When Alexander Bingham graduated from the Houston firefighter training academy in 2016, one of his classmates was missing. Steven Whitfield, a cadet in Bingham's class, had perished in a training accident in March 2016 and would not graduate alongside those who had become his brothers. Bingham and his classmates still mourn Whitfield's death, but on Saturday, Bingham said, he felt uplifted by the celebration honoring Whitfield and 189 other firefighters during this year's Fallen Fire Fighter's Memorial ceremony in Memorial Park.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Colorado Springs Gazette

The city of Trenton has approval to layoff 64 firefighters who are currently being funded by a federal grant that runs out at the end of October, according to a plan approved by the state. The layoffs are set to occur Nov. 1, 2017, and affected firefighters would need to be officially notified no later than Saturday, Sept.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NJ.com

Alarms were ringing inside a dormitory at UConn in the early morning of October 16, 2016, and as firefighter Dana Barrow began driving out of a firehouse garage, the right front tire of his Chevy Tahoe bumped into something, bringing the SUV to a sudden stop. One second passed. And then Barrow, focused on a possible fire emergency, pressed the gas pedal, inching the 7,130-pound vehicle over the obstruction blocking his way.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hartford Courant

Santa Cruz firefighter Clayton Ogden died, at age 47, after a short bout with cancer this summer. This week, Santa Cruz Fire Chief Jim Frawley posthumously awarded Ogden the Medal of Valor for his involvement in protecting a civilian during the fatal Feb. 26, 2013 shootout that left two Santa Cruz police officers dead.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Santa Cruz Sentinel

A former Cleveland firefighter has filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming the department and city officials mishandled a complaint he filed following an altercation with two other firefighters last year. Samuel Livingston, who was hired as a firefighter in 2000, is seeking an unspecified amount in damages accusing the department of reverse discrimination after an April 5, 2016 physical altercation with his coworkers June Colon and Larry Gray.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland Plain Dealer & Cleveland.com