Voters will decide in November whether to spend $28 million on a new radio system for the 911 dispatch center and first responders. The measure would cost 9 cents per $1,000 of assessed value — or $18 per year for the owner of a home assessed at $200,000. Located near the Medford airport, Emergency Communications of Southern Oregon, or ECSO, answers 911 calls for all of Jackson County and Crater Lake National Park.
- PUB DATE: 9/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVL-TV Channel 10

Eight percent of first responders in Virginia had recent thoughts of suicide, according to a survey conducted by the Fairfax Coalition of Police. FCOP surveyed 26 different first responder agencies across the state of Virginia. For comparison, the estimated rate of suicidal thoughts among the general U.
- PUB DATE: 9/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCYB-TV NBC 5

VIDEO: Firefighters with Pinellas Suncoast Fire Rescue have been spent the last week scrambling to get their finances in order after a payroll company made unauthorized withdrawals from their bank accounts. Some of the firefighters say their checking accounts were totally depleted, creating a slew of problems with bills, rent, and other payments due at the beginning of the month.
- PUB DATE: 9/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFLA-TV NBC 8 Tampa

An arbitrator has determined the Lockport Fire Department's six man shifts are unsafe and is requiring the City of Lockport to restore minimum staffing levels of nine firefighters. In 2014, former Mayor Anne McCaffrey had dropped the fire department's ambulance service amid the city's financial distress and cut the department's minimum staffing levels from nine to six members per shift.
- PUB DATE: 9/13/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

VIDEO: The wife of an Okanogan County firefighter says her family is taking each day at a time as he recovers from severe burns to more than 50% of his body. Christian Johnson, a volunteer assistant chief with Okanogan County Fire District 3, was hurt while battling the Spring Coulee Fire south of Okanogan in early September.
- PUB DATE: 9/12/2019 5:18:13 PM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000