Forty-eight people died from fires in New York City last year, the fewest at any point in more than a century, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday. The decline — with the total far below the peak of 310 people in 1970 — was attributed by officials to a combination of initiatives undertaken by the Fire Department, including improved response times, fire inspections, a program to hand out smoke alarms and expanded fire education programs.
- PUB DATE: 1/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Times

A City Council committee decided Monday that Minneapolis will pay $175,000 to a former firefighter cadet who sued the city for discrimination. Dominique Sabas, of St. Paul, was a probationary firefighter cadet in 2013, but in the final week of training the Fire Department dismissed her, arguing that she had failed to disclose a previous medical condition.
- PUB DATE: 1/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

Washington Twp. is offering a $1,000 signing bonus to new firefighter recruits, in an effort to help fill approximately 30 part-time positions. Deputy fire Chief Scott Kujawa said the need to fill the positions in the department comes out of necessity with there being a shortage of available firefighters in the region.
- PUB DATE: 1/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Dayton Daily News

City Manager Sharon A. Addison has given Fire Chief Dale C. Herman an ultimatum about his involvement in a bitter contract fight between the city and the firefighters’ union. In a heated telephone call on Friday, Ms. Addison threatened his job if he didn’t become more of a team player in the city’s ongoing contract battle with the Watertown Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 191.
- PUB DATE: 1/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Watertown Daily Times

A former Birmingham firefighter mailed a flier to 1,000 homes this week that’s critical of a captain on the city’s fire department. In a series of emails, Mike McIntyre admits he’s responsible for sending out the flier. McIntyre became a Birmingham firefighter in June 2015 and served with the department until several weeks ago, when he accepted a resignation settlement.
- PUB DATE: 1/10/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Detroit Free Press