A Kansas City firefighter involved in the 2021 Westport fire truck crash that killed three people will get his job back and be allowed to drive again if a court affirms an arbitrator’s ruling.

Arbitrator Leland Shurin ordered that firefighter Dominic Biscari be reinstated with full back pay and benefits, and that his personnel file reflect only a three-day suspension without pay, KMBC and The Kansas City Star report. The ruling also allows Biscari to operate fire apparatus again.

Biscari pleaded guilty in 2023 to three counts of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to probation and community service. Following his plea, the city suspended him without pay and moved to fire him, but the firefighters union filed a grievance, arguing the city violated due process.

Shurin said the city’s disciplinary actions were more severe than in comparable cases and that Biscari had been denied a fair process. The ruling is awaiting confirmation in Jackson County Circuit Court.

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What we see on the news is always the impressive fire scene with multiple aerials up operating master streams with fire 30 feet above the roofline and an impressive column of smoke visible for miles or the dramatic rescue of a civilian in the fourth-floor window over an aerial ladder.

That’s the impressive, dramatic, and attention-getting part of what we do. But, let’s look at what it took to get those aerials in position for the rescue or the master stream operation. What goes into that is the convergence of knowledge, experience, and skill set to get the impressive results seen on television.

We all know the initial part of any incident is the response to the fire scene. The radio traffic, the additional information that we know about the building, initial reports from other companies, the safe arrival at the scene, all that. This is the normal everyday stuff we do on every run. So, where does the application of the aforementioned abilities come in? Well, the first part of any such operation hinges on two critical steps.

The first critical step is when we arrive on scene and the process of determining where we will position our rig for the most benefit. Whether an aerial ladder or a ladder tower, proper positioning is critical to being able to achieve the tactical objectives necessary for success. It may be for an obvious rescue from a window or balcony, putting your crew on the roof for ventilation, or setting up for aerial master streams. The key is being close enough to be useful. This may require jockeying between earlier arriving companies, backing into position, going off the road’s surface onto the yard, or straddling a curb. We must be open-minded to all these possibilities but, more importantly, be able to quickly and fluidly achieve the next critical step.

The second critical step is apparatus setup, which is where we convert the previously mentioned knowledge, experience, and skill set into action. While not oversimplifying the standard full throw setup of outriggers and stabilizers onto concrete, we must be willing to admit this should be our default and second nature. But, how about the abnormal situations where the wide-open concrete parking lot with no obstructions or challenges is not what we have to work with?

DOUBLE-PARKED CARS

When double-parked cars are where you need to be, the fix is to be able to short jack or alley jack. While both terms are used interchangeably, they are in fact two different techniques. Short jacking is where the side of the rig facing the fire is set up with full horizontal and vertical throw of the outriggers while the opposite side is only partially extended horizontally, if at all, with full vertical extension to achieve stabilization. Conversely, as the name implies, alley jacking is when you simply throw all outriggers vertically with no horizontal extension at all like, you guessed it, would be required in a narrow alley. Both have limitations that should be known and accounted for.

With short jacking, you will be rotation-limited to the short-jacked side of the rig. Depending on the rig manufacturer, this can be up to 15 degrees, and others none to that side. With alley jacking, the ability to rotate the aerial will also be limited with varying degrees, again depending on manufacturer, making positioning extremely important. With limited to no rotation possible, remember that when alley-jacked, the aerial will only be able to deploy in the direction it sits in the cradle—forward with a rear-mount and to the rear with a midmount or tiller (photo 1).

CURB OBSTACLE

When a curb presents the obstacle, if you can’t short jack or alley jack around it, one answer is to build a box crib. Hopefully every aerial apparatus is carrying cribbing. This task is relatively easy to complete but not something that should be learned on the firegroun

Two Houston firefighters were injured while battling a massive fire at Christ Church Apostolic Saturday.

Officials say more than 100 firefighters responded to the fire, which broke out around 6 a.m. in southeast Houston.

Witnesses said firefighters were hooking up a hose to a fire hydrant, and as the fire truck pulled away the hose came loose from the hydrant, striking the firefighters, KPRC reports.

