An emotional Paw Paw Fire Chief Jim DeGroff IV spoke fondly of his lieutenant who was killed Wednesday night when he came into contact with a downed line.
Lt. Ethan Quillen’s gear was on display as the chief and Michigan State Police Special Lt. DuWayne Robinson spoke to the media outside the firehouse.
Robinson said the state police are investigating the accidental death at the request of the fire department, according to MLive.
Through tears, DeGroff described his friend: “A great guy, father, husband, volunteered his time here for free, gave his life for free…”
The chief continued: “The men and women that serve in this fire department, they love their community. We’re so fortunate to have the people we have. They don’t want anything in return. Their satisfaction is helping another family and helping anywhere we can. We don’t want pay. We don’t want press. We don’t look for that.”
He explained that the original downed power line was being handled when a tree broke and took down a live line. “The line snaked and there was no way to get away from it… Nothing that any human did or (Quillen) did was wrong.”
“Ethan was the example of the Paw Paw Volunteer Fire Department. He earned his rank as a lieutenant and this scar is not going to ever go away.”
Volunteers are still handling calls, and neighboring departments also are lending a hand.
“The citizens of Paw Paw and the townships we serve are still protected, just with a heavy heart.”
Feb. 22—The man accused of intentionally setting a shopping center ablaze in 2017, which caused the death of San Antonio firefighter Scott Deem, is expected to go to trial this year.
The case against Emond Johnson, 44, has been tied up in pretrial proceedings for nearly six years. He faces charges of murder and arson resulting in death.
Johnson appeared in court Wednesday for a hearing to determine when the trial could begin. One of his attorneys, J. Charles Bunk, suggested Sept. 18 or Oct. 10. Prosecutors said they needed to talk with witnesses to know if those dates worked for them.
Investigators say Johnson was behind on lease payments on his gym in Ingram Square, a shopping mall on the Northwest Side, and had other debts, prompting him to set the building on fire on May 18, 2017.
The delay in going to trial was lengthened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed the courts and postponed even high-profile criminal cases. Before the pandemic, Johnson’s attorneys attempted to have the trial moved, arguing that extensive publicity had made a fair trial impossible in Bexar County. A judge denied that motion in 2019.
During Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors said they had already turned over all evidence to Johnson’s defense attorneys. Bunk said seven months would be an adequate amount of time to review all the material and prepare Johnson’s defense.
State District Judge Kristina Escalona asked Johnson at the end of the hearing if he understood what was going on.
“Yes ma’am,” he responded.
Escalona said attorneys and court personnel were doing “everything we can to get you to trial.”
Another hearing is scheduled for March 22, at which time attorneys and prosecutors will finalize the trial schedule and dates to hear pretrial motions.
Escalona said she expects the trial will take five weeks.
VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI — A Paw Paw firefighter died after coming into contact with a downed power line, state police said.
Firefighters across West Michigan responded to dozens of calls Wednesday of downed power lines and trees caused by freezing rain and ice.
In Van Buren County, firefighters were in the 42000 block of 30th Street, in Almena Township, when a firefighter was injured about 6:10 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Other details surrounding the incident were not immediately available.
Feb. 21—BEN LOMOND — A volunteer recruit with the Santa Cruz County Fire Department died Sunday during a weekend training exercise, county officials said Tuesday.
According to a county release, Daniel Lamothe, 38, of Santa Cruz, became “medically distressed” during a joint firefighter academy training session at the Ben Lomond Training Center. He was given immediate medical assistance from personnel at the scene of the training but revival efforts were unsuccessful.
“We mourn the passing of one of our brethren,” County Fire Chief Nate Armstrong said in the release. “Daniel wanted to be a firefighter so that he could give back to the community where he was raised and in which he lived. His commitment to public service serves as a model for us all. We grieve along with his friends and family for this sudden and tragic loss.”
Armstrong told the Sentinel that Lamothe was participating in a rescue training exercise considered “moderately strenuous” at the time of his collapse. As of Tuesday, autopsy efforts were underway to confirm the cause of death.
Santa Cruz County contracts with Cal Fire to provide fire prevention and emergency medical services for unincorporated regions of the county. Armstrong, the fire chief for Cal Fire’s San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit, also holds the title of Santa Cruz County fire chief.
County Fire includes five volunteer fire companies that provide fire protection and emergency response services for the region. According to Armstrong, the county currently has 68 active volunteer firefighters and it has never had a volunteer fatality during a training exercise or while responding to an emergency.
Three people, including a firefighter, were injured in the course of an overnight Thursday fire at the AmishView Inn & Suites in Lancaster County, according to reports.
The fire began around 2:40 a.m. on the 3100 block of the Philadelphia Pike in Leacock Township.
