Free Republic

Exclusive: Chuck Norris prays for bombing victims, applauds heroes' valiant acts As with others across the nation, my wife, Gena, and I are so proud of the first responders and host of rescuers, medical personnel, law enforcement, firemen, military, crisis counselors and good Samaritans who immediately were called into action and undoubtedly saved lives, limbs and souls because of their heroic efforts. Truly, America’s best shine brightest during our country’s most difficult and darkest moments. At the same time, however, my wife, Gena, and I join the rest of the nation in offering our most heartfelt condolences and prayers for...

Two Texas fire lieutenants have died of burns after battling a lodge hall fire, a city official said Saturday. Greg Pickard and Eric Wallace, both with the department in the Central Texas city of Bryan, were in a group of firefighters responding to the blaze about midnight Friday at a Knights of Columbus hall, city spokeswoman Mary Lynne Stratta said. The team entered the burning building but didn't emerge when ordered to evacuate, Stratta said. Wallace, 36, died at the scene and Pickard, 54, on Saturday at a hospital in Galveston, she said. "He called for help, said he was...

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) — Police have found human remains in the burned-out home of the Webster, N.Y., ex-con who killed two firefighters and believe the victim is the gunman's sister. Police Chief Gerald Pickering said Tuesday the remains were found in the charred house that 62-year-old William Spengler shared with his 67-year-old sister, Cheryl. A medical examiner will need to determine the identity. Police say Willliam Spengler armed himself with a revolver, shotgun and military-style rifle before he set his house afire to lure first responders into a pre-dawn death trap on Christmas Eve. Pickering says Spengler "was equipped to...

Let’s take a page from those Tennessee firemen we heard about a few times last year – the ones who stood idly by as houses burned to the ground because their owners had refused to pay a measly $75 fee. We can apply this same logic to climate change. We know who the active denialists are – not the people who buy the lies, mind you, but the people who create the lies. Let’s start keeping track of them now, and when the famines come, let’s make them pay. Let’s let their houses burn until the innocent are rescued*. Let’s...

He was under strict orders not to leave the house after school. But 11-year-old Jared Flanders neatly knotted his tie, climbed on his bike and went to pay his last respects to fallen Worcester firefighter Jon Davies at a funeral home down the street yesterday. Jared didn’t know the hero jake who died after rushing into a blazing triple-decker last week. Yet, the boy’s kind-hearted salute lifted the spirits of firefighters attending Davies’ wake.

Once again, I hope you enjoy this on the 10th anniversary. The day that MUSLIM terrorists attacked us on our soil. THE BALLAD OF MIKE MORAN

Thousands of firefighters in uniform on paid agency time came from different fire agencies all over Southern California to attend Glenn Allen's funeral bringing with them tens of millions of dollars of firefighting equipment, helicopters. Just the cost of fuel alone must have cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, notwithstanding the cost of salaries and accrued benefits of thousands of active duty firefighters. His funeral must have cost the taxpayers millions of dollars thanks to union rules that permit such a waste of taxpayer funds. I personally mean no disrespect to his family, but if it were not...

Wake up California. You are being screwed by the public unions in this state...

Who are “First Responders?” They are the men and women of our local communities who put their lives on the line for each of us on a daily basis by responding to emergency (911) calls. They are Firemen, Police, EMTs and others who have promised each of us that no matter what the emergency, they will be there for us. And it’s a promise they keep every day of their (and our) lives. Dave Carroll knows a lot about this from first-hand experience. He’s been a volunteer fireman in his home town of Waverly, Nova Scotia while building his musical...

NEW YORK — City officials on Friday said the Fire Department of New York won't hire any firefighters until a new entry exam is created to replace one a federal judge said discriminated against minorities, which is expected to take at least a year. A federal judge had ordered the city to choose one of five temporary methods for selecting applicants who had already passed the rejected exam as a way of adding to the department in the meantime. But the city's law department said in a letter to the court that they wouldn't select one because they all involved...

Oakland, California - (Helmet Cam) Firefighters performed rescue breathing on a dog that was found unconscious/unresponsive in a house fire.

Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid is quietly trying to nationalize rules governing every police, fire and first responder union in the nation. Through the benignly named Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (H.R.413) Reid wants all first responders represented by collective bargaining rules emanating from Washington D.C. Naturally he thinks that it is necessary as a matter of national security. Reid is pushing this monstrosity as a major sop to his union supporters who will greatly benefit from nationalized rules for police and fire unions. This plan would replace with federal rules all state laws on collective bargaining between state...

Why was this story not national news? Outrageously, firemen in Flint, Mich. went about the city setting fires instead of putting them out last month and all because their union wasn't happy with job layoffs. In a vain attempt to stop the layoffs, these union criminals went around setting fires to try and scare Flint's residents in order to goad them to tell city officials to rescind the layoffs. Imagine the breach of trust that this represents between firemen and the citizenry? What next, will Flint policemen commit murders and armed robberies in like manner to the criminal activities...

Judge Cites Discrimination in N.Y. Fire Dept. By AL BAKER January 13, 2010 A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that New York City intentionally discriminated against black applicants to the Fire Department by continuing to use an exam that it had been told put them at a disadvantage. It was not a “one-time mistake or the product of benign neglect,” wrote the judge, Nicholas G. Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn. “It was a part of a pattern, practice and policy of intentional discrimination against black applicants that has deep historical antecedents and uniquely disabling effects.” A remedy will...

Frank Ricci -- a firefighter in New Haven, Conn. -- spent months listening to study tapes as he drove to work and in the evenings, preparing for a promotional test. It was a once-a-decade chance to move up to a command rank in the fire department. Ricci earned a top score but no promotion. The city had coded the test takers by race, and of the top 15 scorers, 14 were white and one was Latino. Since there were only 15 vacancies, it looked as though no blacks would be promoted. After a racially charged debate that stretched over four...

CHICAGO - After years of legal wrangling, 75 white firefighters will share a $6 million settlement reached with the city of Chicago in a reverse discrimination lawsuit filed over a 1986 lieutenants' exam. Concerned the exam discriminated against black firefighters, the city "race normed" the test's results. A jury later found the test was fair, a decision the U.S. Supreme Court upheld on appeal. City law department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said Tuesday the $6 million is on the "low end" of what the city might have wound up paying. Firefighters' attorney Linda Friedman said a group of 100 other white...

San Diego, Calif., Feb 19, 2009 / 09:45 pm (CNA).- A California jury found on Tuesday that four firefighters, who were ordered by their superiors to participate in the city’s “gay pride” parade were sexually harassed, and awarded them monetary damages from the city. The case dates back to July 2007 when four San Diego firefighters were informed by their superiors that they would be participating in San Diego’s annual “Gay Pride” parade.  Though the four men protested, they were ordered to dress up in full uniform and ride on the fire engine along the parade route. During the...

Between 2003 and 2006, the city paid $43.5 million to hundreds of firefighters on injury leave - all of it tax-free. Among the recipients: 132 firefighters who collected more than $100,000 each during that period. Of those, 20 received between $200,000 and $337,000, according to a Globe analysis of city payroll records. ... Taken together, nearly 20 percent of the department's payroll goes to fund injured leave and overtime pay. ... Injured-leave pay is full wages, tax-free. Disability pensions are 72 percent of pay, also tax-free. ... Fire Commissioner Roderick L. Fraser, who took the post 13 months ago, said...

  Retired FDNY Capt. Manny Fernandez with Daily News front page covering '66 fire that killed 12 Bravest.  Manny Fernandez still remembers the "boom" he heard on that tragic day in 1966.  He was a 32-year-old firefighter with Engine 18, battling an inferno that engulfed several buildings in Chelsea. "I started yelling '18!18!' and I figured somebody would answer," he recalled sadly in an interview last week. "Nobody answered." The Oct. 17, 1966, fire claimed the lives of 12 New York City firefighters. It was the worst loss of life in the department before the Sept. 11 terror attacks. ...

Little did I expect to see the bombed out buildings in New York that week.It reminded me of Belfast and of Fr. Mike.I guess when I heard that a priest had died giving the last Sacrament to a firefighter, I was not surprised to hear that it was Fr. Mike. Neither was Fr. Mychal I am sure. He was ready.He died the way he lived, as a saint and an instrument of peace. We now know that he removed his hat to honor his fallen comrade and as he pronounced the prayers of the Church he joined him in the...