A man was arrested on Thursday in Eagle after he allegedly assaulted several people and set fire to his residence. State Troopers responded to a call about a disturbance and arrested Michael Boseman, 30, of Eagle, Alaska. Boseman is charged with multiple assaults including assault 2, as well as arson in the first degree. According to charging documents, Boseman had assaulted several people, including one person who claimed that she had been strangled, beaten, and had a rifle pointed at her by Boseman. Boseman also reportedly participated in a domestic altercation, before setting his home on fire. It is unclear whether he had intended to start the fire, however, he had prevented others from putting it out. According to charging documents, the trooper who responded to the scene observed that the house had been burned down completely, and that the surrounding area had also been burned by the fire.  

It was the beginning of a hero's sendoff. Worcester fire officials promised Tina Menard and her three children a hero's sendoff for Lt. Jason Menard. It's a promise no fire department wants to fulfill, and one Worcester firefighters have had to deliver eight other times in the last 20 years. Firefighters, police officers and paramedics from across Massachusetts lined up outside Mercadante Funeral Home in Worcester on Sunday afternoon, paying their respects to Menard, who was killed in a four-alarm fire early Wednesday morning at 7 Stockholm St. Menard, 39, has been called a hero by fire officials and residents alike - as flames overtook the third floor of the building around 1 a.m. Wednesday, Menard pushed fellow Ladder 5 firefighter Chris Pace out a window to safety.  

The firehouse on Foulkrod and Darrah streets in Philadelphia's Frankford section has been without its engine for a decade, leaving some neighbors feeling vulnerable. "Because of all the families that are around here, all the people around here, they need the engine to save lives," said Sylvia Pickens, who lives across the street from the firehouse. During the recession in 2009, the Philadelphia Fire Department made cuts to save money, eliminating engines from firehouses in Frankford, Roxborough, Old City and South Philadelphia. "It really was a terrible time in the fire department because when you lose an engine, when you lose any kind of firefighting asset, it affects the whole community," said Deputy Commissioner Craig Murphy. "In my 32 years, a company that was decommissioned has been recommissioned."  

A recent report on the Durham Fire Department's response to the April 10 gas explosion downtown could bolster the department's request for 75 more firefighters. The Fire Department has about 385 people who fight fires. Having more would improve response times and on-scene efficiency, reducing injuries and property loss, according to a presentation the department gave the city in March, about a month before the explosion. The City Council approved an initial three new positions at a cost of $248,011. A six-year plan to hire all 75 firefighters would cost $4.8 million. "I am very interested in seeing their request come back to us, and I am sure we will look at it favorably," Mayor Steve Schewel said in an interview Monday.  

Corporations can be held legally responsible for the state's costs in investigating and fighting fires that are carelessly started or spread by corporate employees, a state appeals court ruled Monday. There has been no dispute that corporations can be required to pay compensation for deaths, injuries and property damage from fires caused by their employees, the source of at least $18 billion of the debt that drove Pacific Gas and Electric Co. into bankruptcy. But corporate responsibility for the state's firefighting expenses is a separate issue governed by state laws, whose meaning is a subject of disagreement among appellate courts. A state appeals court in Sacramento ruled in 2017 that the laws did not authorize the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, to recover costs from corporations whose employees may have negligently caused wildfires.  

Capt. Shawn Campana needed an escape. The stress and pressures of working in Miami-Dade Fire Rescue were beginning to weigh on her. Enter Charlie, a 3-year-old Greyhound she adopted in 2015. "There's light again," Campana said of Charlie, "and there hasn't been in some time. He was the only thing that made that happen." Four years later, she stood next to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and County Commissioner Sally Heyman as the trio announced the expansion of the K9 Response Program. The program, which Campana started in 2016, is designed to help first responders cope with occupational stress and victims in crisis situations. As a former firefighter, this program holds special place in Gimenez's heart. "I know firsthand how tough it can be to see the loss of life that we often have to face," Gimenez told reporters Monday at Haulover Park in Northeast Miami-Dade. The program, a leader across the nation, has two functions.