Steve Dienner, chief of Intercourse Fire Co., told FOX 43 two people were taken to a hospital. A firefighter was treated for minor injuries.
The blaze reportedly started in a hotel vending/ice machine. Fire officials do not have an estimate on how long the AmishView will be closed, according to FOX 43.
A man staying at the AmishView tied bed sheets together to help rescue other guests, according to WGAL.
“Me and my mom rushed out. But my dad stayed and helped other people. My dad got rescued by a ladder, but like, he saved two people,” Mateo Caceres said, according to WGAL. “Since the fire was out there, he had to tie bed sheets to get people down the thing.”
Displaced guests are reportedly staying at the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn while the situation is resolved. AmishView manager Tom Neely told WGAL about 60% of their rooms were occupied at the time of the fire.
Feb. 23, 2023 The cost of basic life support ambulance service through the city’s 9-1-1 system would rise from $900 to $1,385.
By Chris Sommerfeldt, Leonard Greene Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed byTribune Content Agency, LLC.
Patients and the companies that insure them would have to pay more for rides in FDNY ambulances under a rate hike proposed to offset the cost of inflation and salary increases for emergency medical technicians and paramedics, fire officials said.
Under a proposal published Tuesday by the FDNY, the cost of basic life support ambulance service through the city’s 911 system would rise from $900 to $1,385, a 54% increase.
The proposed fee schedule also calls for an additional charge of $20 per mile traveled, up from $15 per mile.
“The charges for ambulance service were last increased two years ago, in January 2021,” the department said in a notice announcing a public hearing on the rate hike.
“The proposed rates in part reflect increases (including recent EMS collective bargaining increases and inflation) in personal services costs and other than personal services costs required to provide emergency ambulance service. The proposed rate increases have been calculated to reduce the portion of such costs that is currently borne by city taxpayers.”
The cost of providing oxygen will remain the same at $66.
An FDNY spokeswoman said increases are expected to take effect this spring and would result in a $4 million revenue boost for the city for this fiscal year, and a $16.3 million revenue bump for next fiscal year.
The FDNY has scheduled an online public hearing on the issue for March 24.
But Bronx City Councilman Oswald Feliz, who is a member of the Council’s Fire and Emergency Management Committee, doesn’t need that long to weigh in on the proposal.
“I’m definitely concerned about how this can affect low-income families who might need these services for medical emergencies,” said Feliz, who represents one of the city’s poorest districts.
Feb. 23—Meadville’s plan to begin operating its own ambulances could go into effect as early as April, city officials said Wednesday. Legal requirements will take six weeks or more to fulfill before emergency medical services (EMS) can begin, but Meadville Central Fire Department is ready to roll in one important respect: Two used ambulances have been added to its fleet of vehicles.
A coordinator to manage the ambulances and the paramedics that staff them has also been added: Evan Kardosh, the former city firefighter who led the push to add ambulance services to Meadville Central’s responsibilities, started as the city’s first EMS coordinator a week ago.
“It’s getting very real,” Kardosh said in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s a very exciting time — exciting and stressful — but knowing what it’s going to bring and what it’s going to allow, for really all of the EMS in this area as a whole to hopefully improve the care, is something that we’re really excited about.”
The next step in the process is Meadville City Council’s consideration of an ordinance that will designate Meadville Central Fire Department as the city’s primary EMS provider. The ordinance will likely be on council’s agenda next month, possibly as early as March 1, City Manager Maryann Menanno said during a council study session Wednesday.
How soon council sees the ordinance depends on how long it takes the city’s attorney to review a draft of the proposal, according to Menanno. Approval of the ordinance requires three votes over the course of two meetings. Assuming all three votes go in favor of the ordinance and council follows past practice, it would take effect 21 days after the third vote. If the process starts March 1, the ordinance would take effect April 5.
In the meantime, Kardosh will begin working on upgrading the fire department’s state licensing to allow it to transport patients. The department has also begun receiving applications for three full-time paramedic positions that were first advertised Monday, he said.
Staffing changes have already begun, according to Menanno. With Kardosh’s move from firefighter to EMS coordinator, one of the department’s three part-time firefighters moved to full time to fill the vacancy. Three additional part-time firefighters have been hired over the past month as well, she said.
The EMS coordinator position comes with an annual salary of $58,150 plus benefits, Menanno said. The newly created position will fall among the city’s non-represented positions, which also include city manager and city clerk, so the employee in the position will not be a member of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 515, the union chapter that represents Meadville Central firefighters. Kardosh had served as president of the local for several years until being succeeded by firefighter Tyler Cochran.
Like the EMS coordinator, the new paramedics being hired won’t be in the firefighters’ union either, according to Menanno. Compensation for the positions will include a starting annual salary of $48,082 plus benefits.
