Three city councilors have accused Human Resources Director William Mahoney of failing to enforce the city's residency requirement by allowing one deputy fire chief and five district chiefs to live outside Springfield despite their promotions. "Many of these Chiefs have been in violation of the ordinance for years and Bill Mahoney has yet to demand that they comply," the councilors stated in a joint press release.
- PUB DATE: 3/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Springfield Union-News & Sunday Republican

The Prescott Fire Department is operating on the slimmest of manpower margins, and it’s relying on firefighters to volunteers to work overtime in order to keep fire stations from being shut down entirely for a day. When the problem first began to become evident at the end of last year, Fire Chief Dennis Light put into place a plan to “brown out” fire stations.
- PUB DATE: 3/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: the daily courier

Philadelphia fire investigators had no scientific basis to conclude that a 1985 rowhouse fire in Oxford Circle was arson, a defense expert testified about the blaze that killed two boys and sent their father to death row for their murder. Nationally known fire consultant John Lentini said that when he heard that a city fire marshal, and then a second, had identified three separate points of origin for the fire, "I said, 'He must be magic, because it can't be done.
- PUB DATE: 3/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: philly.com

Michigan City (IN) Fire Department, 115-foot T Rex articulating aerial ladder platform quint. Commander 4000 cab and chassis; Cummins ISX12 500-hp engine; Hale Qmax 2,000-gpm pump

The victim of a horrific crime took the stand Wednesday and stared down the man accused of nearly killing her. Wednesday was the first time Brenda Welch has seen her ex-husband David Morgan since the night she was found unconscious inside his burning Lynnwood home in 2014. She had been severely beaten, doused in gasoline and set on fire when firefighters found her.
- PUB DATE: 3/30/2016 7:51:06 PM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000