Walnut Creek, Calif. -- Two Contra Costa Fire District stations slated for closure will remain open for at least the next two years after the federal government announced Monday that it is awarding the fire district a $6.5 million grant. The grant, which is part of a federal program called Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, or SAFER, will "significantly ...

SEATTLE -- Seattle firefighters have controlled a four-alarm blaze that tore through the former Sunny Jim peanut butter plant in south Seattle, injuring a firefighter and sending smoke high into the air. An estimated 120 firefighters responded Monday to the vacant, city-owned, two-story building. Fire officials say one firefighter was injured by a piece of falling siding. He was reported in ...

SEATTLE – Envelopes with white powder were found Monday in eight federal buildings in seven different cities across Washington, Idaho and Utah, prompting the evacuation of an IRS building and a U.S. attorney's office, FBI officials said. The FBI is investigating whether the incidents were linked. Special Agent Frederick Gutt said it would be "logical" that they would be. "It is ...

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Two pension funds must collect $76 million in overpayments that went to retired Minneapolis police officers, firefighters and their survivors. A judge has ordered two Minneapolis pension funds to recover about $76 million in overpayments to retired police and firefighters or their spouses. Under the order, the 860 retired police officers or their survivors must repay the city ...

BOSTON - The Boston City Council should reject an arbitration award for firefighters because the cost would be “disastrous for the taxpayers,’’ a fiscal watchdog agency said in a report yesterday. The analysis by the Boston Finance Commission highlighted what the agency described as “deceptive’’ calculations by arbitrator Dana Edward Eischen, who estimated that the award would cost $39.4 million in ...

FAIRFAX, Va. - If you threw a buck or two into the boots of Fairfax County firefighters over the weekend, you'll want to know just how successful those firefighters were in their aggressive efforts to collect cash for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department firefighters and public safety workers collected more donations than any fire service organization ...

NEWBURYPORT -- A Woodman Way man died Thursday, three days after going into cardiac arrest while the nearest emergency response facility, the West End fire station, was closed due to a budget dispute between firefighters and Mayor Donna Holaday, Andrew J. Soucy, 70, died Thursday at Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, N.H. Soucy suffered a heart attack while attending a condominium ...

On January 22nd, Senators Tom Carper (DE) and Susan Collins (ME) introduced the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act in the Senate. This bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to classify automatic fire sprinkler systems as 5-year property for purposes of depreciation. The bill, S. 2947, was referred to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration. Both Senator Carper and Senator ...

UK - A retained firefighter who was injured in a fire at a fireworks factory in which two of his colleagues died is suing East Sussex fire service. Timothy Austin, from Barcombe fire station, is also seeking damages from factory owners Alpha Fireworks. Firemen Geoff Wicker, 49, and Brian Wembridge, 63, were killed in the fire at Marlie Farm in Shortgate, ...

BOSTON - The Boston firefighters’ union offered an 11th-hour contract concession on wages yesterday to the City Council, a dramatic twist that appeared to significantly improve the chances that councilors will approve a controversial arbitration award. Councilors hailed what they called an unprecedented move by Edward A. Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 718, who made the ...

SAN FRANCISCO - Five owners or operators of the Vallejo retirement home where three residents died in a 2008 fire have been charged with criminal violations, authorities said. The fire started accidentally when a spark from a cigar that Robert Bennett, a resident of Casa de Vallejo, had been smoking near an oxygen cylinder ignited the tank's oxygen, investigators said. Bennett, ...

A firefighter was injured early Tuesday battling an intense blaze that destroyed most of an import business housed in a commercial building in Chatsworth, officials said. Firefighters responded to an alarm at 12:15 a.m. and arrived to find flames shooting through the roof of Bey-Berk International in the 9600 block of Cozycroft Avenue. By the time co-owner Kurken Berksanlar arrived about ...

BALTIMORE - Three firefighters were injured Wednesday night while battling a fire in East Baltimore, officials said. A fire broke out just before 11 p.m. in a vacant two-story brick building in the 1100 block of North Patterson Ave., according to fire department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright. One firefighter battled the fire from the roof, fell through, and suffered an injured ...

BALTIMORE - Holding signs that said "City Hall Has Turned Their Backs on Police and Firefighters," about two dozen police and firefighters union members protested the City Council's passage of a pension bill that took effect Thursday. The union members wore shirts saying, "We Protect You. Help Protect Us," and yelled as local city and business leaders entered a fundraising event ...

LOS ANGELES—An ambulance ride in Los Angeles could go up 37 percent in July if the city approves a committee recommendation. The city's Public Safety Committee on Monday night proposed raising fees for basic life support ambulances to $974 from $712, plus mileage of $15.75 a mile. Advanced life support ambulance fees would go to $1,373 from $1,004, plus mileage. The ...

Idaho -- Nez Perce County's rural fire service would continue next year under a proposal submitted by Fire Chief Ron Hall. One week after voters overwhelmingly rejected a plan to replace the county fire department with a fire district, commissioners appeared ready during budget meetings Monday to continue some sort of volunteer-type service in most of the county not within a ...

Missouri officials said they were waiving fees and expediting highway permits to make it easier for trucks to haul relief supplies into tornado-stricken Joplin. The Missouri Department of Transportation said permits were required for out-of-state trucks and vehicles hauling wide loads; however, the permits would be issued without charge and would be given high priority for approval. The agency said in ...

DEKALB COUNTY, GA - A second DeKalb County firefighter dismissed after a fatal Dunwoody fire has won back his job, WSB-TV is reporting. A hearing officer ruled for William Jeffrey Greene when he appealed his termination last week, according to reports. Greene was one of the five firefighters fired when a blaze killed 74-year-old Ann Bartlett, hours after the firemen responded ...