Firefighters are supposed to wait for Dallas police before they go into a dangerous situation. It's a new policy. "Gunshot with victim with shooter in vicinity. Do you see police?” says a dispatcher. Sunday night when firefighters responded to a home near Fair Park, they had a tough decision to make.
- PUB DATE: 9/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFAA.com

After what they called a "tough" budget process, the mayor and aldermen approved their FY19 budget. One of the hotly debated items was restructuring the fire and police department, creating a public safety director who would oversee both fire and police departments. Members of the fire department spoke to the mayor and aldermen in executive session where they expressed their desire for Chief Tommy Posey to remain their leader.
- PUB DATE: 9/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: gulflive.com

Calling 911 for medical problems in Minneapolis generates a big response. The city Fire Department dispatches a half-million-dollar fire engine with several firefighters, even for minor issues like a sprained ankle. A smaller vehicle operated by the Minneapolis Fire Department may begin responding to some health emergencies around downtown next year, one way the department is dealing with its growing volume of medical emergency calls.
- PUB DATE: 9/27/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Star Tribune

Mayor Sylvester Turner has instituted a hiring freeze across the city government’s roughly 21,400 positions, ordering department directors seeking exceptions to meet with him or his chief of staff in person. The directive, he wrote in a memo dated Friday, will be reviewed “at a later date this year.
- PUB DATE: 9/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Firefighters on patrol are safer than at the station where they’re at risk of a heart attack when the alarm sounds, Mayor Tony George said Tuesday in further explanation of why he’s ordered the department to conduct community fire watches. The department had been conducting the watches, but for the past 40 days stepped them up at the direction of the mayor by driving apparatus in the neighborhoods, not only to serve as a deterrent, but also to detect fires.
- PUB DATE: 9/26/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wilkes Barre Times Leader