Philadelphia firefighter Joyce Craig gave the ultimate sacrifice — her life — in helping save others from a house fire in West Oak Lane in December 2014, becoming the city’s first female firefighter to die in the line of duty. That is why getting a headstone for her grave took 3½ years. “We didn’t want to put just any headstone there,” said Lisa Forrest, a captain in the Fire Department and president of Club Valiants, an association for black firefighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians.
- PUB DATE: 7/16/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Philly.com

Andre Esposito, chairman of Utica’s Civil Service Commission, believes the board has a tough decision to make within the next few months. The commission is considering a request from Mayor Robert Palmieri to authorize an open competitive exam to vet candidates for Utica’s next fire chief. This would open up the test to internal and external candidates for a fire department historically led by internal promotion.
- PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Utica Observer-Dispatch

Verizon Wireless and a Kansas-based construction company said Thursday that they were responsible, through an as-yet-unnamed subcontractor, for work being done at the site of a massive natural gas explosion Tuesday that rocked Sun Prairie’s downtown, killing a volunteer firefighter and critically injuring another.
- PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wisconsin State Journal

A $156,360-a-year deputy district chief has been demoted –– and faces a lengthy suspension along with a paramedic-in-charge for their participation in, yet another timekeeping scam in the Chicago Fire Department. Sources identified the demoted deputy district chief as Edgar Ignacio Silvestrini, who was in charge of the fire department’s Medical Administration Regulatory Compliance section.
- PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times

An inferno that has burned from California into Oregon over the past week and is believed to have killed one person should be fully under control by Sunday, officials said. The Klamathon Fire, which started July 5 in Siskiyou County, was 75 percent contained Thursday evening at 36,500 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
- PUB DATE: 7/13/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SF Gate