The San Francisco Giants honored Joanne Hayes-White, the city's first female fire chief, on Wednesday during her last official public appearance before she retires. She threw out the ceremonial first pitch during a Giants-Dodgers game. Hayes-White served for 30 years with the department. "It's pretty surreal right now.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU Fox 2

Orange County’s newest fire station, its first in the booming Horizon West community near Disney, means more money in Joan Sullens’ pocket. The Horizon West resident now qualifies for a premium-reducing, fire-protection discount on her homeowners insurance policy because firefighting crews are much closer.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel

A new law designed to make volunteer service more attractive to retired firefighters will help rural fire departments across the state, Byng Fire Department Chief Chris McGill said Tuesday. “We’ve had a recent decline in volunteers and people wiling to volunteer, and that will assist these little departments that have retired paid personnel in their fire districts that are willing to volunteer,” he said.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Stillwater News Press

Most of the country can expect a normal wildfire season but residents along the West Coast of the United States should be ready for another busy season, the National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday. California experienced its deadliest and largest wildfires in the past two years, including a fire in the northern part of the state last year that destroyed the town of Paradise, killing more than 80 people.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox News

Legislation designating nine types of cancer as on-the-job injuries for firefighters cleared a House committee Tuesday despite opposition from a powerful lobbying group. Statistically, firefighters are at a higher risk than the general public for esophageal, intestinal, rectal, testicular, brain and oral cavity cancers, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma and mesothelioma.
- PUB DATE: 5/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WRAL.com