The sun had set Tuesday when Tim Hurley and his strike crew from the U.S. Forest Service’s Kernville station first made it to the front lines of the Creek fire above Sylmar. Flames were shooting sideways as they tore through the dry brush, fueled by erratic Santa Ana winds. Hurley immediately got to work manning an engine with one goal: to keep the fire from jumping Oro Vista Avenue into the dense tract of homes below.
- PUB DATE: 12/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Daily News

A New York firefighter who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer will fulfill his lifelong wish to attend the Super Bowl, his fire department says. In a Facebook post Sunday, the Tarrytown Fire Department said the NFL made Bill Duggan’s dream come true with tickets to the big game. “A couple of weeks ago, he was given earth shattering news that he had terminal brain cancer and only had a brief time to live,” the post reads.
- PUB DATE: 12/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC New York

Starting Monday, the city of Everett will take a fire engine out of commission whenever it would have to be staffed with overtime. Mayor Ray Stephanson recently announced that decision amid news that the fire department’s overtime is running $1.5 million over budget for 2017. A certain amount of overtime is assumed every year.
- PUB DATE: 12/10/2017 6:48:33 AM - SOURCE: Everett Herald

The first sign of fire was the faint whiff of an earthy incense. Then muted crackling drifted from an interior room and thin, gray smoke wafted through a door frame. Four Longview firefighters stood poised at the door of a small red building, hoses raised and waiting for their cue to enter the abandoned building next to Three Rivers Christian School.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2017 9:42:28 AM - SOURCE: tdn.com

It's considered fire season 12 months out of the year in 2017. Summer and early fall are the worst, but the Washington State Department of Natural Resources is equipped and prepared to deal with fires in the winter. The current high-pressure system has given the usually wet west side of the mountains almost two weeks of dry, sunny weather, further dried out with winds coming out of the east.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2017 5:20:55 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5