Los Angeles firefighter dies after falling from ladder

29-year-old Kelly Wong fell several stories during a training exercise.



Some tragic news out of Los Angeles... A firefighter died Monday morning, two days after he fell from a fire engine's aerial ladder during a training exercise in downtown Los Angeles.

Firefighter, 29, dies 2 days after fall from aerial ladder in downtown Los Angeles

29-year-old Kelly Wong was participating in an exercise Saturday morning when he fell several stories from an aerial ladder on to a fire truck, suffering numerous blunt force trauma injuries. He was transported to a local trauma center where he was listed in critical condition.

The Los Angeles Fire Department announced Wong's death on Twitter in a written statement.

Video catches Kentucky fire chief's racist remarks

"Do you understand English darling?"



In Kentucky, a fire chief is (ahem) under fire for making racist remarks, including using the N-word to refer to a black family and asking an Asian American news reporter, "Do you understand English?"

Kentucky Fire Chief Uses N-Word, Insults Asian-American Reporter

A Bullitt County Sheriff deputy's body camera recorded Fire Chief Julius Hatfield making the racist remark back in September at the scene of a traffic accident. A white driver, Loren Dicken was offered assistance, while Chege Mwangi and his family, who are black, were not given any help by the chief or his department.

"We ain't taking no n-----s here," Hatfield says with a laugh.

Firefighter sues department over blame in Asiana crash death

24-year-veteran claims she is a "scapegoat" in the death of teen crash survivor



In the fallout from last summer's Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco, there's a whole lot of finger-pointing, and not a whole lot of people willing to take responsibility for the three passengers who died.

A firefighter has filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco Fire Department, claiming that she was made a scapegoat and falsely identified as the driver of the rig that fatally struck a teenage survivor after the crash.

Firefighter sues over being blamed in SFO Asiana crash death

16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan survived the fiery crash at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, but was killed when she was run over by two rigs as she lay on the ground near the aircraft's left wing.

According to firefighter Elyse Duckett, a 24-year veteran of the fire department, she was made a "sacrifical lamb" in fire officials' investigation of the accident, which singled her out and blamed her for Ye's death. Duckett says that by the time she arrived on the scene, Ye had already been killed by another fire rig, and her body obscured by flame-retardant foam.

Video shows Asiana crash victim before she was run over

Dash cam shows that firefighters were alerted to survivor Ye Meng Yuan before she was run over by a rig



The Asiana Airlines crash last July at San Francisco International Airport killed three passengers -- one from being run over by an emergency vehicle after the crash. Newly obtained camera footage reveals that the driver of the vehicle had been alerted to avoid the teenage survivor as she lay on the ground.

Fire rig alerted to Asiana victim before running her over

16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan survived the plane crash, but died after being hit by fire rigs. Dashboard camera footage obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle shows that a firefighter pointed out Yuan's body on the ground -- still alive, according to the coroner -- 15 minutes before she was run over by the truck.

Berkeley appoints first Asian American fire chief in continental United States

Last week, Gil Dong was officially named chief of the Berkeley Fire Department, becoming the first Asian American fire chief in the continental United States: Berkeley appoints first Asian-American fire chief in continental U.S.

Dong, a 23-year fire veteran who first joined as a firefighter-paramedic in 1990 and has worked in every division of the department, has been serving as interim fire chief since last December. His appointment became official at last week's Berkeley City Council meeting.

In his new job, Dong will oversee 134 staff members while taking charge of a $34 million budget. He says his priorities will be training, emergency preparedness and maintaining infrastructure and equipment. And yes, it's about damn time we've had an Asian American fire chief: