Firefighters and first responders up and down the state have been training for terrorism incidents since the California Fire Fighters Joint Apprenticeship Committee (CFFJAC) rolled out its new Terrorism Consequence Management (TCM) Train-the-Trainer course earlier this year. The CFFJAC is co-sponsored by CPF and the California State Fire Marshal.
A united California fire service task force called on the state EMS Authority to take steps to increase fiscal and public accountability in the outsourcing of EMS services to private, for-profit providers. In a white paper issued July 22, California Professional Firefighters, CalChiefs and the League of Cities Fire Chiefs unanimously concluded that some Local EMS Agencies (LEMSAs) were overstepping their statutory authority in fashioning contracts with private ambulance companies.
The US Forest Service mourns the loss of Thomas Marovich, 20, of Hayward, who was fatally injured in an accident at the Backbone Helibase in Willow Creek on Tuesday morning. Marovich, a second year apprentice with the Forest Service at the Modoc National Forest, was performing a routine rappel proficiency skill training from a helicopter when he fell and sustained fatal injuries.
The California Legislature has ended an all-night session and a months-long budget standoff with the approval of an $84 billion spending plan for California - over 18 percent lower than last year's budget. For first responders, the news is mostly bad, but there are slivers of good news mixed in.
(07-22) 12:49 PDT WILLOW CREEK, HUMBOLDT COUNTY -- A Hayward man working as a U.S. Forest Service firefighter died after falling from a helicopter during a while fighting the Backbone Fire in Humboldt County, authorities said today.
Thomas Marovich, 20, died at about 10:10 a.m. Tuesday after falling 200 feet from a Bell 212 helicopter at the Backbone Helibase in Willow Creek, authorities said.