First responders converged outside the Willow Community Center on Sunday. "This is the first time I've ever done a procession for a firefighter killed in the line of duty, or passed away in the line of duty," said Sgt. Ryan Anderson of the Alaska State Troopers. He and others gathered for the memorial service for Roger DeLongchamp. The 66-year-old Willow firefighter died Jan. 18 while responding to a call. "In places like Willow and other rural communities, these are our brothers and our sisters," Anderson said. "When someone suffers a loss, like we have here, we feel it together as a partnership, as a brotherhood." A trooper dispatch said DeLongchamp died of natural causes. He served with the Willow Fire Department for about three and a half years. The large turnout by fellow first responders was not the only tribute given to DeLongchamp.  

New Orleans firefighters claim current staffing shortages threaten their ability to put out fires in the city on a timely basis. "When it comes down to the actual manpower on the streets, we're at critical mass now," Firefighters Union President Aaron Mischler said. According to the Mischler, his members will no longer work excessive overtime to cover for a city administration and department that can't attract or retain employees. "They're trying to bring people in," Mischler said. "Last year, the mayor budgeted for 50 new hires. We hired 8. This year, they budgeted for another 50. We're at 39 going on through the process, right now, but it's not keeping up with attrition." The union claims the NOFD's call volume has increased 150% over the last decade while the number of firefighters has dropped by 25%. The department's 480 or so rank-and-file personnel constitutes the lowest staffing level in the agency's 128-year history.  

VIDEO: The parents of the late Lubbock Fire Department Lieutenant Eric Hill want to carry on his legacy. With the 5-5-5 initiative, Mark and Susan Hill hope to save lives in his memory. "Most people know, before radio, and things like that, they would ring bells to let fire department personnel know what was happening in different places, and when a firefighter fell, they would ring five bells three times," Mark Hill, Lt. Hill's father, said. Lt. Hill and Lubbock Police Department Officer Nicholas Reyna were struck and killed working a series of wrecks on North I-27 last month. "We've been told by several people here that he saved lives, and that people are walking around Lubbock today, because he was a good paramedic, and we want to continue that legacy," Mark said. The first "five" is leave five minutes early. The second is slow down five miles an hour below the speed limit. The third is hug five people you love every day.  

Researchers at Washington University have found that paramedics and emergency medical technicians are seven times as likely as the general public to have thought about suicide in the past year. Five emergency medicine doctors surveyed more than 900 paramedics in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Iowa over three months in 2017. The results were published in an industry journal this month. "They witness firsthand some of the most horrific things that can happen to a human being, so that in itself is stressful," said Dr. Bridgette Svancarek, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Wash U and the assistant program director of the school's EMS fellowship. "On top of that, the pay is poor, and the hours can be pretty awful."  

Camden city officials, union officials and its fire department will send a set of proposals to the state Civil Service Commission that they hope will, once approved, avert the need to lay off any front-line firefighters. In a letter obtained by the Courier-Post, Mayor Frank Moran wrote to Deirdre Webster Cobb, chair and CEO of the Civil Service Commission, about the loss of a $2.4 million Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER) grant that in 2017 enabled the hiring of 27 firefighters by the Camden Fire Department. In the letter, which was sent via email Monday night and was to be hand-delivered to Trenton Tuesday morning, Moran outlines a plan to save $2,439,000 through a number of measures, including what he and union officials characterized as a "restructuring" of the department's leadership.