Chief Samuel Pena told the city’s Public Safety Committee & Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday that he’s planning to lay off a total of 237 firefighters to implement Proposition B, which requires pay parity with police. But Pena also said the goal could be accomplished without any job losses by phasing in the firefighter raises.
- PUB DATE: 4/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston

Arkansas legislators passed Crump’s Law on Monday, granting municipal firefighters across the state an extra six months of paid sick leave when they are being treated for cancer contracted on the job. Members of El Dorado Professional Firefighters Local 1704, a labor organization representing 90 percent of the paid firefighters in El Dorado, lobbied at the state Capitol in February for the bill’s passage.
- PUB DATE: 4/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: El Dorado News-Times

Santa Rosa is on track to settle a 2-year-old lawsuit over firefighters’ overtime pay after the City Council approved a deal Tuesday to boost pay for 118 unionized firefighters. The council unanimously approved without discussion Tuesday a deal to increase salaries, expand pension contributions and provide one-time lump-sum payments of at least $5,000 to firefighters while reducing the city’s maximum health insurance contributions to those employees.
- PUB DATE: 4/11/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Press Democrat

The City of Pullman declared a state of emergency today after major flooding caused damages to local businesses and cars on the road. Pullman Firefighter Mark Johnson said he helped other firefighters clean up and aid affected locations. He said the flood came down from the north of Missouri Flat Creek because of the flash floods and rain all day Tuesday.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2019 10:43:12 PM - SOURCE: Daily Evergreen

When he found out earlier this year that the state Fire Training Academy would not be available to the department’s five recruits, Camas-Washougal Fire Battalion Chief Kevin Villines scrambled. Villines learned that the academy in North Bend would be closed indefinitely for remodeling. He called nearly every department in the state to make arrangements at their facilities but found each one to be either cost-prohibitive or fully occupied.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2019 9:29:48 PM - SOURCE: Vancouver Columbian