Hepatitis C Presumption Upheld in Philadelphia Case

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has upheld the widow of a Philadelphia firefighter in her claim that her husband’s Hepatitis C was contracted in the line of duty. Joseph Kriebel served as a Philadelphia firefighter from 1974 until 2003. He ...

Duty to Act, Right to Enter, Their Well Being, Our Well Being

My friend Michael Morse from Rescuing Providence has posed a new EMS related scenario regarding the right to enter property to check on the well being of a patient. Recall last month I wrote about a fire department’s right to ...

Dash Cams and Firefighter Liability

Change comes hard to the fire service. We all know the worn out saying about 200 years of tradition unimpeded by progress. So it is understandable that firefighters in Orange County, Florida sought to block attempts by the fire department ...

Seattle Firefighter Under Investigation for Falsely Claiming a Disabling Injury

A Seattle firefighter’s $12.8 million judgment against the city as well as his pension may be in jeopardy as the result of an investigation into just how serious his job-related injuries actually are. In 2003, Firefighter Mark Jones fell down a ...

Fireground Photos, Facebook, and Discipline

I received a great question today, and wanted to add it to the online discussion: Have there been any cases or instances of firefighters receiving reprimands or disciplinary action for posting fire pictures on their Facebook page? Answer: Yes there ...

Long Awaited Text Messaging Privacy Decision: City of Ontario v. Quon

Today the US Supreme Court handed down a long awaited decision in the case of City of Ontario v. Quon, addressing an employee’s right to privacy in electronic messages. While the case involved a police officer, the decision has important ...

Electronic Monitoring Case: Connecticut

A very interesting case was decided on January 5, 2010 involving the Bridgeport, Connecticut Fire Department. In May of 2007, the city acquired new vehicles for city fire inspectors, and installed GPS devices in order to electronically monitor the movement ...

Another Problem with Canine Identifications

On Monday of this week I blogged about the case of a Riverside, California man who spent two years in jail on arson charges that were largely based upon scent evidence obtained using a device known as a scent transfer ...

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

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