A family who took responsibility for a fireworks accident in Graham last July says they faced massive backlash that led them to move out of the neighborhood. On July 4, 2016, then 13-year-old Ryan Skog was setting off fireworks in his backyard with his mother’s supervision, when a mortar tipped over and fired over his neighbor’s fence.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2017 5:38:37 AM - SOURCE: KIMA-TV CBS 29 Yakima

Nineteen times, the silver bell rang. It was a hot summer day in Arizona's Prescott Valley, at a ceremony to honor the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who died 10 days earlier fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire. The bell rang as the names of the firefighters were read in a crowded arena, and the silence between each weighed heavier than the last.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

Charlotte Fire Chief Jon Hannan said Thursday that he plans to retire on Aug. 31, after 38 years with the department. “It has been a pleasure and honor to be part of this great fire department,” Hannan said in a memo to his staff. “I am continuously amazed by what you can accomplish, every division in this organization is the best at what it does.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Charlotte Observer

A deputy fire chief has filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the town, citing policies that stripped him of benefits because he didn’t retire when he reached his maximum pension, The Patriot Ledger reported. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Boston last week by Deputy Fire Chief Alan Predella, 56, of Marshfield, who marked his 34th anniversary as a Braintree firefighter this month.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCVB-TV ABC 5 Boston

Every year an average of 10 volunteer firefighters quit the West Barnstable, Mass., Fire Department, about 27 percent of the department’s total. Fire Chief Joseph Maruca never finds out why half of those department members leave, but does know that about one-third of his crew leaves for career firefighting positions at larger, nearby fire departments, typically after serving in West Barnstable fewer than four years.
- PUB DATE: 6/30/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: GovTech.com