“Chief (Lillian) Bonsignore has guided the country’s busiest EMS system through some of our darkest days…” FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said.

By Thomas Tracy Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The first woman to lead New York’s cadre of emergency medical technicians and paramedics is calling it a career, the Daily News has learned.

Lillian Bonsignore — who is also the first openly gay leader of the city’s EMS service — has had a three-decade run as a front line first responder.

Assigned to the four-star post in May 2019, Bonsignore, 53, led the city’s 4,640 EMS members during the COVID pandemic, unrest over the murder of George Floyd and the death of EMS Lt. Alison Russo, who was viciously stabbed by a deranged man while on duty outside her Queens EMS station in late September.

“We also had a flood and a couple of storms in there too,” Bonsignore recalled. “When I signed on, no one told me we would have a world-wide pandemic that would shut the city down.”

“As first responders do, particularly EMS, we put our best foot forward and took care of a very sick and needy city in one of the darkest times I remember in the course of my career,” she said. “I’m so proud of the work they have done.”

In 1991, Bonsignore was a single mom trying to overcome her hardscrabble Bronx childhood when her pediatrician encouraged her to become an EMT.

After joining EMS, Bonsignore worked her way up the FDNY ladder, earning respect and accolades from colleagues across the decades. She was chief of EMS training when former Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro tapped her for EMS’ top spot.

Her last day on the job will be Dec. 30. FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh hasn’t named Bonsignore’s replacement.

Bonsignore’s potential successors include EMS chief of training Cesar Escobar and Deputy Assistant Chief Michael Fields, said a source familiar with the matter.

“Chief Bonsignore has guided the country’s busiest EMS system through some of our darkest days, including when NYC became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kavanagh said Wednesday. “She has broken multiple glass ceilings in her career …. She has opened the door for so many great leaders to follow.”

During her tenure, Bonsignore spearheaded efforts to improve communications and technology for rank-and-file first responders. She also cleared the way for city ambulances to be equipped with motorized power stretchers that can self-lift and lower.

“It may not seem like a lot, but we saved a generation of back, neck and shoulder injuries,” Bonsignore said.

She’s also credited with making structural changes to the EMS hierarchy and increased the number of chiefs in the department, which were in short supply.

“It was really something that needed to happen,” she said. “My theory is to do things people will forget about. If you do it well enough, it will become institutionalized.”

Bonsignore said she had “a thousand more things” she wishes she could accomplish before retiring and hopes her successor continues the push for better safety measures and decrease the sizable pay gap between EMS and other first responders so EMTs and paramedics “are able to support themselves and not work multiple jobs.”

“It’s a young profession compared to other first responder jobs,” she said of EMS. “We have to continue to grow so people in our society realize we’re not just a group of ambulance drivers. We’re highly trained medical professionals that can bring emergency room training to your bedside.”

Bonsignore says she’s still friends with the pediatrician who encouraged her to apply for EMS.

“Now I get to talk to her about retiring,” she joked.

The Pittsburgh ambulance was tracked 20 miles away, and state police arrested the driver.

By Chris Mautner Source pennlive.com (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A man was arrested after police said he stole an ambulance while paramedics were handling a medical call, according to multiple reports.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said that at about 4:30 a.m. Friday morning, medics responded to a call in the 200 block of West Sycamore Street in Pittsburgh.

While they were treating a patient, a man stole the ambulance and drove away.

Officials said it was driven to Beaver County, where state police were able to track it down more than 20 miles away, according to TribLive.

According to WPXI, multiple police cars surrounded the ambulance on the Parkway West outbound near the Hopewell exit.

The suspect was taken into custody.

Polk County Fire Rescue said that Driver/Engineer Dustin Bovill cleared the child’s airway and rode with the patient until EMS providers could take over

Source By Leila Merrill FireRescue1/EMS1

POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County Fire Rescue said that one of its firefighters saved the life of a child Friday while attending the Havendale Christmas Parade with his family.

Dustin Bovill, a driver and engineer, said he could tell that the child was having a medical emergency.

“While I was watching the float pass by, I saw the father’s expression as he looked up from the float and I knew that something was not right,” Bovill said in a statement posted on Facebook. “After I saw the child’s father, I jumped onto the moving float in order to assist in any way that I could.”

Bovill cleared the child’s airway.

He stayed on the moving float with the patient and the patient’s family until the end of the parade route.

Bovill transferred care to Polk County EMS providers who were standing by. They transported the patient to a hospital.

“Driver/Engineer Bovill’s instinct to jump in and assist a citizen in need demonstrates our member’s readiness to serve whether they are on and off-duty,” said Polk County Fire Rescue Chief Hezedean A. Smith. “Bovill’s actions and the care he provided to the child in need is something we are very proud of here at Polk County Fire Rescue.”

