Quick takes
Ambulance billing bill tabled: We have been telling you the ambulance fee bill for Montgomery County, MD was in a council committee on Thursday. Right now it isn’t coming out of that committee and a committee member doesn’t see it going anywhere. The Washington Post gives the impression it was senior citizens who swayed the council. The volunteer association had been leading the charge against the bill. Read more.
Not fit for duty?: The Chandler Fire Department is under investigation by the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health over concerns about fit testing. Read details.
Newspaper says the gravy train should be derailed: The Baltimore Sun has come out in favor of Mayor Sheila Dixon’s plan to change a pension benefit that’s been in place for fire and police retirees for 24 years. According to the paper:
… a unique feature of their pension system that increased their benefits when pension fund investments performed well. If the investments perform poorly, retirees didn’t suffer; instead, the city simply paid more into the plan.
Chief sues two neighboring departments: The Chicago Tribune has this story-
The chief of a volunteer fire company is suing two other departments over injuries he suffered while recovering the body of another firefighter from a burning house after he had been missing for 45 minutes.
Madison Township Fire Chief Robert Black’s lawsuit in southern Indiana’s Jefferson Circuit Court accuses the Hanover and Kent volunteer fire companies of negligence for failing to keep track of firefighters at the scene.
This involves the LODD of Firefighter Greg Cloud on Nov. 1, 2006. Read the rest of the story.
Chief arrested at Obama rally: An unusual story of a Hialeah district chief being nabbed after jumping a fence at a Miami rally. Read more.
16 gears, no clutch and no use: Some new UK fire trucks are sitting idle because drivers are having a touch time with the Formula 1 style gearbox. FireGeezer has that story.
