Duke is a very lucky animal and if you asked the 22-year-old gray draft horse why—OK, I know, no one can talk to a horse, of course—he’d say it was because of  the quick work of Los Angeles Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 112, animal rescue specialists, Hansen Dam Park Police and other city workers who came to the rescue.  

Duke and his owner were riding in shallow water in a riverbed near Hansen Dam in Lakeview Terrace when three of Duke’s legs became stuck in mud and sand, which recent rains made stickier than usual.

Several hundred members of the Fire Fighters (IAFF) from locals surrounding the wildfires in Colorado and New Mexico are working hard to contain the blazes. Fortunately, there have been no reports of major firefighter injury. IAFF 9th District Vice President Randy Atkinson says:

Getting a wildfire under control in that part of the state is difficult because of the tough terrain. There are a lot of canyons, so just getting to the fire is a challenge.

WI

Wisconsin "forced the governor to answer for his efforts to divide the state and punish hard-working people" in today's recall election," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said tonight following predictions Gov. Scott Walker (R) would retain his seat.

WI

Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, says Wisconsin’s 2012 recall election is not just a union fight but a middle-class fight because “the middle class is under attack.”

During 2011’s Wisconsin uprising, Mahlon Mitchell, a firefighter who had just been elected president of the Fire Fighters (IAFF) in Wisconsin, created a national buzz with his fresh, eloquent defense of the collective bargaining rights of public employees. Now Mitchell is running for lieutenant governor as part of the state's upcoming recall elections.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a long record of opposing critical public safety programs and training for firefighters, including Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) and Assistance to Firefighters (FIRE Act) grants.

A year ago, thousands of Wisconsin workers filled the statehouse and streets of Madison protesting Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) attack on their collective bargaining rights. The battle reverberated beyond the borders of Wisconsin, triggering a nationwide dialogue on collective bargaining.

This is a cross-post by Karen Hickey, communications director at the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO.

Working families in southwest Florida are standing in solidarity with Wisconsin workers and protesting Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) visit to Naples. Walker spoke this morning at the Ritz-Carlton resort in Naples, Fla., as part of the James Madison Institute think-tank luncheon.

AFL-CIO communications staffer Nora Frederickson sends us this report.

Workers in New Hampshire took over the floor of the New Hampshire House chamber yesterday to testify against a spate of anti-collective bargaining bills debated in the House Labor Committee. The hearings were relocated to the people’s chamber after the hearing rooms were flooded past their capacity by more than 600 firefighters, state workers, truck drivers, teachers and community members protesting the most recent anti-worker onslaughts in the Granite State.

As Detroit’s economy reaches unimaginable lows, firefighters go to work in a nearly bankrupt city set aflame by arsonists—some by building owners looking to collect insurance and others by gang members. The perils faced by these front-line first responders captured the imaginations of filmmakers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez, who are putting the finishing touches on “Burn: The Detroit Firefighter Documentary.”