Want to get away from it all? Does your idea of a vacation involve taking in the great outdoors, and days of heart-pounding adventure?
We thought so.
FireLink has compiled 20 adrenaline-inducing adventures for the tried and true outdoorsman (or woman). We’ve scoured the travel guides, combed the Internet and sought out word-of-mouth recommendations to bring you the best of the best.
There is a right way and a wrong way to deal with concealed and open-carry citizens. A YouTube video of Canton (Ohio) Patrolman Daniel Harless berating a driver over his concealed weapon has placed the officer under investigation and could cost him his badge.
A new video has been making its way around the blogs since its release on YouTube on July 20, already attracting over 50,000 views. In it, Officer Matthew Lyons of the Oceanside (Calif.) Police Department addresses an open-carry citizen with a disarming blend of humor and professionalism:
What do you think? Have you had to deal with a concealed or open-carry situation that didn’t work out as well as Officer Lyons’ encounter?
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Some Ohio emergency medical technicians could get the right to carry guns under a proposal in the state’s legislature.
This seems to be an increasingly hot-button topic among EMTs, who raise the issue as they struggle to cope with rough neighborhoods, threatening onlookers, violent situations, and armed and unstable patients. Skeptics, meanwhile, point out that emergency scenes are cleared first by the police or dispatchers, and adding a gun to the EMT kit would unnecessarily expand the job and risk of emergency workers.
Ohio’s legislation takes a narrow focus. House Bill 288 would give EMTs guns only when they went with SWAT teams. The law would also treat medical personnel like police in that they would have immunity from civil suits in connection with their use of guns when working with the SWAT team, said Republican Rep. Courtney Combs, the bill’s sponsor.
Click here to read the entire article on FireRescue1.
By Don Thompson and Jeff Barnard for The Associated Press via FireRescue1.com
The wildfire season in California has been tame so far, but that isn’t stopping lawmakers from trying to make sure the cash-strapped state has enough money to fight future fires.
They already have a solution: charge an annual firefighting fee to people who live in or near forests.
Neighboring states have been using similar fees for years. As more people move closer to forests and wildfires become more costly, a fee may prove more attractive to legislators when the alternative is to cut programs elsewhere in the budget.
Critics of the California fee call it unfair, saying rural residents already pay taxes to the state and should expect basic services in times of emergency. Supporters disagree, saying that people who live in fire-prone areas should pay for their own protection.
It carried numerous heroes on Sept. 11, 2001, and on July 20, the apparatus used by members of Ladder 3 to respond to the World Trade Center became a part of the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s permanent installation.
More than 75 family members, friends and fellow firefighters attended the solemn tribute ceremony.
“The truck is a reminder of the condition the Department was in after 9/11,” Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said, in reference to its damage. “Seeing it here today was very emotional, but it shows our families we have not forgotten their loved ones’ sacrifice.”
Years ago, I worked for awhile as an Outward Bound instructor. In this role, I led groups into the wilderness for weeks at a time. The participants carried very heavy packs, slept under tarps, cooked their own food over small camp stoves, hiked all day in bad weather, and went without showers or other bathroom facilities for the duration.
They also paid a lot of money for the opportunity to do this, and at the end, almost universally said it was one of the best experiences of their lives.
I stayed in touch with some of my students in the program, and a year later, one of them told me about a recent trip to Mexico that had really disappointed him.
Some cops have made the commitment to go armed off-duty every time they leave their residence, and some are a little less strict about it (but hopefully no one reading this has decided that it’s OK to be unarmed whenever they’re off duty). The fact is that in the course of a busy life there are times when it’s darn inconvenient to carry. (I never did carry when running, but I ran with my German Shepherd until we both had to stop; no one attacked him so I must have been quite a deterrent). On top of the inconvenience, there’s the temptation to skip the hassle if you live in a safe community. Most of the inconvenience comes from the fact that you have to go through the rigmarole of strapping the gun onto your belt. Yes, there’s pocket carry, and as convenient as that is, it only applies to small guns, and especially in the hot summer, with lightweight clothing and no coat pockets to carry other stuff in, that too, can become a bit of a hassle.
It certainly is not uncommon for law enforcement agencies to assist fire and EMS departments with patient care.
In some jurisdictions, the local sheriff’s office or police department is actually the primary provider of EMS, and even fire protection, response.
However they are deployed, inter-agency cooperation is always vital in these relationships, and that’s certainly a positive dimension to this case, in marked contrast to another story on FireRescue1 of the fire chief cleared of fireground wrongdoing.
Click here to read the entire article on FireRescue1.
The opening ceremonies will be led by FDNY Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano at 10:15 a.m. This ceremony, along with many others planned over the course of the week, will honor the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
D.C. firefighters are being dispatched on late-night patrols to high-crime areas as deterrents and during the day to provide payday protection for residents enrolled in the city’s youth-jobs program, raising safety concerns for the “unarmed” firefighters.
The order was issued by the office of Mayor Vincent C. Gray to prevent problems like those last summer when participants in the Summer Youth Employment Program were targeted for muggings and to cut back on summer crime.
Lon Walls, spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said Wednesday the firefighters are not expected to serve as policemen, “but sometimes a uniform presence can be a deterrent.”
By Don Thompson and Jeff Barnard for The Associated Press
By Ralph Mroz
LION Connects
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