Brooklyn Park’s fire chief is stepping down from a position he has held since 2008, driven out by what some city leaders have described as a “culture of hostility.” In a memo sent Thursday to city staffers, City Manager Jay Stroebel cited the “unique dynamic” between Fire Chief Ken Prillaman and some City Council members, and said it would benefit the city’s “overall culture” to accept Prillaman’s resignation at Monday’s council meeting.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Minneapolis Star Tribune

It could be days before a 10-alarm inferno that ravaged an apartment complex under construction off Elm Street in Waltham early this morning is sufficiently extinguished for investigators to begin combing through the destruction, fire officials said. All 264 units in five residential buildings on the banks of the Charles River, which were slated to begin accepting tenants later this year, were lost, Waltham Fire Chief Paul Ciccone said.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the IAFC Volunteer and Combination Officers Section (VCOS) today released a Yellow Ribbon Report exploring emotional and behavioral health issues in the fire and emergency service. “Under the Helmet – Performing an Internal Size-up: A Proactive Approach to Ensuring Mental Wellness” brings awareness about the fire and emergency services’ emotional and behavioral health problem and emphasizes the importance of changing the culture.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs

A former New York firefighter said stupidity, not racism, spurred him to set a fire that destroyed a black colleague's apartment. Matthew Jurado was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for the blaze at Kenneth Walker's home last August. Jurado pleaded guilty in May to arson. "What happened was a moment of stupidity and not thinking," Jurado said Friday.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Syracuse Post-Standard & Syracuse.com

When Moon Yun Pellerin's parents bought a 27th-floor apartment in a high-rise overlooking Waikiki about 15 years ago, they didn't realize the wave-shaped building had no fire sprinklers. "We didn't even consider it," Pellerin said. But a week after a massive fire broke out one floor below her apartment, killing three neighbors, Pellerin and her family "definitely want sprinklers" installed - even if it means spending thousands of dollars.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHNL/KGMB-TV Hawaii News Now