After 31 years with the Anacortes Fire Department, Assistant Chief John Bird is retiring. His last day is Tuesday. The position is temporarily being filled by Nick Walsh, who has been provisionally appointed to division chief. Fire Chief Richard Curtis said the assistant chief position, which oversees training and EMS, is really too much for one person to do.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2015 2:43:39 AM - SOURCE: Go Anacortes.com

When Marilyn Gillotti joined the Danbury Fire Department in 1987, she was one of only two women firefighters. The walls were covered with Playboy magazine posters, she had to put a sign outside the door when using the only bathroom in the building and she felt her colleagues often underestimated her skills.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: connecticut post

Outside a nursing home in Hilliard, gray-haired women with walkers congregated around the automatic sliding doors. Men with canes sat on benches. But inside, in a single, spartan room just off the main entrance, a 55-year-old man lay on a raised bed, unable to sit up or move his legs. He used to be a giant.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: columbus dispatch

City officials are investigating revelations that fire union president Chris Steele failed to inform the city of his divorce in 2012 after negotiating in court to keep his ex-wife on his taxpayer-funded health care plan. At the same time, Steele was battling the city’s efforts to verify the eligibility of firefighters’ dependents.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: san antonio express-news

Gov. Rick Scott's record amount of line-item vetoes to the Florida budget is drawing strong criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. One veto that is drawing almost universal fire involves the $1.6 million item that would have given a $2,000 raise to each Division of Forestry's firefighter.
- PUB DATE: 6/26/2015 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJXT-TV CBS 4 Jacksonville