Polk County Deputy Manager Joe Halman on Friday cleared Fire Rescue Capt. Jay Schwartz of any wrongdoing after the captain helped to fight a fire while he was off duty and without proper equipment, saying Schwartz’ actions were, in fact, “heroic, commendable and consistent with expectations of Polk County Fire Rescue employees.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News Chief

Part I and Part II - A newly obtained collection of police body camera footage offers exclusive insight into what Oakland police knew about the dangerous warehouse where 36 people died — and what happened that fateful night. A year before the Ghost Ship blaze killed 36 partygoers, an Oakland police officer could sense the fire danger as he and a colleague wandered through the cluttered Fruitvale district warehouse, called there for a tenant dispute.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

City Secretary Anna Russell has one week to finish verifying a petition Houston firefighters submitted last summer seeking pay parity with police or risk being hauled into court, a state district judge said Friday. Judge Dan Hinde had given Russell until Friday at 5 p.m. to verify whether the firefighters had reached the minimum threshold of 20,000 signatures needed for the item to appear before voters.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

It's been nearly 16 years since cleanup work officially ended at New York City's ground zero, but the health effects for rescue and recovery workers are still making themselves known. Two studies published Thursday in the journal JAMA Oncology suggest that the firefighters who came to lower Manhattan after the Sept.
- PUB DATE: 4/30/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

The only injury from a house fire in Ballard on Sunday morning was a singed paw. The fire started just after 7 a.m. along Northwest 64th Street. Everyone got out safely, including a cat named "Bonito" who was rescued, then ran back into the fire and had to be pulled out again. Bonito's owner wasn't home at the time, however his roommate says he had his headphones on and didn't even notice the fire at first.
- PUB DATE: 4/29/2018 9:43:56 PM - SOURCE: seattlepi.com