PHOTO - A firefighter with the Leach Fire Department died Wednesday morning in a single-vehicle crash on his way to a structure fire, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said. Troopers say Michael Dale Russell, 68, from Rose, Oklahoma, was pronounced dead at the scene with massive injuries. The crash occurred at about 7:30 a.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOTV-TV CBS 6 Tulsa

Firefighter James Lee Jr. of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) has been named the 2017 Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award recipient. The award will be presented on Wednesday during the Opening Ceremony of FDIC International 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Firefighter (FF) James Lee rescued an 81-year-old man from the top-floor rear window of a five-story Old Law tenement that had two railroad flats per floor.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fire Engineering

Last summer, as the Austin fire union was preparing to represent one of its members at a disciplinary hearing, department officials permitted union president Bob Nicks to review confidential documents in the case under a provision of the city’s labor contract with firefighters. With a couple of clicks, Nicks secretly downloaded the information onto his personal laptop — but says he disclosed what he’d done a few days later to top department officials.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Austin American-Statesman

Tacoma Fire Department leaders have revised their hiring practices in the wake of a News Tribune story about a firefighter who died of a drug overdose in July 2016 after showing up for work impaired. Deeper scrutiny of criminal background check information and broader questions about illegal drug use are the key changes the next round of job applicants will face in April, when the department will begin filling 16 positions — 12 new positions authorized in the city’s latest budget and four existing slots to account for retirements.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tacoma News Tribune

At a Berlin day care center, a little boy lights a match and touches it to another, making a sudden flare. The girl sitting next to him shouts a word that is the same in German and English: “Cool!” The two children, both under 6, aren’t breaking any rules. They are taking part in a fire workshop designed by Kain Karawahn, an artist who, as part of a performance piece about freedom in 1987, once set a blaze at the Berlin Wall.
- PUB DATE: 2/23/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Times