Houston voters will face $1.5 billion in city bonds and nine community college or school board races this November, but will not be asked whether to give firefighters a raise. Monday was the last day on which a candidate can file for the November ballot, and on which local governments can call an election.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

A dedicated wireless communications network for first responders answering the call on a large-scale incident is something most citizens might assume is already in place across the country. The unfortunate truth is that they would be wrong, but efforts are ongoing to present all 50 states with plans and options surrounding The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), which was designed to help public safety agencies coordinate their efforts amid emergencies and major events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods or terror attacks, to name just a few scenarios.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse.com

An upper-management union for the Orange County Fire Authority planned to tell the agency’s board of directors that “current tensions” in the department were created by Chief Jeff Bowman, who resigned last week, according to a letter written by the union and sent to the board on Sunday, Aug. 20. The letter also said the union – the Chief Officers Association, which represents battalion and division chiefs – met with Bowman a day before he stepped down and recommended he resign before it submitted a position paper, out of respect for him and “to save the organization further embarrassment.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orange County Register

A plea deal means a term of slightly less than six years for the driver of a Michigan firetruck that crashed last summer on Interstate 35W in Blaine, killing two fellow firefighters. Michael A. Johnson, 29, of the Upper Peninsula city of Baraga, pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation in connection with the crash on Aug.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Salem Fire Department followed suit with its fellow first responders Monday, requesting the Board of Selectmen consider increasing the previously set staffing plans and potentially renegotiate the Tuscan Village development agreement. Both the police and fire departments have experienced decades of stagnant staffing, which department leaders say have caused longer emergency response times in Salem and more cases in which the fire department has to ask for assistance from neighboring towns.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Eagle-Tribune