Applause broke out after the Cowlitz County commissioners Tuesday voted 2-1 to create an independent 911 agency, separating emergency dispatch services from county control. Commissioners Joe Gardner and Dennis Weber voted yes, while Arne Mortensen was the lone dissenting vote. Gardner said the new Cowlitz 911 agency will reduce bureaucracy by consolidating governance of emergency dispatch under a single, nine-person board of directors.
- PUB DATE: 3/14/2018 1:36:05 PM - SOURCE: Longview Daily News

The last time the Vancouver Fire Department added a new fire station was in 2010. Fire Station 11, which will serve Fire District 5, is now in the works, albeit a little behind schedule. “My goal was to get the property by 2017, so we’re past that,” said Vancouver Fire Chief Joe Molina. The Clark County Fire District 5 board approved a $1 million deal in February to purchase property in the state Highway 503 corridor, north of Orchards.
- PUB DATE: 3/14/2018 6:23:16 AM - SOURCE: Vancouver Columbian

The Fairfax County fire department has problems with leadership, communication and the status of paramedics, but it does not face widespread issues with the treatment of women in its ranks, according to a report released Tuesday. The review by county officials comes just weeks after fire chief Richard R.
- PUB DATE: 3/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post

Three Suffolk County volunteer firefighters are facing arson charges in connection to nearly a half-dozen recent fires in New York, authorities say. Authorities said Central Islip firefighters Austin Lehman, 19, Stephen Hernandez, 25, and Shawn Key, 27, also put out the blazes they started at five abandoned houses in Central Islip and Hauppauge between October and January.
- PUB DATE: 3/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC New York

San Antonio officials made another attempt to negotiate a contract regarding health care and wages with the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association Tuesday, but the union declined to appear. The union’s contract ran out in 2014, and its stalemate with the city has lasted for more than 1,200 days.
- PUB DATE: 3/14/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Texas Public Radio