the county’s terrain. By the end of the year, the county will add the first of seven new transmitter sites to improve the county’s radio system, which is used by the sheriff’s department as well as the emergency dispatch center and the highway department.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 3:10:46 AM - SOURCE: Lacrosse Tribune

The city has released the names of the three men being considered for Kenosha’s next fire chief. The three finalists are Battalion Chief Matthew Haerter, Battalion Chief Kenneth Schroeder and Capt. Charles Leipzig Jr. A decision could come later this month. The Police and Fire Commission opted to look at internal candidates rather than perform a nationwide search.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

PHOTOS - A massive explosion, apparently ignited by a natural gas leak, ripped through a building Wednesday along the popular Northwest 23rd Avenue shopping district, causing destruction and injuring five people, including three firefighters, authorities said. Initial reports indicate no fatalities.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: OregonLive.com

Attorney General Ken Paxton has intervened in a lawsuit filed against the City of Austin, challenging the city’s labor agreement with the Austin Firefighters Association, his office announced Tuesday. Paxton’s office said the agreement with the firefighters association allows for “release time” and therefore allows firefighters to work for the union at taxpayer expense.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KVUE-TV ABC Austin

PHOTO - Another Shreveport firefighter is injured after another fire truck rollover Tuesday night. This makes the second rollover for the department within 3 days. More than a dozen first responders were at the crash scene just before midnight in the 300 block of Montana Street in Shreveport's MLK neighborhood.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSLA-TV Shreveport News 12

Mayor Tammy Long dismissed South Weber Fire Chief Thomas Graydon after he refused to terminate the deputy chief following an investigation into allegedly falsified payroll sheets, City Manager Tom Smith said Tuesday. The investigation by Graydon determined Deputy Chief Frank Patrick entered inaccurate information on South Weber Fire Department run sheets, which are records of firefighter participation on fire calls and are used to fulfill payroll, Smith said.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Ogden Standard-Examiner/StandardNET

One of the goals of the U.S. Fire Administration is to reduce risk and increase resiliency through programs and training in preparedness, prevention and mitigation. As part of USFA, the National Fire Academy (NFA) has offered courses focused on prevention since its doors opened in 1980. Strategic Analysis of Fire Prevention Programs was one of the four courses offered in the original Executive Fire Officer Program (EFOP) in 1985.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs

According to the Arkoma Police Chief, three children were killed in an early morning mobile home fire Wednesday morning (Oct. 19). Neighbors said it happened around 4 a.m. on Lowery Street. "I saw the fire starting on the front porch of the trailer," said neighbor Rick Deguzman. "I immediately rushed upstairs and got my mother.
- PUB DATE: 10/19/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KFSM-TV CBS 5 Fort Smith

On October 18, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

VIDEO: The Merrill Fire Department does more than just battle structure fires within city limits. It covers 141 square miles in southern Lincoln County. In the spring, the department helps control forest or wildland fires about every day or every other day. But it needs better tools to help do that job.
- PUB DATE: 10/18/2016 4:41:57 PM - SOURCE: WJFW-TV NBC 12 Rhinelander-Wausau

For 32 years, James "Rick" Beale put his life on the literal line, battling blazes to keep homes, properties and most importantly, lives safe. Although not injured or disabled himself, over those years, Beale knows other fellow firefighters around Polk County, Florida and the United States weren't as fortunate and ended their careers permanently disabled from a work-related incident.
- PUB DATE: 10/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Ledger

Stevens Point firefighters are doubling their fundraising efforts this year to provide new winter coats to local kids in need. The Stevens Point Firefighters Union partnered for the first time last year with Operation Warm, a national organization that provides students with brand new winter coats made in the United States.
- PUB DATE: 10/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Stevens Point Journal

PHOTO - Two Shreveport firefighters were taken to the hospital with minor injuries early Monday afternoon after their fire truck rolled over on Kings Hwy. It happened just after 12 p.m. near Linwood Ave. It was not immediately clear what caused the ladder truck to wind up on its side, but Shreveport Fire Chief Scott Wolverton said they were responding to an EMS call when it happened.
- PUB DATE: 10/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSLA-TV Shreveport News 12

The Kansas Court of Appeals has ruled an area woman cannot be prosecuted for drugs found during a warrantless search of her purse by a Shawnee Heights firefighter. Lt. Brian Dodds responded to a home east of Topeka on Sept. 19, 2014, after the homeowner complained a woman she didn’t know was showering in her basement.
- PUB DATE: 10/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Topeka Capital-Journal

Ten months after hiring an outside consultant to review staffing in the city’s fire department, the Providence City Council is refusing to release the much-anticipated findings from the report. Records reviewed by Eyewitness News show Massachusetts-based MMA Consulting Group was paid $37,600 on June 22, but the report remains in “draft form,” according to the city’s law department.
- PUB DATE: 10/18/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPRI-TV Providence 12