Aid from every level of government is flowing into Western North Carolina, and the city of Baltimore plans to be on that list. The city has an emergency crew at the ready, specifically emergency dispatchers, who will provide relief to local crews that have been working around the clock since Hurricane Helene hit the region Friday, said Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace during a news conference.
- PUB DATE: 10/3/2024 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WYPR-FM 88.1 Baltimore

VIDEO: The long-awaited ATF report concluded that the Lahaina fire was started by one fire by re-energization. “The origin and cause of the Lahaina fire is clear. The re-energization of broken power lines caused sparks that ignited unmaintained vegetation in the area. Exactly how this fire rekindled in the afternoon is considered undetermined with multiple plausible hypotheses fitting the known data,” said MFD Chief Brad Ventura in the news conference releasing the details of the report.
- PUB DATE: 10/3/2024 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHON-TV FOX 2 Honolulu

VIDEO/PHOTOS: The flooding from Hurricane Helene destroyed mountain towns and communities in western North Carolina.The damage is substantial. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Team has been deployed and Caleb Freeman, with the Redmond Fire Department, is on the ground.
- PUB DATE: 10/3/2024 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

At the beginning of Day 3, one of the most sought after classes, Tires: Everything You Thought You Knew, But Didn’t, began. Instructor TJ Tennent and Ron Winkleman led students through information on tires. Repeatedly asking the class, “How many knew that before,” no one could raise their hands. It turns out that as much as we may think we know about tires, there’s a lot we don’t know. But toward midmorning, Tennent challenged the class to “be the obvious choice.”

At the end of the day, The William F. Foster Outstanding Service Award was presented to Toronto Fire Services Division Chief, Asset and Equipment Management, Rob Anselmi. In between, more than 400 “obvious choices” participated in 150 class sessions. In addition to aerial maintenance, students had hands-on training for pump rebuilds, pump testing, the IDEX SAM system and different suspensions.

In his remarks after accepting the award, Anselmi was quick to thank REV and the Fire Truck Training Conference, but also to praise the technicians who have attended in the past up to now and the award’s namesake. “Mechanics are the worst

Karen Kucher
The San Diego Union-Tribune
(TNS)

A San Diego Fire-Rescue Department captain — one of three firefighters hurt in a crash early Sunday while going with a 48-member team to assist in hurricane relief — was released from a Louisiana hospital on Tuesday, officials said.

Capt. Greg Davies was injured in the crash on Interstate 20 in East Texas when the Ford F-350 he was riding in, a Fire-Rescue vehicle, was involved in a collision with a civilian vehicle. They were heading to North Carolina as part of Urban Search & Rescue California Task Force 8.

The other two who were hurt and remain hospitalized are Battalion Chief Aide Barbat and Capt. Jesse Schultz. The families have requested privacy and asked that no medical information be shared with the media at this time, a department spokesperson said.

The three were life-flighted to a hospital in Shreveport, La., following the crash, which occurred around 2:45 a.m. in East Texas. The rest of the team has been staying in hotels in the area since the crash.

On Sunday, Assistant Fire Chief Jim Gaboury told reporters the three were reported in “various conditions ranging from moderate to critical.”

Davies joined the fire department in 2009 and has been a member of California Task Force 8 since 2017. He is the planning team manager and was responsible for developing and implementing the task force’s tactical plans.

Details about what led up to the crash have not been released. The closest town to the crash site is Waskom, Texas.

The trio was traveling as part of a team that included firefighters from several agencies, emergency-room doctors, a structural engineer and a duty mechanic. They left Friday from San Diego to support rescue and relief efforts to assist victims of Hurricane Helene.

There were 18 vehicles that deployed with the team, which had planned to do water-rescue work and provide other assistance in Charlotte, N.C.

Officials said a decision would be made soon, in consultation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to determine if the remaining team members should return to San Diego or continue their mission.

The department sent chaplains, crisis response canines and employees who serve as peer support out to Louisiana and Texas after the crash to assist team members. Fire Chief Robert Logan also flew out and visited with firefighters in Louisiana and Texas.

The department said it also has chaplains and peer counselors in San Diego available to support department firefighters and employees in the aftermath of the crash.

The firefighters union said Read more

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