Shane Del Grosso spent some 30 summers crossing smoke-shrouded mountains and forests to fight increasingly devastating wildfires in the U.S. West. Toward the end, his skills and experience propelled him to lead a federal multi-agency team that responded to large-scale national disasters. On some days he directed a thousand firefighters and helped coordinate aircraft attacks on massive blazes.
- PUB DATE: 7/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

After West Windsor’s police contract expired at the end of last year and negotiations with the township stalled, the union turned to an arbitrator to break the impasse. The local union’s demands? Four percent annual pay hikes for sergeants and for patrolmen at the top of the scale and 2 percent annual wage increases for everyone else, in addition to the standard wage increases officers receive for additional years of service.
- PUB DATE: 7/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NJ.com

Fire Station 49 on Prentice Avenue in Madisonville was built in 1910, when firefighters traveled by horse and buggy. Except for modest updates over the years, such as turning the horse stalls into a kitchen, the building hasn’t changed much. It’s clean and meets city codes, officials say, but the tiny space isn’t comfortable for the firefighters who work 24-hour shifts here.
- PUB DATE: 7/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCPO-TV ABC 9 Cincinnati

VIDEO: More than 400 elevators got stuck when a massive blackout wiped out power in parts of Manhattan on Saturday, the city’s fire commissioner said. The blackout left 73,000 customers without electricity for several hours on Saturday evening, Con Edison said. At a press conference on Sunday, FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said more than 400 elevators got stuck during the outage.
- PUB DATE: 7/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNBC-TV NBC 4 New York

VIDEO: Finally, firefighters saw his face. Cardiologist Jebran Karam was buried under six to eight feet of rubble when his Ballantyne house exploded July 2, firefighters from Charlotte Fire Station No. 3 told reporters Friday. Somehow, Karam stayed conscious. He called 911 on his smartwatch and stayed on the phone with dispatchers, so his rescue team knew he was alive.
- PUB DATE: 7/15/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Charlotte Observer