Two Mineral Point (WI) firefighters were killed when the fire apparatus they were traveling in was struck during a roadway response.

According to the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa County 911 Communications Center received a report of a crash that occurred near Mile Marker 38. Emergency units were responding to the scene, and a Mineral Point fire truck responding to the scene was northbound on USH 151 with two firefighters on board.

The fire truck was attempting to turn into an emergency crossover when it was struck by a northbound semi-tractor trailer that was also traveling northbound on USH 151.

Both firefighters were killed in the crash, although the driver of the semi was uninjured. Both vehicles sustained heavy damage. The apparatus caught fire as a result of the crash. The names of the deceased were not available as of this writing.

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The Jonesboro Fire Chief and a sheriff’s deputy were arrested Tuesday, charged with falsifying a 2021 accident report to hide the fact that the chief’s son was operating a fire department vehicle involved in a traffic accident.

In the accident, in July of 2021, two fire department vehicles collided while responding to a call, according to Louisiana State Police. The initial accident report said Fire Chief Brandon Brown and Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Deputy George Wyatt were the drovers of the two vehicles involved.

“After interviewing several people, including Brown and Wyatt, it was determined that Brown’s juvenile son was actually driving one of the vehicles at the time of the crash,” the police said.

Both men were arrested and charged with insurance fraud, filing or maintaining false public records, and malfeasance in office.

Read the Louisiana State Police report on the incident for more information.

By Rich Marinucci

First and foremost, Happy New Year to all. I sincerely wish everyone a healthy and happy 2022.

Having debates over various viewpoints on issues is stimulating and important. It leads to improvements, better ideas, and maybe even a chance to get past previous “good ideas.”

Over time, many of you have probably heard that fire departments should be run like a business. You may have even echoed it. When I hear someone say that I will channel my response through my sarcastic side and ask if they mean business like Enron or other failed business. Of course, the initial response might be a chuckle or maybe even some push back. But the question is serious.

Regardless of whether you are business or government, there are success stories and failures. The difference is that there are separate rules in each. There are things you can do in business. There are ways to reward success that you cannot do in government. There are differences in governing bodies.

Businesses need to adjust to markets much more quickly than government, and government probably is not designed for quick changes. While there are regulations for most businesses, these are different than those that regulated government operations.

I am not here to say which is the best approach, only that there are different rules—and the playing fields are not the same. Instead of trying to put a square peg in a round hole, we should look to successes in our industry and ascertain what has made them successful. There are departments that enjoy great support from their communities, governing bodies, and decision makers.

There are other communities that seem to have similar make-ups and demographics that don’t share the same success. We can all learn from others that seem to be doing better and those places reside in fire departments, not necessarily the private sector.

One would have a hard time saying that the fire service is good at collecting and analyzing statistics and data. As always, there are exceptions to the rules. But think about how challenging it is to get firefighters to do reports and do them correctly with the appropriate detail. We have had NFIRS for long time. It took coercion from the federal government, which tied grants to participation in NFIRS, to get many departments to participate. Even still, we don’t often get timely information.

I am not sure I have seen the stats from 2020 yet, even as we conclude 2021. It seems we get law enforcement data much more quickly. Moving forward, the importance of data and statistics will be essential in moving the service forward. It could also be argued that this should be embraced throughout an organization.

Besides the above-mentioned dislike of paperwork, I am sometimes surprised by how little some fire personnel know about their run volume and types of calls. Simple discussions often reveal that firefighters don’t know gross numbers or the specifics regarding what they actually do. It would be helpful for everyone to have a working knowledge since they are often asked about these basic facts.

Now for the rest of the story regarding statistics and data. I believe they need to be matched with anecdotes and the emotions of the job. During my career, I have had more luck gaining support by citing specific instances of

Two people are dead after a collision between a Ford Falcon and a New South Wales (NSW) Rural Fire Service truck on the Castlereagh Highway between Lithgow and Mudgee (Australia), reports 7news.com.au.

First responders were called to the highway around 9:30 a.m. local time on Thursday, where the two unidentified male passengers of the Falcon were pronounced dead at the scene, the report says.

The four firefighters were not injured and the driver has been taken to hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol testing, according to the report.

Police are investigating the incident.