A state agency failed to present enough evidence to justify requiring all new homes bigger than 4,500 square feet to include fire sprinklers, a Minnesota Appeals Court panel decided Tuesday. The three judges unanimously overturned the state Department of Labor and Industry's rule. "After making a careful and searching inquiry of the record, we conclude that the 4,500-square-foot threshold for one-family dwellings is arbitrary and not supported by substantial evidence in the record," the ruling said.
- PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bemidji Pioneer

California corrections officials on Tuesday dropped a plan to include prisoners with violent backgrounds in the nation's largest and oldest inmate firefighting unit, a day after the proposal was first reported by The Associated Press. The state still plans to expand the program to include inmates who have up to seven years left to serve on their sentences, instead of the current five years, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Jeffrey Callison told the AP.
- PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCRA-TV NBC 3 Sacramento

A small plane plunged into a Florida mobile home park, churning up flames and a column of black smoke, and authorities said they rushed to check for an "unknown number of victims" in the chaotic aftermath. The aircraft struck two homes at the Mar-Mak Colony Club in Palm Springs before 6 p.m. Tuesday, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Capt.
- PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: bradenton herald

A firefighter of 37 years, hero to his family and the Colton community, was tragically killed after a suspected drunken driver slammed into his ATV. David Lodarski, a father of two, was inspired by his father to become a firefighter. His son is following in his footsteps to carry on the tradition to become a firefighter as well.
- PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: nbc los angeles

A small plane crashed into a mobile home park and set two homes on fire, killing the pilot and a 21-year-old woman who was inside one of the homes, investigators and a relative said Wednesday. No one else was aboard the plane and no one else on the ground was injured when the plane plunged from the sky about 5:30 p.
- PUB DATE: 10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: miami herald