Karen Brack, Charleston's first female fire chief, is stepping down after almost five years of work to modernize one of the nation's oldest departments. "It is with very mixed feelings that I have made a personal decision to resign my position as Fire Chief effective April 7, 2017," Brack said in an email to firefighters Friday morning.
- PUB DATE: 3/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Post Courier

State lawmakers passed a bill Thursday to give firefighters special insurance in case they get cancer from the job. Currently, firefighters who get sick may lose their jobs and health insurance. "When we run into these houses to try and put out the fire to save lives, we're being exposed to very toxic carcinogens," said Capt.
- PUB DATE: 3/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: wsbtv.com

A former Leander firefighter who refused to get a vaccination because of his religious beliefs has sued the city for firing him. The termination came in March 2016, after firefighter Brett Horvath refused to get the vaccination or wear a surgical mask for his entire 24-hour shift or transfer to a “less desirable” position, said his lawyer, Matt Bachop.
- PUB DATE: 3/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: My Statesman

A fast-acting paramedic dove into the frigid water of an Illinois lake where a SUV was submerged on Thursday and found an infant floating inside, then administered CPR on the hood and swam the child to shore, authorities said. The baby is expected to make a full recovery. The infant was one of seven siblings who survived a tragic chain of events that left one person dead in a house fire and second body recovered from the lake where the baby was found.
- PUB DATE: 3/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Tribune

When wildfires roared through Washington during the summer and fall of 2014 and 2015, they caught people’s attention, even Democratic state lawmakers from the Puget Sound area such as Rep. Larry Springer. “We come back to Olympia after each of those years needing to spend tens of millions of dollars to reimburse those efforts to put those fires out," Springer said.
- PUB DATE: 3/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NPR.org