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

Three people were hurt when a crash sent an SUV into a deli and grocery shop in North Seattle Tuesday morning. Two Ford Explorers crashed in the 6400 block of 8th Ave NW in the Phinney Ridge Area. The impact sent one of the SUVs into the front of the nearby Choice Deli. The other vehicle narrowly missed crashing into a fire hydrant.
- PUB DATE: 8/22/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO News

A 38-year-old woman suffered critical injuries after falling onto a ledge near Wallace Falls, outside Gold Bar Monday afternoon. The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said the woman was 'canyoneering' with a group around 4:00 p.m. when she lost control of 'braking' her climbing rope and fell several feet on the a ledge near the falls.
- PUB DATE: 8/21/2017 11:22:39 PM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000