Members of the association’s Safety and Health Section and Fire and Life Safety Section are now working on a lithium-ion toolkit for fire departments

By FireRescue1 Staff

CHANTILLY, Va. — The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) has launched a dedicated resource webpage focused on fire department response to lithium-ion battery incidents and energy storage systems (ESS).

The resource center, “Lithium-Ion and Energy Storage Systems,” is the culmination of efforts by the IAFC’s Safety and Health Section and Fire and Life Safety Section, with a workgroup ultimately producing multiple resource guides and webinars focused on preparing for these incidents.

The nearly 30-person workgroup is now creating a lithium-ion toolkit that will aid the fire service in not only preparing organizations for response to incidents involving lithium-ion batteries, but provide tools for community risk reduction efforts, building and fire code best practices, as well as general information on associated equipment, such as building and community charging. This toolkit is set to be released by the end of February.

Watervliet Firefighter Edward Rolfe was suspended with pay for over three years before losing his job

By Leila Merrill FireRescue1

WATERVLIET, N.Y. — Watervliet Firefighter Edward Rolfe was found guilty Wednesday of misdemeanor forcible touching and sex abuse, plus harassment. He was on trial for sexually abusing an Uber driver in 2019, News10 reported.

Rolfe may face up to a year of jail time.

He was a lieutenant with the department at the time of the assault, and at that time, he was suspended without pay. A source told News10 that after 30 days, his suspension continued and his paychecks resumed. He was suspended with pay for nearly four years.

Rolfe lost his job after being convicted, News Channel 13 reported.

Michael Browder Jr. sued the city for $8.3 million after officials rejected a religious exemption request and placed him on unpaid administrative leave.

By Chris Van Buskirk Source masslive.com (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A Muslim former firefighter in Boston has sued the city Tuesday for $8.3 million after officials rejected a religious exemption request for COVID-19 testing and vaccination policies in 2021 and placed him on unpaid administrative leave for non-compliance, according to a lawsuit filed in Suffolk County Superior Court.

Michael Browder Jr. filed the suit, which accuses city officials of treating him differently than his non-Black colleagues, embarrassing him, creating personal hardship and affecting his chances for a firefighting job in New Hampshire. A string of people have sued the city as a result of COVID-era vaccination rules.

“As a result of Defendant’s actions, Plaintiff has suffered great financial and emotional distress,” the lawsuit said. “The Defendant’s decision regarding disciplinary action embarrassed the Plaintiff and was made publicly in front of all his colleagues at the Fire House.”

A spokesperson for the city of Boston did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.

In the lawsuit, Browder said he submitted a religious exemption in September 2021 to be exempt from COVID-19 policies “due to his sincerely held religious beliefs.”

The city’s policy at the time allowed employees to be tested for or vaccinated against the virus as a condition of their employment. The former firefighter said he did not receive a response until he initiated a follow-up with the city.

He offered, according to the lawsuit, to complete a self-monitoring form each morning and night while on duty, take his temperature before completing the form, and use a face covering and other personal protective equipment while on duty.

Days later, on Oct. 7, 2021, city officials responded to the follow-up saying they needed more information, court documents said.

And on Oct. 27, 2021, Browder said he was placed “on unpaid administrative leave for allegedly being non-compliant with the testing policy, despite Defendant failing to rule on Plaintiff’s request for religious exemption.”

“On Oct. 29, 2021, Defendant denied Plaintiff’s request for religious exemption and advised Plaintiff that he was being placed on unpaid administrative leave retroactive to Oct. 27, 2021,” the lawsuit said, a decision that Browder appealed a few days later.

Browder was fired from his position in October 2021, and he alleges he was the only Black firefighter employed by the city “who was disciplined by the subject policies.”

“Once a significant number of non-Black employees were facing disciplinary action under said policies, Defendant issued extensions to compliance for said non-Black employees while continuing to imprison Plaintiff in the purgatory of unpaid administrative leave,” the lawsuit said. “Effectively, Plaintiff had no trust or confidence that he would be treated fairly or justly because the Defendant failed to follow protocol and made disparaging remarks about him.”

Boston officials later changed COVID-19 policies to allow employees to verify their vaccination status by Jan. 15.

In the lawsuit, he accused a union official of openly ridiculing him for his religious beliefs via email with city officials.

Browder said he has tried to find other jobs, even applying to a New Hampshire fire investigator position in early August.

He said he passed physical fitness and written tests, advanced to a three-member oral board, and was notified that he would meet with the agency directors.

“After the interview with the agency directors, Plaintiff then received an email from the Deputy Fire Marshal advising that it had been decided that he would not be continuing in the hiring process,” the lawsuit said. “Plaintiff believes that he was rejected by the NH Fire Marshal’s Office because of Defendant’s disparagement.”