Alameda County supervisors extended their ambulance contract with Paramedics Plus by three years despite fierce criticism by firefighters complaining the process wasn’t open for competitive bids and changes in service delivery were not included. Supervisors voted in favor 3 to 1, with one recusal, extending the contract until June 1, 2020.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

A fire in Brooklyn Criminal Court injured eight state court officers and five firefighters and forced an early recess Wednesday afternoon. The 4:04 p.m. blaze on the sixth floor generated heavy smoke that led to the evacuation of the 10-story building in downtown Brooklyn. "There was a lot of smoke in the hallway," said one court staffer who declined to give his name.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

VIDEO - A Fort Madison fire engine rolled into a slough along the Mississippi River on Wednesday night while responding to an accident. Thursday morning Fort Madison Fire Chief Joey Herren said that he was planning to get a crane to move the truck and the road will be closed until further notice. Chief Herren says the truck was headed down 35th Street when it slid off the edge of the gravel road.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGEM-TV Quincy

Burton Fire District Capt. Ralph Neiderhiser celebrated his 80th birthday Tuesday. Sixty five of those years have been spent in fire service. “If you do what you enjoy, it ain’t (like) going to work,” he said Wednesday. Neiderhiser began his career as a volunteer with his father in Pennsylvania when he was 16, he said.
- PUB DATE: 5/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Island Packet

Sylvania Township Fire Department pumper. Monarch cab and chassis; Hale Qmax 1,500-gpm pump; UPF Poly 750-gallon tank; 30-gallon foam cell.