More than 200 Houston firefighters will be laid off after the City Council approved the measure Wednesday during a heated debate. The decision comes as the city tries to implement voter-mandated pay parity between the local police and fire departments. Mayor Sylvester Turner has said that the measure will cost the city $307 million from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2023.
- PUB DATE: 4/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Public Media

This fire company was a staple in the community for 110 years. Now, it’s gone. Millbourne Fire Company in Delaware County voted to shut down Tuesday night following five years of financial instability. Chief Joseph Artmont Jr. has been at the fire company since 1982 and became chief three years ago.
- PUB DATE: 4/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC 10 Philadelphia

Listener Roberta "Bobbie" Brown recently emailed the Curiosity Desk, after reading a story in the paper about Boston firefighters. In the piece, the author referred to them as "jakes." She wanted to know where that term comes from and how it came to refer to firefighters in the region. Like our curious listener, I too have seen firefighters called “jakes” in the papers.
- PUB DATE: 4/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGBH

VIDEOS: A Union Pacific freight train carrying ethanol careened off its tracks in a Fort Worth neighborhood Wednesday and burst into flames, prompting an evacuation of nearby homes and a hazardous materials response. It happened at about 12:40 a.m. near the 3200 block of Yuma Street, on the city's southeast side and near Echo Lake.
- PUB DATE: 4/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

More than 120 current and former Conway police and firefighters will receive money payment before the end of the year after the city agreed to settle the class action lawsuit for $1.15 million. The Conway City Council voted on Monday in a special-called meeting to give Mayor Bart Castleberry the OK to request a preliminary approval in the suit that was filed against the city in 2012, a case Castleberry inherited when he was voted in as mayor in 2016.
- PUB DATE: 4/25/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Log Cabin Democrat