An attempt to privatize the fire department in the tiny suburb of North Riverside was dealt a setback when an administrative judge ruled the village could not cancel its contract with union firefighters. Facing a payout of $1.8 million for police and firefighter pensions last year, village officials cut off contract negotiations with the union and planned to enter a deal for fire protection with a private company.
- PUB DATE: 3/31/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: chicago.sun-times.

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