National News

  • New York city to pay $1.2 million to firefighters passed over for promotions
    The City of Buffalo will pay a total of $1.2 million to a dozen white Buffalo firefighters who claimed they were passed over for promotion because of their race. The $1.2 million settlement was approved Tuesday by the Buffalo Common Council and brings to a close a 2007 lawsuit that accused the city of illegally allowing two promotional lists to expire because minority firefighters had performed poorly on civil service exams.
    - PUB DATE: 6/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Buffalo News
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  • Massachusetts mayor sees ‘disturbing’ conditions at firehouses during tour
    Cambridge Mayor Marc McGovern toured three of the city’s eight firehouses June 6, calling the conditions at Monday’s City Council meeting “extremely disturbing.” Firefighters were sleeping on mattresses with holes. Floors were being held together by duct tape. Some stations didn’t have carbon monoxide detectors or Wi-Fi, McGovern said.
    - PUB DATE: 6/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wicked Local Cambridge
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  • Florida firefighters save one of their own after he collapses at work
    A Lehigh Acres firefighter went into cardiac arrest, and fellow firefighters resuscitated him inside Station 105 to save his life. Rick Pride, 47, was on the treadmill inside the firehouse workout room when the nearly 13-year firefighting veteran wound up unresponsive on the floor in the firehouse. "Our firefighters reacted very quickly that day, immediately going into emergency mode and starting to help him," Chief Robert DiLallo said of his team at Station 105 of the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District.
    - PUB DATE: 6/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WZVN-TV ABC 7 Naples/Ft. Myers
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  • Chicago paramedics under investigation after not immediately tending to teen with gunshot wound to head
    The Chicago Fire Department said Tuesday it was “not acceptable” for paramedics to leave a teen unattended after he was shot in the head and severely wounded as they treated others hit by gunfire at a party on the Near West Side this week. “It is not the policy of the Fire Department to leave people on the street, even if they are mortally wounded,” said department spokesman Larry Langford.
    - PUB DATE: 6/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
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  • Former Texas fire chief appeals ruling
    Brownsville’s former fire chief, Carlos Elizondo, has appealed a ruling denying his claim that the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office has charged him twice for the same alleged crime to a higher court in Corpus Christi. Authorities arrested Elizondo last October and accuse the former city official of stealing $8,000 from the Brownsville Firefighters Association Political Action Committee through unauthorized ATM withdrawals, according to a police report filed by the association’s president.
    - PUB DATE: 6/20/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Brownsville Herald
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  • Virginia firefighter dies following training exercise
    Firefighters in Amelia County are mourning the loss of one of their own after he died during a recent training exercise. Amelia County Volunteer Fire Department Company 1 Chief Justin Wargofcak said William Moore IV, 48, of Amelia County, suffered a medical emergency and went into cardiac arrest Thursday, June 14.
    - PUB DATE: 6/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WWBT-TV NBC 12 Richmond
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  • 9 Charleston firefighters killed in Sofa Super Store blaze honored for 'unthinkable sacrifice'
    The crowds hadn't yet arrived at Charleston 9 Memorial Park on Monday when Jacqueline Drayton introduced her son to the site where his grandfather died fighting a massive blaze 11 years ago. They stopped at the memorial for Drayton's father, Charleston Firefighter James "Earl" Drayton. And one by one, they visited the plaques honoring the other eight Charleston firefighters who perished on June 18, 2007.
    - PUB DATE: 6/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charleston Post and Courier
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  • California city paying $440K to helicopter medics to settle overtime lawsuits
    San Diego is paying seven helicopter rescue medics a total of $442,000 because they didn’t receive overtime pay despite regularly working 56-hour weeks. Federal law requires overtime pay of one and a half times the regular wage for all hours worked over 40 in one workweek, but there is an exemption for government workers engaged in fire suppression.
    - PUB DATE: 6/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune
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  • Ohio firefighters suspended for allegedly making porn recording on city property
    Two romantically involved Akron firefighters are on paid leave for possibly getting too hot in a firehouse. City administrators have suspended Lt. Art Dean and Provisional Lt. Deann Eller after receiving a tip that the pair of officers allegedly produced pornographic videos on city property, then posted their flames of passion on the internet.
    - PUB DATE: 6/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Akron Beacon Journal
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  • Importance of TIM, physical health highlighted by NFPA 2017 LODD Report
    The recently released NFPA report of 2017 firefighter fatalities is both encouraging and troubling. Clearly, the efforts of many of our industry partners have had an effect on reducing our mortality numbers – the 60 on-duty deaths reported reflect the lowest number reported in over 40 years. However, some of the unexpected shifts identify room for improvement.
    - PUB DATE: 6/19/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1
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