A new program designed to help former offenders pursue a career in firefighting made its first deployment over the weekend to help battle the Saddleridge Fire in the San Fernando Valley. The Ventura Training Center Firefighter Training and Reentry Program began teaching its first class of participants in October 2018, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which developed the project with Calfire and the California Conservation Corps.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA-TV WB 5 Los Angeles

Passaic County Fire Academy welcomed the largest and most diverse class of recruits on Monday. The 47 trainees, who will be ready to fight fires by March, hail mostly from Paterson and Passaic - and that's no accident. Paterson's 34 recruits who walked into the fire academy in Wayne, were found by a specially created committee that helped its Fire Department scour the city for eligible individuals.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NorthJersey.com - Metered Site

Firefighters now have the ability to send an EKG of your heart within seconds of arriving at your location in an emergency. “Oh, it could save someone’s life. Matter of fact, actually it’ll change their outcome.” Travis Hollis, the City of Cape Girardeau’s fire chief, is talking about a new feature on their Zoll monitor and defibrillator machines.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KFVS-TV CBS 12 Cape Girardeau

The Washington Department of Ecology announced Monday it will begin collecting and incinerating stockpiles of a toxic fire retardant foam that was used by fire departments for decades before the state restricted its use in 2018. The same type of foam was long used at Fairchild Air Force Base and blamed for contaminating West Plains water supplies, including the city of Airway Heights' tap system.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Wenatchee World

A devastating fire at a food bank in Pierce County forced it to close. The Spanaway Food Bank has helped people in need for decades, but its future is uncertain after a fire badly damaged the building on Friday morning. Firefighters say the food bank lost everything in the fire and the building is closed indefinitely.
- PUB DATE: 10/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCPQ-TV FOX 13