Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone

In this episode of Fire Law Roundup for March 11, 2024, Curt discusses a disciplinary investigation into firefighters who booed an elected official at a promotional ceremony; the dismissal of two Michigan fire departments from a lawsuit brought by a ...

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An FDNY promotional ceremony last Thursday has turned into a politically oriented disciplinary spectacle after attendees booed New York Attorney General Letitia James and chanted “Trump”. Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh has ordered an investigation into the incident and apparently want the offenders to be “educated why their behavior is unacceptable.”

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Two Michigan fire departments who were being sued in federal court over an incident that led to the arrest of a homeowner, have been dismissed from the lawsuit. The Mount Pleasant City Fire Department and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribal Fire Department have been dismissed from a suit brought by Rickie Lee Beilicki, Jr. back in 2023.

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The mayor of a Massachusetts city has appointed herself fire chief amidst growing strife within the department. Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn appointed herself fire chief today.

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The former fire chief in Evansville, Indiana is facing allegations that he sexually harassed a female employee, which in turn prompted his resignation last fall. The unidentified victim reported that the chief filmed her without her permission, and complimented her on her appearance and the way she dressed.

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The City of Los Angeles has filed suit against IAFF Local 112 and arbitrator Kenneth Perea seeking to vacate an arbitration ruling Perea handed down decision late last year. Local 112’s grievance claimed with city failed to follow proper notice requirements before removing unvaccinated members from the payroll, and that doing so violated past practice.

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In this episode of Fire Law Roundup for March 4, 2024, Curt and Bill Maccarone discuss a lawsuit challenging a large budget increase levied by a fire district in New York; the settlement of a wrongful death suit brought by ...

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A tax increase that more than doubled the budget of a fire district in New York, is being challenged by four taxpayers who claim the district failed to comply with the law. Crystal Myers, Beth Salisbury, Eric Pappa and Vicki Parvese filed suit against the Richland Fire District in Oswego County Supreme Court.

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The City of Colorado Springs has agreed to settle a wrongful death suit brought by the daughter of a homeless woman who was inadvertently run over by a brush unit responding to a fire in a park in 2022. Margaret Miller, 76, was lying on the ground under debris and blankets on a dirt path.

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A Cleveland firefighter who claimed to have been the victim of race and disability discrimination due to Cleveland’s facial hair policy, has lost his lawsuit to be allowed to have a short beard. Anthony Davis filed suit in 2023, claiming the city’s policy prohibiting facial hair at the SCBA interface was aimed at “thinning the ranks of Black/African American firefighters.”

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Southern California Edison has agreed to pay the US Forest Service $80 million in damages to settle a suit related to the Thomas Fire. The fire burned more than 280,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in 2017, including roughly 150,000 acres of national forests.

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Two Rialto, California firefighters who were terminated in the aftermath of a high-profile EMS incident in 2021, have been reinstated by an arbitrator. Captain Josh Gilliam, Firefighter-Paramedic Matt Payne, and Engineer Mark Brady were accused of wrongfully refusing to enter the Rialto Post Acute Care Center on November 17, 2021 due to COVID related concerns.

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In this episode of Fire Law Roundup for February 26, 2024, Brad and Curt discuss the termination of a Tampa firefighter for falsifying EMS training records; a negligence suit brought by a fire captain in Washington state for injuries sustained ...

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A Tampa firefighter who twice made claims of race discrimination that could not be substantiated, has been terminated for forging signatures on EMS training documentation. Andrew Dixon was fired for forging signatures to show he attended paramedic training that he did not.

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