A firefighter claims his dreams of being on an elite FDNY rescue squad were crushed when his co-workers began suspecting he is gay. Jason Johnson, 40, a former National Guardsman, says in his Manhattan federal lawsuit filed Monday that he made it to a Special Operations Command unit in 2016, only to be kicked off the team several months later following a bizarre crotch-grabbing incident while riding a firetruck, which resulted in Johnson being branded as “gay.
- PUB DATE: 10/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

Toledo firefighters worry they might have to temporarily close a firehouse if one more back-up fire engine winds up in the repair shop, but councilmen hope a slight budget reconfiguration will help alleviate those fears. Fire Chief Brian Byrd this month told council that crews have been consistently using rigs meant to be in reserve as their front-line equipment when they respond to fires.
- PUB DATE: 10/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Toledo Blade

A registered sex offender who is a former Everett firefighter was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty in Wyoming to trafficking girls for sexual activity. Prosecutors say 63-year-old David Peter Vier picked up the girls, ages 12 and 14, in Seattle in January. They said they wanted a ride to Kansas.
- PUB DATE: 10/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Everett Herald

Most of a single-story home in Maple Valley was destroyed by a fire early Sunday morning Firefighters were dispatched to the house in the 20000 block of Maxwell Road Southeast at approximately 3:20 a.m. Upon arrival, firefighters saw the home in flames and fought the fire from the exterior because they feared the home might collapse.
- PUB DATE: 10/23/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIRO 7 Seattle

Warren (IN) Fire Department tanker. Freightliner M2 cab and chassis; Cummins L9 250-hp engine; UPF Poly 2,200-gallon Ellip-T-Tank.