The two ambulances purchased this month consist of a 2008 Ford Wheeled Coach, expected to serve as the primary EMS vehicle, and a 2002 Freightliner American LaFrance, Kardosh said.
Having two ambulances will help prevent a “gap in care for city residents,” he said. With several of the department’s firefighting staff qualified as paramedics, he added, “we can jump o the other ambulance if need be” when the primary ambulance is on a call.
The 2008 Ford was purchased from Ronkonkoma Fire Department in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York, for $40,000. The latter was acquired closer to home and, in fact, was familiar to Kardosh — it was sold to the city of Meadville for $18,500 by Fellows Club Volunteer Fire Department in Conneautville, where Kardosh began his career as a volunteer nearly 15 years ago.
“We got very lucky finding these two units that will be able to serve our community for years to come,” he said.
As work to establish Meadville Central’s EMS services continues, the transition between the city’s current primary EMS provider — Meadville Area Ambulance Service (MAAS) — and the fire department will need to be worked out as well. At this point, it’s not clear what that process looks like, according to MAAS owner Eric Henry.
“No one has reached out to me, so I have no idea,” Henry said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I have not heard any transition plan.”
Likewise, it’s not clear what happens for city residents who have paid for subscription memberships with MAAS. The company offers subscriptions ranging from $40 per year for an individual senior to $65 per year for a family, according to its website.
“I have no idea,” Henry said regarding the impact the change will have on MAAS subscription members. “I’ve asked to have people reach out to me, but no one has.”
Kardosh said plans to discuss the transition with various stakeholders are in the works.
“We will be working in coming weeks with other agencies and ( Crawford County) 911 about how to make sure that transition is flawless,” he said, “and get all parties involved to make sure we are making the transition as effortless as we can for everyone, make sure that there are no gaps anywhere that we need, and to make sure that the appropriate ambulance is dispatched when it’s needed.”
An armed robber climbed through a Midtown Manhattan FDNY firehouse’s second-floor window and fought with two of the city’s Bravest, the Daily News has learned.
Cops were called to Engine Company 26 on W. 37th St. near Seventh Ave. about 9:40 p.m. Tuesday after Michael Nahaczewski was spotted climbing the side of the firehouse and entering the second-floor window, cops said.
He was removing personal items from the firefighter’s sleeping areas when smoke eaters returned from a call and spotted Nahaczewski rummaging through their things, cops said.
“(Nahaczewski) was on the second floor of the firehouse and was in possession of personal property of the firefighters on duty,” an FDNY spokesman said.
Firefighters from Engine 26 — nicknamed “The Batcave” for the iconic bat symbol painted on the sidewalk outside the station — immediately called police and grabbed Nahaczewski, sparking a brief brawl.
Two firefighter suffered minor injuries in the clash but managed to subdue Nahaczewski ahead of cops arriving, police and FDNY officials said.
Cops recovered a gun from the suspect.
Nahaczewski, who cops say lives in the West Village, was charged with attempted assault, petty larceny, possession of a firearm, disorderly conduct, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
His arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Wednesday.
The Pebble Volunteer Fire Department is mourning the loss of Chief Steven M. Smith.
He was responding to an incident Sunday when he lost control of his motorcycle, according to The Alabamian.
His 2000 Honda veered off the road and hit a culvert. He was transported to Lakeland Community Hospital where he died of his injuries.
Smith started at the department in 1998 and served as the fire chief for 10 years.
Visitation will be held from 6-9 p.m. at Pinkard Funeral Home in Haleyville. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25 at the same location.
Interim Chief Anthony C. Marrone was selected to fill the position permanently.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday selected acting Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone to fill the post permanently, amid calls by some firefighter groups for the supervisors to look outside the agency for a more diverse candidate pool.
The board voted unanimously in closed session to ask the chief executive to enter into contract negotiations with Marrone. The appointment is expected to be finalized in a vote next week.
The looming hire has frustrated some of the department’s female and minority firefighters, who said they expected the supervisors to look outside the department’s top ranks — an echelon of the department long dominated by white males.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a shock to everyone in the department,” said firefighter paramedic Johnny Gray III, president of the L.A. County Stentorians, a group that advocates for Black firefighters along with other underrepresented groups. “No one saw it aired out to the rest of the county to maybe apply to it. I don’t think the department knew as a whole this was happening.”
The presidents of the Stentorians, the Women’s Fire League and Los Bomberos de L.A. County sent a letter to the board before Tuesday’s vote saying they wanted the board to carry out a national search for a new chief within the next three months.
