Fifty-foot flames flaring down Agua Caliente canyon in the earliest hours of Oct. 9 were about to devour the Mission Highlands neighborhood and race into the backyards of Boyes Hot Springs. That’s when Glen Ellen Cal Fire Capt. Sean Jerry studied the situation from a crest on High Road and said, “OK, this is what we’re going to do.
- PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Emergency crews responded to the scene of an explosion and fire that killed one man and injured more than 30 people, including firefighters, at a manufacturing plant in New York's Hudson Valley. The explosion happened at around 10:15 a.m. Monday in the north section of Verla International -- a business that makes cosmetics, primarily nail polish.
- PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV 7online.com

In Onalaska, the volunteer fire department is dealing with an emergency of its own. Brothers Chris and Craig Franklin say small town politics are putting everyone in jeopardy. "Now I am standing here, watching everything fall apart," said Chris. "I'm worried for my safety, my family's safety, and the safety of all the citizens of Onalaska.
- PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5

It takes years of study and a fortune in tuition to earn a college degree, unless you take the kind of shortcut former Tarpon Springs Fire Chief Rick Butcher did. Instead of cracking the books, Butcher simply went online and bought his BS degree from Almeda University, one of the world’s most notorious diploma mills.
- PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFLA.com

Hamilton homeowner Lester Parker and his nephew William “Billy” Tucker, took the stand Monday in their own defense in the arson and murder trial for the 2015 death of Hamilton firefighter Patrick Wolterman. Parker, 68, and Tucker, 46, of Richmond, Ky., are charged with arson and murder in the fire at Parker’s Pater Avenue home that killed Wolterman on Dec.
- PUB DATE: 11/21/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Journal-News