When Ron Swanson started in 1967 as a volunteer firefighter with the former Whatcom County Fire District 2, the Geneva fire hall was a garage that held two aging pumpers and a loft where the guys would meet. Homes didn’t have smoke alarms, only a handful of Americans knew CPR, and defibrillators to shock a dying heart weren’t portable and easy to use.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bellingham Herald

It was nearly a year ago when twins Chloe and Emma were rescued from a raging apartment fire in Everett. The twins are now 4 years old. “Just watching them grow bigger is amazing every day,” said mother Sihaya Sweum. It was Jan. 29, 2018, when fire consumed their first-floor apartment. The girls were trapped inside.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIRO 7 Seattle

VIDEO: Garden Grove Fire Chief Tom Schultz died Sunday following a brief battle with cancer, the department said. He was 54. Shultz's death came just one day after fellow firefighters announced he was battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He served as chief of the Garden Grove Fire Department since 2015, according to the agency.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA 5

The FDNY’s diversity monitor has billed the city a stunning $23 million in fees and expenses in his seven years — and the charges have only gotten steeper. Mark S. Cohen’s yearly tab has risen from $1.6 million in 2012 to $4.9 million in 2018, bringing his total so far to $22,923,840.36, records reviewed by The Post show.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

History was made this month by the Quapaw Nation Fire/EMS Department when it officially became the first tribal department to be accepted into the Oklahoma State Firefighters' Association that represents thousands of state and volunteer firefighters. Formed in 1894, the OSFA is the longest standing national association in the state of Oklahoma, according to Administrative Director Sheri Nickel.
- PUB DATE: 1/28/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Joplin Globe