The family of a retired Kennewick firefighter and transit driver is blaming prescription opioids for his mental collapse. This week, they sued five opioid manufacturers and his Kennewick physician for malpractice and product liability. The lawsuit filed on behalf of William "Jean" Comstock, 76, claims medication prescribed for his chronic pain reduced the once engaging public servant to a psych ward patient "left to battle the horrors of a tormented mind for the remainder of his days.
- PUB DATE: 6/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tri-City Herald

Lost in a jungle, surrounded by lava and guided to safety by a drone flying overhead. It’s not a futuristic high-tech movie, but the scene in Leilani Estates Sunday after a resident got “trapped at their residence” on Luana Street. he Department of Interior’s Kilauea response team was on a mission to map the Lower East Rift Zone when scientists using an unmanned aircraft system, or drone, spotted a resident as lava from Kilauea Volcano continued to devour the rural subdivision in lower Puna.
- PUB DATE: 6/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Honolulu Star Advertiser

The Kneeland Volunteer Fire Department's water tender was totaled Monday after the road beneath it collapsed, causing the vehicle to crash down an embankment. The incident occurred while the agency was responding to a structure fire on Abbey Road in Bayside. The water tender moved aside and parked halfway on the narrow road and its shoulder to make way for an oncoming fire truck.
- PUB DATE: 6/1/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: krcrtv.com

It was the single biggest loss of life in the history of the Houston Fire Department. Five years ago, the Southwest Inn fire ultimately claimed the lives of five firefighters. The four firefighters who died on the scene were Robert Bebee, Robert Garner, Mathew Renaud, and Anne Sullivan. In March 2017, Captain Bill Dowling, who lost both of his legs in the fire, died of complications from the injuries sustained in the line of duty.
- PUB DATE: 5/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTRK-TV ABC 13 Houston

The 600-member Buffalo Fire Department has been operating without a commissioner or deputy commissioner since the beginning of May, part of a pattern of continuing turnover in the department’s top positions since Mayor Byron W. Brown took office in 2006. The leadership void is “devastating,” said a source within the department.
- PUB DATE: 5/31/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Buffalo News