Firefighters

If you see a huge plume of smoke rising into the sky this time of year in Florida, there is a good chance it’s an under-control wildland burn that has little chance of spreading as opposed to a raging wildfire heading your way. Wildland management agencies take advantage of the early part of the dry season in Florida to purposely burn smaller tracts of land. Called “prescribed burns,” the fires are lit and managed by trained woodland firefighters to help manage the woods as well as avoid larger, out-of-control wildfires later on. Prescribed fires, also called controlled burns, restore overall environmental health to ecosystems that rely on the burn-and-regrow cycle to thrive. Fire managers first have to write out a follow a safety plan, or prescription, for each burn.

A bill to give better benefits to firefighters with cancer passed a threshold this week: A majority of member of the Florida House of Representatives...

Legislation to expand workers’ compensation benefits to include post-traumatic stress disorder for firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and other first…

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, nearly 10,000 first responders and others who were near the World Trade Center following the attack…

Legislation to expand workers’ compensation benefits to include post-traumatic stress disorder for firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and other first…

40 more wildland firefighters from Florida are now heading to the western part of the U.S. to help deal with one of the worst wildlife seasons in...

Despite a very active wildfire season, Florida Forest Service Firefighters will now be helping other states battle their own blazes.

Firefighters put their lives on the line to every day, but the dangers they face are not the same dangers faced by firefighters in years past. The smoke…

In 1988, six firefighters in Kansas City, Missouri, were killed in a blast at a highway construction site. Nine years later, five people were convicted of…

Gov. Rick Scott signed a measure Friday that will help families of first responders who are enrolled in the Florida Retirement System and get killed in...