She’ll make less money and will have to report to a new person in a high-ranking job she previously held, but Toledo fire Chief Brian Byrd said Karen Marquardt’s bump from assistant chief to battalion chief isn’t a demotion. Regardless of how it’s characterized, Assistant Chief Marquardt’s pending move down to a lower rank means there are no women left in the Toledo Fire & Rescue Department’s top five positions.
- PUB DATE: 11/2/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Toledo Blade

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the appointment of six leaders in public safety, technology and network financing to serve on the Board of the FirstNet First Responder Network Authority. The new members bring the FirstNet board to a full complement, with 12 non-permanent members selected by the Commerce Department and three permanent seats filled by the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
- PUB DATE: 11/2/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Commerce.Gov

A sexually explicit video of a Las Vegas firefighter was circulated among her coworkers without her knowledge, according to a human resources complaint obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The woman learned in June that her colleagues had the video, according to the complaint. She said in the complaint that the video was sent last year to her ex-boyfriend, a Henderson firefighter.
- PUB DATE: 11/2/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal

The call load for firefighters has tripled and variety of their training and responsibilities has significantly expanded in the last few decades, while the personnel population at the Peoria Fire Department has remained relatively flat. Those factors, combined with the continued dwindling of tax revenue flowing into city coffers, create a stark reality, according to the president of the local firefighters union, Ryan Brady.
- PUB DATE: 11/2/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Peoria Journal Star

The cast-iron natural gas main that served Dr. Richard Williams' turn-of-the-century home in this Southern college town was as old as the house itself: It was built during Shreveport's first gas-fueled boom in 1911. When that pipeline cracked in 2016, the gas built up slowly and silently in a shed behind Williams' home.
- PUB DATE: 11/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today