Houston firefighters are accusing Mayor Sylvester Turner of standing between them and a voter-approved pay raise by failing to ensure a petition they submitted last month is certified in time to appear on the November ballot. Turner rejected any suggestion that he has involved himself in the City Secretary's effort to verify their petition, and his office on Thursday said an offer by the fire union to cover any staffing costs needed to count their signatures is being examined as a possible attempt to improperly influence a public official.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

The turf war is back on between the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the Orange County Fire Authority over whose helicopters should respond to rescue calls. A proposed agreement in which both agencies would share rescue calls was pulled from next week’s Board of Supervisors agenda because of opposition from fire officials and city council members in Santa Ana, Tustin and Yorba Linda.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orange County Register

PHOTO - Sometimes, when a tree falls in the woods, someone is there to see it. In the case of a Richmond volunteer firefighter, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fortunately, the 45-year-old Richmond resident, a 13-year veteran of the department, escaped serious injury after a large branch suddenly broke off of a tree along the north side of Division Road at about 7:30 p.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Voice

Former Kinloch Mayor Darren Small, 51, and his wife, Jayna Small, 40, have pleaded guilty to a federal charge and admitted stealing money from the city’s fire protection district, the U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday. Darren Small pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony counts: conspiracy to commit access device fraud and access device fraud.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A fire department participated in a viral trend that involves getting out of your vehicle to attempt a slam dunk in a basketball hoop and driving away. Arlington Fire Department tweeted a video of one of their crewmembers wearing a T-Rex costume and attempting to slam dunk at a neighborhood basketball hoop as part of the #DriveByDunkChallenge.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1