With fire season heating up in Southern California, firefighters unveiled a new “fire hydrant” for helicopters on Monday that could drastically reduce turnaround times for water drops in remote areas. Set on a 1,700-gallon metal water tank, the Remotely Activated Snorkel Site uses robot-controlled valves to tap into an area’s municipal water system, allowing quick access for snorkel helicopters that otherwise would have to spend valuable minutes flying to a reservoir or other water source.
- PUB DATE: 6/12/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orange County Register

A former Whatcom County firefighter who died of cancer this week is being listed as a line-of-duty fatality under state law that classifies certain kinds of cancer as job-related. Firefighter John Swobody died Monday night after a years-long battle with lung cancer, said Chief William Pernett of North Whatcom Fire and Rescue.
- PUB DATE: 6/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bellingham Herald

A firefighter died from injuries he sustained while battling a grass fire in the Davis Mountains in West Texas on Sunday, according to fire officials in Weatherford. Andy Loller, 42, a Weatherford firefighter, was deployed to assist firefighters across the state at the Scenic Loop Complex in Jeff Davis County, Weatherford Fire Marshal Bob Hopkins said.
- PUB DATE: 6/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Star-Telegram

A group of off-duty uniformed firefighters got into a drunken bare-knuckled brawl at a Bronx bar on Wednesday — just hours after they were honored for their heroics by the mayor and fire commissioner, the Daily News has learned. A racial slur thrown at a black firefighter sparked the fight inside Billy’s Bar near Yankee Stadium between Bronx’s Rescue Company 3 and members of Ladder Company 49 and Engine Company 68, which share a stationhouse in Highbridge.
- PUB DATE: 6/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NY Daily News

Butler county’s two largest townships — Liberty and West Chester — have forged an automatic mutual aid agreement to ensure crews get on every fire scene as quickly as possible. “Our residents should not care what it says on the side of the truck, whether it says West Chester, Liberty, Sharonville, nor should they care what color the truck is,” West Chester Twp.
- PUB DATE: 6/11/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHIO-TV Dayton