The Cambria County Board of Commissioners on Thursday voted unanimously to approve a $16.9 million contract for upgrades to the county’s public safety radio system, a move designed to improve emergency responders’ ability to reliably communicate with each other and with 911 dispatchers. Robbin Melnyk, Cambria County’s 911 coordinator, said during Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Commissioners that the “questionable” reliability of the county’s existing public radio system “is a safety risk to our responders.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Johnstown Tribune-Democrat

VIDEO: When Paul Pietrafesa, a driver for Coral Springs-Parkland Fire Department was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, his wife Karen said she was glad he and their family had done everything they always wanted to do, and that they had lived every day like it was their last. “Cancer doesn’t discriminate.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Coral Springs Talks

The labor unions representing Paterson’s police officers and firefighters are accusing the city of violating their contracts by not issuing accrued leave time payments to employees who retired since July 1. Administration officials said the city intends to make the payments eventually, but that checks have not yet been issued because of “a cash flow issue.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NorthJersey.com - Metered Site

A North Bay man has written a song he hopes fire departments will adopt as an anthem. It's called "Smoke Soldiers," a three-minute rock ballad paying tribute to firefighters. And on Wednesday night, four Santa Rosa restaurants threw their support behind David Benjamin Gruenbaum of Santa Rosa 's effort.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV FOX 2 Oakland

A sheriff's office in Kansas is calling a Vancouver man a hero after they say he saved a family from a burning car late Monday night. The Sheridan County Sheriff's Office said Yevgeniy Lomakin, 29, was traveling northbound on Highway U83, just north of Selden, Kansas, at around 11:50 p.m. when he saw flames coming from the undercarriage of a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPTV FOX 12 Portland