“This action is critical to ensure equity in hiring and promotion within a department that has struggled for decades to do so,” the letter said. “If internal promotion is the only path to the chief role, this pattern will continue in perpetuity. The department is currently faced with numerous accusations of harassment, retaliation, discrimination, racism and intimidation.”
The county Fire Department is one of the busiest in the country, serving roughly 4 million residents. It responds to emergencies in all unincorporated parts of the county as well as in roughly 60 cities that contract with the agency.
Since its founding, the department has remained largely white and male. The board appointed the department’s first Black chief — Daryl L. Osby — in 2011. No woman has held the top post.
When Osby stepped down last summer after 11 years, the supervisors named Marrone, a department veteran, as acting chief while they looked for a permanent hire.
In a brief interview, Marrone touted his decades of experience inside the department and 11 years on the department’s executive team. Marrone, who joined the department in 1986, said he’s successfully steered it through two line-of-duty deaths, the Omicron coronavirus surge and, as of Monday night, the safe return of the county’s Urban Search and Rescue team, which was dispatched to Turkey after this month’s deadly earthquakes.
Like the authors of the letter, he said he too believes the department needs to do more to lift up the firefighters who rarely make it to the top ranks.
“People of color and women under Chief Osby’s leadership for 11 years have made great strides,” he said. “It’s an ongoing process. There’s more work to be done. I think I’m prepared and I have all the skills necessary to lead that fight.”
Marrone is supported by Los Angeles County Fire Fighters Local 1014, the union representing roughly 3,400 county firefighters. Union President David Gillotte wrote to the board last week that the department had been “to hell and back the last few years” and needed a permanent leader to boost morale. Gillotte urged the board to make Marrone permanent “in the instant.”
But minority groups within the Fire Department said they need a leader who will make it a priority to tackle what they say is persistent sexism and racism within the department. Some have questioned whether Marrone is that person.
Gray said he consistently hears about derogatory remarks directed toward Black firefighters. A few years ago, he said, he spoke with a Black fire department employee who told Gray a white crew was calling him the N-word backwards every time they walked by. Gray, who has been with the department for 12 years, said that he had heard this month of another Black firefighter who was called the same racial slur.
“There are instances of folks using the N-word openly,” Gray said. “There are definitely situations that are happening still — and it’s 2023. I don’t think we’ll ever get rid of it completely.”
Gray spoke to a reporter Tuesday as he drove to the funeral of Hershel Clady, a trailblazing Black firefighter who was the first within the department to get promoted. Clady, who entered the force in 1969, rose through the department’s ranks despite opposition from his fellow firefighters and bosses. He once opened his locker to find a snake, according to an interview he gave with The Times in the 1990s. To keep getting promoted, he had to repeatedly sue the county.
“It’s just ironic. He’d turn over in his grave already at what’s transpiring,” Gray said. “He fought all those years, went to court all those years — and some of the same stuff is still happening to this day.”
Supervisor and Board Chair Janice Hahn said she takes these concerns seriously.
“We are falling way behind other departments in hiring women and that needs to change,” Hahn said in a statement. “I pledge to work with the next chief on not only making sure we are hiring more women and people of color as firefighters in the department, but that everyone is given an equal shot at promotions and opportunities.”
Supervisor Hilda Solis said she trusted the new chief to make addressing the lack of diversity within the department a priority.
“The vote should say something, right?” she said. “We felt this individual was capable of dealing with the challenges this department has faced in the last 2½ and three years.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department has been plagued with similar problems. The Times reported in 2021 on the experiences of female firefighters who said they endured a “frathouse culture” in which women and minority firefighters reported being routinely bullied. At the time, women made up 3.5% of the sworn personnel, though then-Mayor Eric Garcetti had been aiming to reach 5% or more.
Advocates for female and minority firefighters said they believe the county’s numbers are even worse, with less emphasis on recruiting women and people of color. A county spokesperson said the county does not have a breakdown of demographics of firefighters by race and gender available and would need time to compile it.
Kris Larson, Los Angeles Fire Department’s first Black female assistant chief, said the county department’s problems are “100% the same” as the city’s. The only difference, she said, is that the county’s department is not as closely scrutinized.
“I’m surprised that they haven’t had more scrutiny,” said Larson, a founding member of Equity on Fire, a nonprofit that advocates for more inclusive fire departments on the West Coast. “I think with a Board of Supervisors that’s all women, they should be asking some hard questions.”
Larson said she believed that the L.A. County process had been “hushed and rushed” and questioned whether Marrone, who did not graduate from college, was qualified to lead a complex department with an operating budget of roughly $1.6 billion. She said the lack of bachelor’s degree meant Marrone would not be qualified to be a battalion chief — four levels below the fire chief — at the city.
Marrone said he believed his decades of experience made up for a lack of formal higher education.
