The state’s public-safety unions have scored a potential win in their end-of-session push for a law that will make it easier for police officers and firefighters to get disability pensions that pay them two-thirds pay, tax-free for life. The Rhode Island House of Representatives on a 53-to-8 vote approved legislation to equate an “illness sustained while in the performance of duty” with an on-the-job injury so more firefighters can qualify for benefits they have, in some past cases, been denied.
- PUB DATE: 6/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Providence Journal

The City of Charleston, SC, approved plans to replace the current Fire Station 11 and build adjacent to the Charleston 9 memorial site. Residents wanted the station to be the neighborhood’s “shining light and a beacon of the community.” As the West Ashley area of Charleston grows, the city determined that the current Station 11 needed to be relocated to improve service delivery and found that the property adjacent to the memorial site—about a mile from the existing station, would help fill a service gap.
- PUB DATE: 6/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

The city’s fire chief announced Tuesday that he is closing one fire house and reducing staffing at another beginning this Saturday over concerns about fiscal year 2018 funding in the municipal budget. Fire Chief Dan Goonan said he is closing Station 9 at 575 Calef Road in Ward 9, effective Saturday, July 1.
- PUB DATE: 6/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Union Leader

A Providence firefighter has been fired for saying an African-American woman should “stop eating fried chicken” when he responded to a medical call earlier this year. Andre Ferro, a firefighter who has previously faced disciplinary action for violating the department’s sexual harassment policy, was terminated for making racially-insensitive comments by the city’s Fire Department Trial Board Tuesday, according to Public Safety Commissioner Steven Pare.
- PUB DATE: 6/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPRI-TV Providence 12

Former Assistant Fire Chief Jonathan Swarey says he resigned after what he called a heated meeting Monday morning between Whiteville city and fire officials. The decision prompted more than a dozen volunteer firefighters to follow in his footsteps. “I finally got to the point [Monday] and this weekend that, you know, I’m here to fight fires, here to do EMS work,” Swarey said.
- PUB DATE: 6/28/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBBJ-TV ABC 7