A lawsuit challenging the city of Topeka’s contract with an interim fire chief will move forward, but a temporary injunction seeking to block the contract won’t. Shawnee County District Court Judge Rebecca Crotty allowed the case to proceed, as long as state Rep. John Alcala, a former Topeka city councilman, can prove the city’s contract with Goodyear, Ariz.
- PUB DATE: 3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Topeka Capital-Journal

The dispatch call was vague: a 20-year-old woman was sick and needed help. An oversized rig carrying a team of Anaheim firefighters rolled up to the modest apartment on the city’s west side, followed moments later by an ambulance driven by Victoria Morrison. Morrison, a nurse practitioner, rushed to the woman’s bedside to take her vitals and ask a few questions to determine whether she needed to be taken to an emergency room, or could be treated in the comfort of her own home.
- PUB DATE: 3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: orange county register

A judge has temporarily halted the de-certification of the Red Springs Volunteer Fire Department at the request of the town. The halt, issued Friday, came as a result of a petition sent to Wayne Goodwin, commissioner of Insurance and state fire marshal, by town attorney Neil Yarborough in February in an attempt to resolve the issue outside of court.
- PUB DATE: 3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: red springs citizen

When firefighter Stephen Babcock found out he had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in October, his costs to fight the illness should have been covered. State lawmakers had passed a bill that was supposed to protect firefighters who fell ill with 10 types of cancer that likely stem from on-the-job exposure to carcinogens.
- PUB DATE: 3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: usa today

Owensboro Fire Chief Steve Mitchell told members of the city-county 911 board Tuesday that firefighters need a better way to communicate with dispatch when firefighters are confronted by a disturbed person during an emergency run. Mitchell told 911 board members that when firefighters face disturbed or intoxicated people on some runs, they ask dispatch to send city police officers to assist.
- PUB DATE: 3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: firehouse