The Akron Fire Department is adopting a staffing strategy that fills openings as they happen instead of hiring extra at the start of the year and expecting they’ll be needed when employees leave or retire. Before a day of contract negotiations with the labor union and a budget hearing before city council, Fire Chief Clarence Tucker said the old way created roller coaster staffing levels, with too many employees for the first half of the year, just enough in the middle and not enough at the end.
- PUB DATE: 3/14/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Akron Beacon Journal

VIDEO: Numerous firefighters, officials, departments, and community leaders are holding meetings to discuss their resources in firefighting amidst an almost certain tightening of the budget belt. Firefighters are familiar with fighting smoke and flames, but at a meeting in Torrington, firefighters and officials are fighting for their futures in the face of shrinking state resources.
- PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFSB-TV CBS 3

VIDEO: The Hickory Hills Fire Department said it has some employees it could hire back if a change to the state's pension system is made. House Bill 2051 would allow those who are eligible for the pension to also continue working for a volunteer department. "I think it's great," Hickory Hills Fire Chief Craig Youngblood said.
- PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOKH-TV FOX25

After a fire destroyed the lone fire hall on Madeline Island in early March, the Wisconsin DNR stepped in to help the island. When the fire broke out on March 6, volunteer firefighters from Bayfield, Red Cliff, Washburn and Ashland responded, but could only bring relatively light "brush trucks," according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, because the ice wasn't thick enough to support the weight of fire engines.
- PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSTP-TV

VIDEO: A proposed bill in the State House would make cancer an occupational disease for firefighters. Local fire officials said this would help with workers’ compensation, and if a current or former firefighter passed away from cancer, it would be considered a line-of-duty death. "The nature of the business is you work around carcinogens and there’s a really good chance that something’s going to happen,” said Rob Mullaney, president of the Horry County Professional Firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 3/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMBF-TV NBC Myrtle Beach