A fire at a west Olympia auto repair shop started in a back storage area and spread to a rack of tires early Wednesday, according to Olympia Fire Department. Firefighters were called to the Firestone Complete Auto Care on Harrison Avenue Northwest near Kenyon Street Northwest shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday for a report of smoke in the area.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2018 9:55:49 AM - SOURCE: Olympian

Leaders at Snohomish County’s largest fire agency are looking at a major political reorganization. The shift is required under a merger voters approved last year to combine Fire District 1 with the Lynnwood Fire Department. The resulting fire authority, South County Fire & Rescue, serves about 250,000 people.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2018 4:13:31 AM - SOURCE: Everett Herald

Three Dallas Fire-Rescue firefighters trapped in a burning condo while battling a massive fire Tuesday morning were treated for minor injuries after being rescued by an intervention team, fire officials say. The firefighters were among more than 100 called to battle a large four-alarm fire at about 9:30 a.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAS-TV NBC 5 Dallas - Fort Worth

When the Woolsey fire swept into the exclusive neighborhood of Bell Canyon, resident Yen Hsieh grabbed her late music teacher’s 200-year-old cello, some belongings and her son’s betta fish Sparky and fled, not sure whether her home would be destroyed. Hsieh said it’s not clear which of the firefighters — private or publicly funded — were responsible for saving her home, but she’s grateful.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Diego Union-Tribune

For decades, Scott Phillips-Gartner served as a member of Norfolk Fire-Rescue, first as a 911 operator and later as an assistant fire marshal and bomb squad technician. But then in October 2014 he married his longtime boyfriend, leading his bosses to find out he was gay. Phillips-Gartner, 55, says the department ultimately stripped him of his rank and directed him to start working out of a temporary facility miles away from his usual office “with little to no job duties.
- PUB DATE: 11/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot/HamptonRoads.com