When Scott realized that his lakeside home in the wooded hills of Butte County was surrounded by fire, he knew he had only one way out: the water. He, his wife and their two young adult sons, along with two dogs and a cat, plunged into the chilly Concow Reservoir 20 miles east of Chico last Thursday as flames singed the giant tule reeds on shore behind them.
- PUB DATE: 11/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle

Hillsborough County firefighters just agreed to a new three-year contract, and part of that deal also calls for new random drug testing. For years, Hillsborough firefighters knew when it was coming. Every six months, there was a round of hundreds of drug tests that a small handful would likely prepare for by laying off drugs or alcohol long enough to pass the test.
- PUB DATE: 11/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTSP-TV 10 News

Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration is moving forward with plans for hundreds of layoffs following last week’s voter approval of Prop B despite questions about whether jobs could be saved through renewed negotiations with the city’s firefighters union. The pay parity referendum, which passed decisively after a bitter campaign that pitted Turner and the city’s police union against Houston firefighters, adds an estimated $100 million a year to the $500 million annual budget of the Houston Fire Department to bring firefighter salaries in line with those paid to police of corresponding rank and seniority.
- PUB DATE: 11/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Fairfield City Council rejected a fact finder’s recommendation on proposed wage increases for two years of the firefighter union’s three-year contract. The fact finder suggested the city pay members of the International Association of Firefighters Local 4010 a 2.5 percent increase in 2018 (retroactive to April 1) and 2019.
- PUB DATE: 11/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hamilton Journal-News

A family of eight was forced from their home Monday after it was destroyed by flames, officials with Clark County Fire Dist. 6 said. No one was hurt in the fire at a house on NE 100th Circle. The Red Cross Cascades Region has been called out to help the three adults, five children, and four pets who were displaced in the fire.
- PUB DATE: 11/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KATU