A veteran of the Watertown fire department died today during a two-alarm blaze while helping rescue an elderly man, the man's niece and their dogs as flames shot out an upstairs window, city officials and a neighbor said. Joseph A. Toscano, 54, a firefighter with the department since Sept. 26, 1996 and a married father of five children, succumbed to injuries after rushing into the single-family home on Merrifield Avenue, the city's deputy fire chief said.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald

Two Snohomish County fire commissioners apologized Friday night for making racially insensitive comments when they joked about hiring “cheaper” Mexican laborers for a paramedic position. But an attempt to impose disciplinary action failed on a 2-2 tie vote by the commissioners for Fire District 1. Commissioner Jim Kenny asked that the two board members, David Chan and Bob Meador, receive a written reprimand.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Times

A federal judge today ruled against Rivada Mercury’s protest against the FirstNet procurement protest, a move that is expected to set the stage for AT&T to be awarded the 25-year contract to build and maintain the much-anticipated nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN). U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Elaine Kaplan issued rulings denying Rivada Mercury’s motion to have the proposal from its bidding consortium considered in the “competitive range” stage of the procurement process for the FirstNet contract.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgent Communications

PHOTO - Two firefighters from the Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department were injured Saturday morning after their tanker overturned while responding to a house fire in Huntingtown. The fire department reports both men have since been released from the hospital. At about 8:10 a.m. March 18, deputies from the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office responded to Robinson Road in Huntingtown for an overturned tanker.
- PUB DATE: 3/20/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Southern Maryland Newspapers Online