Ishani Desai
The Sacramento Bee
(TNS)

A West Sacramento firefighter, who had been serving in the city’s department for 18 years, died Monday during a training exercise.

Tim Hall, 59, served as a fire engineer with the West Sacramento Fire Department while also balancing duties as a volunteer firefighter with the Clarksburg Fire Protection District, according to a city news release. His cause of death was not disclosed.

“We all value and respect the courage, bravery, and commitment that defines the city’s first responders, yet it doesn’t lessen the pain we feel for a life lost or for a family and friends grieving such a profound loss,” West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero said in a statement on social media.

West Sacramento officials said Hall also had worked as a fire investigator and as a member of the search and rescue team during his tenure. He graduated from Delta High School in Clarksburg in 1983, according to his Facebook page.

A calling to become a firefighter struck later in life and he graduated from the Sacramento Regional Fire Academy in 2006.

Guerrero also extended her condolences to Hall’s wife, children and loved ones.

“We will honor his memory and service to our city, and his sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Guerrero said in her statement.

©2024 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A man was struck and killed by a Long Beach Fire Department apparatus just outside the doors of the fire station early Tuesday, Sept. 24, ktla.com reported.

Fire department personnel rendered aid but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene, the report said.

It was unclear what the pedestrian was doing outside the fire station at 12:30 a.m. 

Long Beach firefighters were responding to a call around 12:30 a.m. when the engine hit the pedestrian as it was leaving the station at Claremont Avenue and Second Street, according to the report.

An investigation is underway.

KEACHI, Louisiana – On Saturday, Sept. 21, at approximately 12:15 p.m., the Louisiana State Police responded to a single-vehicle crash, at the intersection of Louisiana Highway 5 and Louisiana Highway 172, involving a DeSoto Parish Fire District vehicle, the state police said in a Facebook post. The crash resulted in the arrest of 39-year-old Mark Magee, a DeSoto Parish fire chief.

The investigation revealed that a 2022 Ford F-250, driven by Magee, was traveling south on Louisiana Highway 5. For reasons still under investigation, Magee lost control and ran off the left side of the roadway, before colliding with a fire hydrant. The Ford is assigned to Fire District 1, unmarked and equipped with emergency lights.

Upon contact with Magee, Troopers detected signs of impairment. During the investigation, a blood sample was collected and submitted for analysis. Magee was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI 1st offense) and careless operation. This investigation remains ongoing.

Magee has been placed on administrative leave, according to ktbs.com.

By Bob Vaccaro

Located in southwestern New York, Warwick consists of three villages and eight hamlets. As of 2020, the Orange County community had a population of just over 32,000.  

The Warwick Fire District provides fire and rescue services to an area of 104 square miles, which has several target hazards, including the following: JCI Jones Chemicals, Inc., St. Anthony Community Hospital, Warwick Municipal Airport, Greenwood Lake, NY and New York State Routes 17A and 94. 

The area also has a high concentration of residences, apartments, and strip malls, all in a mostly rural unhydrated area.  

Back in 2020, the Warwick Fire District recognized that it was time for a new engine and heavy rescue. “The fire district tries to keep to a schedule replacing its apparatus,” said Chris Gardner, current vice president and truck committee chairman for Warwick. Gardner added that the current timeframe for replacement is 15 years for an engine and 20 years for a truck. He pointed out that sometimes, because of finances, the periods between purchases may exceed those lengths of time.

“After looking at various manufacturers and writing our specs, Rosenbauer came out the winner,” said Gardner, adding, “The engine came first—and then the heavy rescue.” The new engine replaces a 2009 KME engine that was due for replacement. The rescue replaces a 2000 International 4 Guys truck that the department had outgrown. 

”The rescue we were replacing had a commercial cab with a 17-foot box,”

Justin Sondel
The Buffalo News, N.Y.
(TNS)

With a hot September sun beating down, Niagara Falls Firefighter Earl Bass climbed over the rail on the First Street traffic bridge above the roaring rapids a few hundred yards from the brink of the falls. With ropes attached to his belt buckle and upper back, he slowly descended toward the deadly waters, a team of his compatriots lowering him to a shallow spot where the water covered the slippery rocks by a few inches.

Donning a yellow helmet and red and yellow swift-water dry suit, Bass stepped onto a submerged rock, paused to retrieve his cellphone from a zippered pocket and smiled for a selfie. Today, he was playing the victim in a swift-water training exercise, part of a new program for the department despite being involved in rapids and gorge rescues for about as long as fire brigades have rushed to the aid of folks in the Cataract City.

Bass, sweat dripping down his face shortly after being rescued by his partner Gus Nienburg, said joining the swift-water team has been eye opening.

“This is way outside my comfort zone,” he said.

Bass said that while standing in the rapids was both unique and exciting, he also gained a lot of knowledge by performing the training and built trust in his fellow swift-water team members.

“I felt a lot more comfortable doing this,” Bass said. “Gus is a good dude, too, so I wasn’t worried about his ability to come get me.”

Bass and Nienburg are among the eight swift-water team members. The unit was created last fall, though plans to institute an official swift-water team had been in place since 2019.

Niagara Falls Fire Department Capt. Jason Cafarella, a member of the swift-water team who handles logistics around training and organization, said that those plans were delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, when state trainings were canceled.

But last year the department was able to upgrade its equipment and send eight firefighters to the state’s training course in Oriskany, near Rome. There they spent the better part of a week − four firefighters in September and four in October − receiving classroom training and practicing what they learned on the state’s swift-water training course.

Cafarella described it as a ringed pool, akin to the lazy rivers found at resorts and theme parks, with various terrain obstacles and powerful jets that move the water. The ring then attaches to a pond-like area where first responders can train for deeper water scenarios.

There is also an area in the center with cars and mock buildings where they simulate flood rescue scenarios, he added.

“So not only were we trained in swift water, we were trained for flood response, too,” Cafarella said.

All Niagara Falls firefighters go through rope rescue training, techniques that are deployed in the rapids and the gorge using fixed pulley systems to allow all units to safely respond to emergencies that require first responders to retrieve people