Coordinating communications among some 14 agencies was among the top priorities during the U.S. Coast Guard-led international mass-rescue drill in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Tuesday. The Coast Guard worked with several local agencies — including law enforcement, firefighters and paramedics — as well as Canadian first responders to simulate rescuing 60 people from the Strait after a maritime disaster about six miles north of Port Angeles.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2016 2:26:14 AM - SOURCE: Port Angeles Peninsula Daily News

A top Los Angeles Fire Department official is alleging corruption in the city inspection programs he once administered as part of a $5-million retaliation claim filed Tuesday. Deputy Chief John Vidovich was removed from his post as fire marshal last month after a two-year tenure that was marred by disclosures about delinquent inspections and mounting criticism from the firefighters' labor union.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

Authorities arrested the man who was living inside the Bronx drug house that exploded Tuesday morning, killing an FDNY battalion chief and injuring 20 others, law enforcement sources said. Julio Salcedo was arrested in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, by the Regional Fugitive Task Force made up of NYPD detectives and US Marshals.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

Firefighters union officials and top brass at the New Orleans Fire Department are at odds over some recent promotions and pay raises. The latest dust-up between union President Nick Felton and Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell came Monday during a meeting of the Civil Service Commission. At the meeting, Felton criticized the department over the way it handled the promotion of 40 firefighters to the rank of captain, as well as the distribution of extra pay to NOFD employees who are not emergency responders.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The New Orleans Advocate

Corey Landry, Durham's fire chief, is once again fighting fires after beating back stage 4 lymphoma. Landry, 47, answered his first call about a month ago, responding to an apartment fire in Berwick, Maine, that displaced up to 20 people. He's also returned to the gridiron as a referee, and this Friday he'll be calling the Dartmouth-Penn football game in Hanover.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Foster's Daily Democrat