Studio Gang has completed a fire station for Brooklyn's elite force that doubles as a simulation and training facility for extreme rescue situations. The new headquarters for the FDNY's Rescue 2 unit is located in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Each of New York's five boroughs has a dedicated Rescue team. These teams are highly specialized in extreme conditions that include rappelling down buildings, navigating collapsed structures, and even deploying for underwater rescue operations.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Dezeen

PHOTO GALLERY: On Pleasant Street, flaming chunks of wood were flying through the air. David Jennings stood on the corner of Pleasant and Eastern Avenue, looking west at the Flint as it was being consumed by an inferno. “The smoke and the flames … it blotted out the sun,” Jennings said. “Flames over 100 feet in the air.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Herald News - Metered Site

PHOTOS: Explosions sent Bellingham Firefighters scrambling to put out a fire near Gooseberry Point on Tuesday, May 10th. The fire department said in a social media post that their crewmembers heard loud explosions near the Lummi Bay Market around 4 p.m. Crews arrived to find a building next door to the market completely engulfed in smoke and flames.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KGMI-AM 790 Bellingham

During May, the Healing Hooves goats from Cloverdale Ranch will be working through three Spokane parks to help reduce wildfires. The goats, 200 in total, will make their first stop at Meadowglen Park on or about May 11 to manage weeds, decrease the amount of standing vegetation and kill pine seedlings to help prevent dense stands of pine trees.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KREM-TV CBS 2 Spokane

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Federal Firefighter Fairness Act (HR 2499), which provides workers’ compensation benefits for federal fire fighters who develop cancer.

Currently, federal fire fighters battling cancer face extreme difficulty obtaining the benefits they deserve. All too often, federal fighters face an insurmountable hurdle in identifying the  specific exposure in their career that caused their cancer.

“Our mission to support our sick and injured brothers and sisters drives everything this IAFF does,” said General President Edward Kelly. “Let me be clear – this legislation is much more than a presumptive bill; it is a guaranteed benefit for our federal members who contract cancer.”

Added General President Kelly: “This legislation has been a long time coming and I applaud and thank the House for their vote. The next stop is the U.S. Senate. I urge the Senate to pass this bill as quickly as possible and send it to President Biden’s desk. Our members have earned it.”

The House’s actions to pass HR 2499 are the most significant step Congress has taken to address this issue in more than 25 years. Once passed by the Senate, the bill will allow federal fire fighters with at least five years of service to automatically receive workers’ compensation benefits if they are diagnosed with one of several types of cancer listed in the bill. Additionally, the bill creates a process whereby the Secretary of Labor can add other medical conditions to the list of covered illnesses in the future.

The bill passed easily in a final vote of 288-131. Representatives Salud Carbajal (D-CA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced the bill and have led the fight in Congress to secure these benefits. “Representatives Bacon and Carbajal have earned the friendship of the IAFF and we are appreciative of their work,” said General President Kelly. “Let’s celebrate for a minute and then get back to work to get this law on the books.”