A statewide shortage of trained medical personnel has left many rural county ambulance services having to delay hospital transfers to ensure they have enough staff for emergencies. For example, in Norton County in northwest Kansas, the county's 5,400 residents are served by six full-time volunteers and nine volunteers, who respond to all 911 calls and taken patients from one hospital to another.
- PUB DATE: 3/12/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Kansas City Star

VIDEO: As firefighters from all over Maine and the nation gathered to honor the life of one of their own who died in a Berwick fire, another firefighter also lost his life. Oxford Fire Chief Gary Sacco died while he was in Portland attending the funeral of Capt. Joel Barnes on Sunday, March 10, according to multiple sources.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News Center Maine

Working firefighters will earn less from their pensions than their retired peers because the city will spend less on those plans. Before city commissioners unanimously approved a new pension plan on Feb. 19, retired firefighters could have gotten payments comparable to $72,000 a year. But the new plan caps pension payments at $95,000 for lifetime for firefighters who have yet to retire.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palm Beach Post

The city’s ambulance corps is so busy that an overtime cap applying to all other agencies has been lifted and medics are routinely putting in 60 and 70-hour weeks, union officials said. Normally, city workers can’t make more than 40 percent of their salary in overtime. However, with just 4,133 emergency medical technicians and paramedics to handle nearly 1.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

What started as an experiment in training firefighters locally is turning into a regular event in the Tri-Cities. Starting Monday, 17 firefighters will start a 15-week training program at the regional fire recruit academy — without having to leave home. With Kennewick looking to open a new fire station, and Pasco and Richland replacing retiring firefighters, it will be the largest class ever trained in the area.
- PUB DATE: 3/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tri-City Herald