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

Seven dumpsters set ablaze across Seattle Tuesday night have fire investigators busy trying to solve who might be the arsonist. The first fire broke out at 9:30 p.m. in the 900 block of Madison just behind the Hotel Sorrento. Reports would continue to come in of burning dumpsters around the city over the next hour, including outside Peter Miller Books & Supplies in Pioneer Square, Seattle Fire officials said.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000

A Benton County firefighter, and his family, are without a home after their furnace caught fire and completely damaged the inside of their Kennewick house on Monday. Aaron Fryer is a Station Captain for Benton County Fire District 1. He has been a volunteer firefighter for about five years. Aaron and his family were on vacation in Nevada when their furnace caught fire.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIMA-TV