Doctors told Steve Dillman the throat cancer he was diagnosed with in 2008 came from smoking. He knew it didn't. "I thought it had to be job-related because I've never smoked a day in my life. I don't chew. I don't drink excessively ... and that's the three main criterias," he says. But Dillman did spend 38 years as an Indianapolis firefighter — and that included running into burning buildings.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NPR

At the request of Mayor London Breed, the San Francisco Fire Commission is reopening its selection process for a new chief, after the firefighters union raised concerns that the number of in-house candidates with long firefighting experience was insufficient. According to Fire Commission President Ken Cleveland, the Human Resources Department forwarded 36 candidates to the commission, along with their answers to eight pages of questions on everything from management and budget issues to emergency medical and high rise fire procedures.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle

Family, friends and community members paid their final respects to a longtime volunteer firefighter who died in the line of duty in Thurston County. “John was an amazing guy,” said Chief Warren Peterson, with the East Olympia Fire District. Capt. John Ostergard was a 27-year volunteer with the department.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIRO 7 Seattle

Kokomo (IN) Fire Department, 110-foot Ascendant aerial platform quint. Enforcer cab and chassis; Detroit DD13 525-hp engine; Waterous CSU 2,000-gpm pump.

Residents of an apartment complex in Cheney were displaced after the wall between two units caught fire Sunday afternoon. Aaron Bollar, a battalion chief at the Cheney Fire Department, said the fire damaged two units on the second floor of an apartment complex at 1312 First Street in Cheney. When the fire started, only one of the units was occupied, and the residents tried to use a fire extinguisher to put out the blaze.
- PUB DATE: 1/6/2019 3:58:57 PM - SOURCE: Spokane Spokesman-Review