Zoning battles aren’t unusual when developers propose high-rise buildings amid single-family homes, but some Montgomery County residents are fighting the development plans of an unusual opponent: their local fire department. The Bethesda Fire Department’s board of directors says it needs to replace or renovate its 46-year-old headquarters to keep pace with emergency calls as downtown Bethesda continues to transform from a leafy suburb into an urban hub.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the washington post

As prosecutors and defense attorneys continue to argue over the destruction of an investigator’s report on the Magnolia Street fire that killed two firefighters, at least one legal tangle for accused arsonist Ray Abou-Arab was eliminated Thursday. At the request of prosecutors, Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Stacy Cook dismissed unrelated charges alleging Mr.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Toledo Blade

Firefighters preparing to rush to the scene of a vehicle fire early Friday found themselves stranded at their Clara Street station when their truck wouldn’t start. To make matters worse, while an engine from another nearby station was dispatched to the blaze on Toledano Street, firefighters who headed out to New Orleans East from the Clara Street station found that the spare truck they were planning to pick up there also was inoperable.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the new orleans advocate

Crews began removing the wreckage from the Aurora Bridge Thursday evening. Police officers and other officials watched as the Duck vehicle was loaded onto a flatbed tow truck. A 17-member, interdisciplinary team from the National Transportation Safety Board, along with an NTSB board member, are due to arrive in Seattle Friday to begin their inquiry into the crash.
- PUB DATE: 9/25/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Seattle Times

Fighting wildfires isn’t cheap, not with all the boots on the ground, the engines and dozers, the airplanes and fuel. And this year’s fire season — which is shaping up to be one of the most destructive in the modern history of the West — is also on track to be the costliest. That’s a problem, particularly for those writing checks in Washington, who are having to move millions from one part of the federal budget to another to balance the books.
- PUB DATE: 9/25/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1.com