The Westbrook fire chief and deputy fire chief are suing the city, alleging the mayor retaliated against them for raising legal and safety concerns in their department. The lawsuit details months of tension beginning last year between Mayor Mike Sanphy and the top two officials in the Westbrook Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 5/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Portland Press Herald

A three-alarm warehouse fire in Houston's East End scorched at least one nearby home and led to the hospitalization of a firefighter. Firefighters were called out to a warehouse fire on North Drennan Street near Navigation Boulevard shortly after 7 p.m. Friday, according to Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña.
- PUB DATE: 5/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

Growing eruptions in the Big Island's Leilani Estates on Sunday night prompted officials to issue an emergency alert urging any residents remaining in the lava-ravaged subdivision to "go now" and stoking fears that the toll of homes claimed by lava — at 26 so far — would undoubtedly grow. The alert went out to smartphones across the Big Island at 7 p.
- PUB DATE: 5/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHNL/KGMB-TV Hawaii News Now

It was just before Christmas, when Battalion Chief Chris Burger responded to a call of an unresponsive infant. With the sort of muscle memory training only thousands of hours of training can build, he went to the home and did his job. He was the helper — cool under pressure, someone you can lean on — that everyone expects a firefighter to be.
- PUB DATE: 5/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Panama City News Herald

The cost of the city’s legal bills for the ongoing firefighters’ contract dispute increased $110,000 during a recent three-month period and now exceeds $634,000. City Comptroller James E. Mills on Friday confirmed that the law firm has billed $634,740.56 through January for costs associated with the nearly four-year labor dispute with the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191.
- PUB DATE: 5/7/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times