A Detroit firefighter and longtime veteran died last night while on duty. Sgt. Vince Smith, a 24-year veteran with Detroit Fire died in his sleep at Engine 48, on Fort St near Marathon Oil refinery. Smith was assigned to DFD Ladder 13 but he was pulling a duty shift overnight at Engine 48. "He had a special way that he saw life," said Battalion Chief Steve Kirschner.
- PUB DATE: 11/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJBK fox 2 detroit

A proposal to reclassify three of the Kingman Fire Department's six battalion chiefs from exempt to non-exempt status revealed conflict between the city's police and fire departments at Tuesday's City Council meeting, and led to hard feelings and some profanity. City Manager John Dougherty said the change was necessary for three of the battalion chiefs who work in operations and are on the same 24-hour shift schedule as firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 11/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: daily miner

Fuel mitigation is crucial for combating the nation’s growing wildfire problem, but culture, politics, and geography can be significant barriers keeping communities from doing the work. That’s one of the key findings in “Local Wildand/Urban Interface: Fire Department Wildfire Preparedness and Readiness Capabilities,” the new report of an ambitious NFPA project aimed at capturing, for the first time, how municipal fire departments nationwide are adjusting to their increased role in battling wildfire.
- PUB DATE: 11/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NFPA Journal

Some volunteer firefighters in Robeson County are under fire from vandals. Someone has been breaking into the homes of Parkton volunteer firefighters and has even shot the fire station’s sign. Parkton Fire Department Captain Jason Viar said that recently, several of his firefighters have been answering a different kind of alarm-burglar alarms at their own homes.
- PUB DATE: 11/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WRAL-TV CBS 5 Raleigh

The Paradise Fire, which had been burning since May, has been declared extinguished. Ty Crowe, fire operations specialist for Olympic National Park, said Wednesday that the fire in the Queets River drainage was out following a series of storms that dropped several feet of rain on the area. The wildfire, the largest in the history of the park, burned an estimated 2,795 acres of rainforest trees and deep duff, as of the last update in September.
- PUB DATE: 11/20/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: peninsula daily news