For about 10 minutes, Emergency Services District 1 firefighters Jessilyn Davis and Lt. Brannon Stengel found themselves surrounded by a brush fire April 11 in western Travis County. The winds, which had shifted toward them, and 20 percent humidity that day only made matters worse. They tried to stay positive, but Stengel said in the backs of their minds, they thought they had come face-to-face with the blaze that would take their lives.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman

A judge has sentenced the former fire chief of the Coventry Fire District to three years of probation and ordered him to repay nearly $200,000 for fraudulently receiving retirement benefits. Paul Labbadia, 52, of North Providence, pleaded no contest in January to three counts that he filed false documents to obtain a public pension.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPRI-TV Providence 12

Firefighters are breathing a sigh of relief after a nearly year-long struggle. The Mattoon Fire Department will have to hire a handful of new firefighters. It's after a judge ruled that the city violated their contract last year. The fire department is supposed to have more than 30 firefighters, but right now they're at 24.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCIA & WCFN-TV CBS 3 Champaign

People turn to firefighters for help during all kinds of emergencies, but this one might actually be a first. Wayne Township firefighters woke up in the middle of the night to a woman frantically pushing their doorbell. "As many times as the doorbell on the firehouse was pushed, the firefighters were quite certain that something bad was going on outside," said Wayne Township Fire Capt.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTHR-TV NBC 13 Indianapolis

A firefighter from Texas is being lauded for his heroic efforts after he helped pull a fellow passenger back inside a plane when she was sucked outside during an emergency landing Tuesday in Philadelphia. According to the Daily Mirror, Celina firefighter Andrew Needum was nearby when debris from the engine explosion on Southwest Airlines flight 1380 ripped a hole in the window where 43-year-old Jennifer Riordan was sitting.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse