A Front Range fire chief and former firefighter has died from a rare form of cancer that’s believed to be job-related. Troy Jackson worked with South Metro Fire Rescue for nearly 30 years. He passed away today after a six-year cancer battle. Doctors diagnosed Jackson with adenoid cystic carcinoma in 2013.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Colorado Public Radio

Mayor Anthony Copeland struck back Tuesday against the city council in their fight over who controls the city firefighters’ work schedule. John Bushemi, the city council attorney, announced Tuesday night to the council’s public safety committee that the mayor is suing to keep in place a new swing shift he imposed this month on firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Indiana Times (nwitimes.com)

Fire Chief Scott Burnette has said a captain's decision to respond to a 2012 medical call in a routine, nonemergency fashion did not delay life-saving efforts, despite accounts of two former firefighters who said the patient died but might have been saved with quicker action. Burnette's Dec. 14 statement about the seven-year-old incident brought surprised reactions from a former Asheville Fire Department chief and an ex-captain of the station involved with the call, who said responding to a "difficulty breathing" call as a nonemergency was highly unusual and did not seem appropriate.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Citizen-Times

The union representing Ashland firefighters is sounding the alarm on budget cuts that will affect Ashland Fire & Rescue's ability to respond to emergencies. According to Ashland Firefighters Local 1269, the agency will be running "harder with fewer resources" next year. "Ashland Firefighters received some disappointing news this week, as the fallout from 2019’s budget cut continues to evolve," the union said in a Facebook post.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KDRV ABC 12

Firefighters have long complained that a state law meant to assure their bills are paid when they get work-related cancers isn’t helping the way it should. And a state review says they’re right. The law says that when firefighters get leukemia as well as breast, pancreatic, prostate, rectal and throat cancers, they should be presumed to be the result of their work.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Press