Fire District 7’s new Fire Station No. 33, at 19424 Fales Road, officially opened earlier this month. The new fire station is located near the intersection of Fales Road and state Route 522. The 11,000 square foot fire station will provide improved response times and accessibility to the Echo Lake and Lost Lake communities while continuing to meet the district response standards for the Maltby and Paradise Lake Road communities.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2019 2:30:32 AM - SOURCE: Snohomish County News

North Whidbey Fire and Rescue firefighters, staff and members of the public aired grievances and reiterated complaints to the three-person board of commissioners at a special meeting Monday evening. The packed meeting at the Heller Road fire station lasted over two hours and consisted of a stream of commenters addressing the commissioners in turn, with the most common criticisms being a lack of transparency, poor communication and inadequate funding.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2019 1:43:18 AM - SOURCE: Whidbey News-Times - Metered Site

The Florida House will reverse course and now hear a bill that would give firefighters cancer coverage, its leader said Tuesday, caving to days of public pressure and recent allegations that the bill had been deliberately held as payback after an ally’s contentious midterm election last year. House Speaker José Oliva, who had previously said he objected to hearing the bill, said in a statement that the “environment has become too toxic to debate the true original disagreement.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Miami Herald

City officials pitched a plan Monday (April 15) to change how promotions are doled out for New Orleans police and firefighters, placing less emphasis on formal test scores while creating a new selection group whose members are chosen by the city’s chief administrative office. Critics, particularly among local union representatives, were quick to frame the proposed rule changes as a gateway for possible abuse, potentially allowing department heads to cherry-pick candidates rather than basing promotions on merit alone.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NOLA.com

Mayor Sylvester Turner told the Houston fire union Monday he would provide it with financial data that leaders requested, a sign of progress at a critical point in negotiations between the mayor and union to phase in Proposition B raises for firefighters. Officials from the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association have asked Turner to open the city’s books, allowing firefighters to verify that the mayor’s offer to phase in the pay raises over multiple years honors the terms of the charter amendment, which requires the city to pay firefighters the same as police of corresponding rank and seniority.
- PUB DATE: 4/17/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle