The Port Angeles Fire Department needs to hire more firefighters or the city risks a downgrade in its fire insurance rating, Chief Ken Dubuc told the Port Angeles Business Association on Tuesday. A downgrade could mean up to 90 percent of residents and businesses in Port Angeles would see anywhere from a 5 percent to a 10 percent increase in insurance costs, Dubuc has said.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2017 1:51:27 AM - SOURCE: Port Angeles Peninsula Daily News

The volunteer fire department in this Morgan County village was mourning for one of their own on Tuesday after an early-morning fire swept through a firefighter's home, killing his wife and two small children. Jonathan Austif, a U.S. Marine veteran and a volunteer firefighter for about four years, was injured when he jumped out of a second-story window after fire broke out at his home at 409 Main St.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield State Journal-Register

Proposed changes to state regulations that would reduce requirements for electrical protections and sprinklers in new homes, college dorms, hotels and other buildings fly in the face of reason, state firefighters and building inspectors said during a public hearing Tuesday in Eau Claire. The proposal would halt nationally required expansion of devices used to prevent fires and electrocutions in new building projects.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

Linda and Michael Hart met retired Prince George’s County firefighter Stu Newman for the second time. The first was nearly 58 years ago. “I handed Linda off to the police officer on the ladder in the back of the house and I carried Michael down,” said Newman. Michael was unconscious. “I got onto the stairwell and took my air mask off and put it on his face,” said Newman.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJLA-TV ABC 7 Washington

A former Clark County Fire & Rescue employee alleges she was forced out of the department because she was married to another employee, despite the fact multiple related men have worked at the district without reproach. In a notice for a tort claim, which are filed before formal lawsuits, attorney Robert S.
- PUB DATE: 2/1/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Columbian