A veteran Chicago paramedic is taking on the Chicago Fire Department over how he wears his bullet proof vest. Pat Fitzmaurice currently wears the vest he bought with his own money over his uniform. The fire department says that is against policy. Fitzmaurice is a 40-year Chicago Fire Department veteran - a paramedic field chief who works the West Side, where gunfire is an unwelcome, but frequent reality.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLS-TV ABC 7 Chicago

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) today released a new report exploring best practices for responders using privately owned vehicles (POV) for emergency service organizations (ESO) responses. The report is a joint effort of the IAFC’s Volunteer and Combination Officers Section (VCOS) and Safety, Health and Survival Section (SHSS) and the NVFC.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: International Association of Fire Chiefs

Cal Fire has agreed to soften the discipline it imposed on three former captains who were demoted in the wake of a high-profile scandal at the department’s Ione Academy, according to settlement documents released Thursday to The Sacramento Bee. Salvador Bruno, Cole Periera and Michael Roe were all demoted from fire captain to fire apparatus engineer earlier this year for allegedly drinking while on duty at cadet graduation celebrations and allowing subordinates to do the same.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: sacramento bee

Three people have been charged after a fight on top of a D.C. fire truck that was caught on video. According to a D.C. fire spokesperson, the incident happened at around 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the intersection of 7th Street SE and Alabama Avenue SE. The truck was at a stoplight at the intersection when a male ran towards the truck while being chased by suspects who were after him.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: wusa 9

Three people were trapped on the balcony of a burning building with firefighters trying to save them -- but all the ladders the first-responders had were too short. Volunteer firefighters in Landover Hills, Maryland saved three lives early Thursday by thinking on their feet and piecing together an escape route using two ladders.
- PUB DATE: 8/28/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: nbc Washington