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Insider Theft Costs South Dakota Volunteer FD $170k
The former treasurer of a South Dakota volunteer fire department stands accused of stealing $170,000. Denae Baustian, 46, of the Tea Fire Department in Lincoln County, was indicted last week by a grand jury on felony theft charges. The theft was discovered late last year. Baustian had only been with the fire department since 2007, and became the treasurer in 2009. She apparently wasted no time, stealing the $170,000 over a 2 year period during which the department’s annual budget was around $100,000 per year. Lincoln County State’s Attorney Tom Wollman says the amount will have a big impact the…
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Ohio Ethics Commission Investigating Chief for Teaching at College
Today’s burning question: I’m a fire chief and I teach at the local community college. Some of my firefighters attend classes at the college and the fire department reimburses them. Is there anything unethical about that arrangement? Answer: I honestly do not think so – but apparently some folks in Ohio believe it is, and as a result a fire chief is facing an ethics investigation. Daryl Meyers is the chief of the Xenia Township Fire Department, and an adjunct professor in Sinclair Community College’s Fire Sciences Department. He is under investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission, although the specifics…
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Supreme Court Rules in Firefighter Case
The US Supreme Court has set precedent with another fire service case – this time focusing on the liability of an attorney hired to conduct an investigation into a firefighter’s misconduct. It is a case we have been following for some time out of Rialto, California. Rialto firefighter Nicholas B. Delia was off-injured and department administrators were suspicious given the circumstances and his disciplinary history. He was placed under surveillance and filmed purchasing building supplies including rolls of fiberglass insulation. As part of the investigation Delia was called to appear for an interview conducted by attorney Steve Filarsky. Filarsky was…
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Nebraska Man Injured in Prescribed Burn Files Claim Against Fire Department
A member of the Lakota Sioux tribe has filed a claim against Sheridan County, Nebraska and the Rushville Volunteer Fire Department over severe injuries he sustained on March 7, 2012 during a prescribed burn. Bryan Blue Bird, Jr. sustained burns over 25% of his body, and had to be airlifted to a burn center in Colorado. He required skin grafts and extensive treatment. The prescribed burn was conducted to remove flammable brush near some commercial buildings in Whiteclay, Nebraska. It is an area that people are known to sit and drink. According to Patricia White Bear Claws, Blue Bird’s longtime…
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Puerto Rico Ambulance Feud Leads to Murder
A turf battle between rival ambulance companies has turned deadly in Puerto Rico where two paramedics stand accused of murdering a competitor who allegedly “stole” one of their patients. Luis Deida Martinez, 31, was shot dead on Wednesday as he sat in a bakery having his breakfast. The names of the accused paramedics have not been released. According to police, they shot Martinez and then drove away in their ambulance. The two allegedly argued with the victim earlier in the day. At the center of the controversy was a patient that Martinez’s wife, also a paramedic, picked up that the…
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Dallas Firefighter Gunman Robs Bank YCMTSU
The ugly saga of Dallas firefighter Jesus Ventura took an even uglier turn last week when Ventura allegedly robbed a Dallas bank and a gas station. You may recall, Ventura created an uproar when he entered a Dallas fire station on March 8, 2012 and fired a handgun. His arrest several days later created even more headlines when a group of freelancing police officers accompanied by television cameras arrested Ventura disrupting the plans of an assigned group of officers were negotiating his peaceful surrender. Ventura had been suspended from the department over the original incident, when he walked into Dallas…
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New Orleans Medic Wins $1.5 Million Verdict Against Ambulance Manufacturer
A New Orleans paramedic won a $1.5 million verdict against an ambulance manufacturer for injuries he sustained in 2010. Paramedic Ryan Earls, 26, was injured while tending to a shooting victim. As the ambulance was transporting it hit a bump, and the seat Earls was riding in collapsed. As a result, Earls sustained permanent career ending back injuries. He tried working as a dispatcher, but nerve damage led to problems there as well. Earls filed suit in Federal court against the ambulance manufacturer, Medtec Ambulance Corp., under a products liability – defective design theory. The jury returned a $1.5 million…
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Weekend Roundup of Cases
This week saw two cases we have discussed recently – resolved. The cases are from two different states – both cases involve fire captains… both involve other jobs the captains had… and in both cases that captains won. The first case involved Evansville, Indiana fire captain and Sixth Ward city councilman Al Lindsey. Captain Lindsey was facing termination for abusing excused leave because he stopped by a bar after a city council meeting rather than proceeding directly to the fire station. On Wednesday, the Fire Merit Commission ruled that while Captain Lindsey may have run afoul of the rules, they…
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Oregon Firefighter With Pacemaker Settles Discrimination Suit
A female firefighter from Eugene, Oregon who was prohibited from returning to duty with a pacemaker, has settled a disability and gender discrimination suit against the fire department for $285,000. Carolyn McCann suffered a cardiac event on December 6, 2006 while participating in training for the Seattle Firefighters stair climb. She subsequently required a pacemaker to be implanted, and was prohibited by the department from returning to full duty. McCann claimed the Eugene Fire & EMS Department refused to allow her to return despite the fact that her doctor and the department physician concluded that she was capable of safely performing her…
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NFPA 1710 Staffing and Legal Mandates
Today’s burning question: Are there any Federal laws or requirements that mandate that fire departments comply with or meet NFPA 1710 staffing levels or response times? Answer: There are no laws that I am aware of on a Federal or state level that directly mandate that fire departments comply with NFPA 1710. There are a few jurisdictions that have adopted 1710 on a local level through ordinances. However, there are two back-door ways that non-compliance with NFPA 1710 can potentially become a legal problem for a fire department. The first involves OSHA (which in the case of public entities means…
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Judge Orders New York City To Release Report on 911 System
A state court judge in New York has ordered the city of New York to release copies of a consultant’s report on the city’s 911 system and response times. The Uniformed Fire Officers Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association filed suit under the state open records law to obtain copies of the report. The consultant was hired following concerns over the December 2010 blizzard debacle where EMS responses were delayed between 1 to 5 hours, and some patients died waiting hours for ambulances to arrive. In numerous instances patients were transported to the hospital on FDNY fire trucks rather than waiting for ambulances. The Bloomberg administration…
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