It was the beginning of a hero’s sendoff. Worcester fire officials promised Tina Menard and her three children a hero’s sendoff for Lt. Jason Menard. It’s a promise no fire department wants to fulfill, and one Worcester firefighters have had to deliver eight other times in the last 20 years. Firefighters, police officers and paramedics from across Massachusetts lined up outside Mercadante Funeral Home in Worcester on Sunday afternoon, paying their respects to Menard, who was killed in a four-alarm fire early Wednesday morning at 7 Stockholm St.
- PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Masslive.com

The firehouse on Foulkrod and Darrah streets in Philadelphia's Frankford section has been without its engine for a decade, leaving some neighbors feeling vulnerable. "Because of all the families that are around here, all the people around here, they need the engine to save lives," said Sylvia Pickens, who lives across the street from the firehouse.
- PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPVI-TV ABC 6 Philadelphia

A recent report on the Durham Fire Department’s response to the April 10 gas explosion downtown could bolster the department’s request for 75 more firefighters. The Fire Department has about 385 people who fight fires. Having more would improve response times and on-scene efficiency, reducing injuries and property loss, according to a presentation the department gave the city in March, about a month before the explosion.
- PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The News & Observer

Corporations can be held legally responsible for the state’s costs in investigating and fighting fires that are carelessly started or spread by corporate employees, a state appeals court ruled Monday. There has been no dispute that corporations can be required to pay compensation for deaths, injuries and property damage from fires caused by their employees, the source of at least $18 billion of the debt that drove Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
- PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle - Metered Site

Capt. Shawn Campana needed an escape. The stress and pressures of working in Miami-Dade Fire Rescue were beginning to weigh on her. Enter Charlie, a 3-year-old Greyhound she adopted in 2015. “There’s light again,” Campana said of Charlie, “and there hasn’t been in some time. He was the only thing that made that happen.
- PUB DATE: 11/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald