A long time servant of Jefferson Davis County and the town of Bassfield died in the line of duty on Tuesday. Bassfield Volunteer Fire Chief Bill Matthews, a retired Marine, was found slumped over in his fire truck on the scene of a brush fire. Mayor Patricia Courtney said a firefighter was manning the hose and called to Matthews to move the truck and got no response.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Jackson Clarion-Ledger

Two Omaha firefighters sued the city Tuesday over Mayor Jean Stothert’s hiring of Fire Chief Dan Olsen, alleging she failed to follow the correct selection process. Battalion chiefs Robb Gottsch and Dan Stolinski, both finalists for the chief position, asked that a court declare Olsen’s promotion to be void.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Omaha World-Herald

A selectman called attention Tuesday night to the town's potentially flawed and confusing policies and procedures, which might come into play in deciding the fate of the town's fire chief, who has been on paid administrative leave for over a month. On Jan. 10, the selectmen alleged Fire Chief Peter Martell did not have the authority or the selectmen's approval to spend $33,814 of town money for a 2017 Ford Expedition.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

A six-month study of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department found on-the-job bullying, harassment and other problems, issues that were raised after 31-year-old firefighter-paramedic Nicole Mittendorff took her own life last year. No one knows if cyberbullying played a role in Mittendorff’s death, but she had faced online harassment and bullying, possibly by colleagues.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOP-AM 1500 Washington

It was a crime that thundered across Kansas City, took the lives of six firefighters, and 28 years later, still resonates as a shattering, life-changing moment for countless people. And on Wednesday, many of those people packed a Kansas City courtroom — and an overflow room with a monitor — for a hearing to determine if Bryan Sheppard, one of those convicted of that crime, will one day walk out of prison.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kansas City Star & KansasCity.com