A US federal jury acquitted a man charged with arranging to start a fire that destroyed a pizza restaurant, but he may still be punished for that crime through something called “acquitted-conduct sentencing.”
The Skokie, Illlinois fire department invites residents to attend a Citizens’ Fire Academy. The eleven week program takes place for three hours each Tuesday evening.
A hot air balloon flying over the ancient city of Luxor in Egypt caught fire and crashed into a field, killing 19 tourists.
Two Texas fire lieutenants have died after being trapped in a structure fire at a Knights of Columbus Lodge fire. Lt. Eric Wallace called for help from inside the building as he was low on air. Lt. Greg Pickard who led a rescue team to assist Wallace was also trapped when the roof collapsed.
After a fire in an apartment building fire inspectors identified 78 fire code violations and the owners have been fined $150,000 which is the maximum allowed under state law. Further the owners have been ordered to fix the issues by March 2 and pay the full fine but previous orders have been ignored.
Multiple myeloma, a treatable but incurable plasma cell cancer, is one of six types of cancer the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association (OPFFA) is pushing to have added to workplace safety legislation. Also on the list are lung, testicular, breast, prostate and skin cancers.
Fire departments could save 35 per cent and maintain current response times by switching to composite fire departments according to a study by Adam Found a University of Toronto economics PhD candidate. Fund’s study, entitled “Economies of Scale in Fire and Police Services in Ontario,” concludes full-time fire departments appear to be about 35 per cent costlier than mixed full-time and volunteer fire departments.
Four people who wrote books about the Station Street Nightclub fire that killed 100 and injured 200 people are interviewed in this powerful article. John Barylick, author and an attorney, who represented fire victims in what would become a $176 million civil settlement said the fire was “The perfect storm was: illegal use of inappropriate pyrotechnics indoors, flammable wall coverings, overcrowding, and poorly or completely untrained staff” are the key points of failure.
A University of Minnesota assistant professor, Lucy Dunne, is working to come up with a way firefighters can find their way around a smoke-filled environment without having to touch anything with their gloves.