One suffered a broken ankle, the other a fractured femur. Both were taken to the hospital and have since been released.

No other injuries were reported. The church, which had recently undergone renovations, is considered a total loss. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire and Houston police arson investigators now leading the case.

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Mary Ellen Godin
New Haven Register, Conn.
(TNS)

Sep. 16—WATERBURY — Firefighters at Fire Station 1 have been deployed to stations throughout the city while the firehouse undergoes a $5.7 million renovation.

The firehouse at 1979 North Main St. closed two weeks ago as part of the department’s ongoing plan to renovate its eight firehouses to bolster operations and service capabilities while ensuring long-term readiness, fire officials said.

As the city renovates one station, it will move on to the next. Each project is expected to cost several million dollars.

Mayor Paul Pernerewski described the firehouse conditions across the city as appalling. “They all need renovation,” he said. “They’re old and horribly run down and in need of upgrades.”

Personnel, apparatus, and resources from Fire Station 1 will be “strategically redeployed” to other stations throughout the city to maintain full emergency response coverage for all residents and businesses during the closure, fire officials said in a news release.

“The department has worked closely with city officials to ensure that public safety remains unaffected during this transition,” officials said in the release.

Fire Chief Javier Lopez said all available manpower will be assigned to the closest stations on Walnut Avenue and Willow Street. Also, instead of dispatching by geography, responding crews will be dispatched by GPS. If a crew is returning from a call or a training and are near a reported fire, they will be dispatched first.

Fire Station 1 is expected to reopen in June 2026 following upgrades that will modernize the station, upgrade sleeping and cooking quarters and provide a safer, more efficient working environment for city firefighters, officials said.

The city has completed work on Fire Station 6 on Willow Street, which needed significant upgrades to its rickety wooden stairs and failing railings. Asbestos inside the walls needed to be removed and the floor, built in 1907, was replaced with a much stronger structure, officials said.

“The floor that held the truck was not made for a 38,000-pound fire engine,” said fire department spokesman Capt. Edward Partridge. “When you can’t hold the fire truck from falling into the basement, that’s a problem.”

Fire Station 7 on Walnut Street was in the most need of work and had not had significant upgrades since construction. Asbestos was found in all the walls, plumbing and electrical also had to be brought to code, Partridge said. The cost to complete the work was $2.7 million, Partridge said.

After completion of Station 1, the city is expected to begin small renovations at the kitchens in Station 4 and 6, he said.

Not all the stations will be improved but “most of them need some work,” Partridge said.

The renovation is a top priority for new chief Lopez who took over the helm of the department in June. The city has 230 firefighters, and responds to about 22,000 calls annually.

The city is also searching for space in the East End to build a new station for coverage in that area, but officials had no further details. A previous plan to expand Fire Station 5 on East Main Street fell through, the mayor said.

Pernerewski said the firehouse improvement project sends a message to firefighting staff that the city values them.

“If you’re putting people in second-rate or third-rate or fourth-rate living quarters, I think there is a subtle message there that says you’re not a priority for us, and I don’t think that’s true,” Pernerewski said.

© 2025 the New Haven Register (New Have

Alex Wigglesworth
Los Angeles Times
(TNS)

A man was stabbed to death near a Los Angeles County library on Saturday, and another man stole an ambulance that responded to the scene, police said.

Officers responded to a report of a stabbing victim in front of the Downey Library shortly after 9:30 a.m., the Downey Police Department said in a news release. The man died at the scene, according to investigators. His identity was not released pending notification of his family members, police said.

Witnesses reported the assailant ran toward Downey High School, prompting a lockdown of both the library and high school, police said. Officers arrested a 23-year-old suspect on the high school campus. His identity was not released.

In an incident investigators believe to be unrelated to the stabbing itself, a man stole a Downey Fire Department ambulance that was parked at the scene as emergency personnel tended to the victim, police said.

Downey police chased the ambulance, which crashed into a parked vehicle, and took the driver into custody, according to investigators. He was identified only as a 52-year-old Los Angeles resident.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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