PHOTOS: Hardly any rain had fallen on Chicago for months, and the drought was getting worse. Over the 22 days leading up to October 8, 1871, it had rained only once—a measly 0.11 inches. “Under the burning sun for so many weeks, the whole city became virtually a tinderbox,” recalled William Bross, one of the Chicago Tribune’s owners.
- PUB DATE: 9/23/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Magazine

The Lexington council took its first vote Tuesday to set aside $15 million in federal coronavirus relief money for supplemental pay for up to 1,700 essential city employees who have worked during the pandemic. During a Tuesday council work session, Lexington city administrators did not have the full details on exactly how many people and departments qualify as essential workers, nor did it have an exact amount each of those essential workers would receive under the pay program.
- PUB DATE: 9/23/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lexington Herald-Leader - Metered Site

Tara O’Connor is a firefighter and EMT for Atkins Volunteer Fire Department. She’s learned to overcome narcolepsy, and is using World Narcolepsy Day, held every year on September 22, to tell her story. O’Connor joined the department two years ago at age 22. She wanted to do it right after high school but had to figure out what was wrong first.
- PUB DATE: 9/23/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCRG-TV ABC 9 Cedar Rapids

VIDEO: According to the Little Rock Fire Department, the Goldman Recycling building was "fully engulfed" and created a large dark cloud of smoke on Tuesday evening. The recycling center is located at 1701 E. 14th Street. The Little Rock Police Department asked people to avoid the immediate area. Neighboring the recycling center is a Budweiser distribution center.
- PUB DATE: 9/22/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTHV-TV CBS 11 Little Rock

A man is dead after he crashed his pickup truck into two fire trucks, hit a firefighter and finally collided with a fire hydrant. And authorities say they have no idea why he did it. It all started around 3 a.m. Wednesday when first responders got the call of a crash along U.S. 19 at Innisbrook Drive.
- PUB DATE: 9/22/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTSP-TV CBS 10 St. Petersburg

VIDEO: The Olathe Fire Department is testing out new technology that could help keep firefighters safe. Thanks to a new partnership with Squishy Robotics, the department now has access to three new tensegrity robots that can be used to prevent exposure to hazardous chemicals. The six-month pilot program will allow firefighters to get hands-on experience operating the new technology.
- PUB DATE: 9/22/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDAF-TV FOX 4 Kansas City

PHOTOS: La Crosse Fire Station No. 5 has another claim to fame, in addition to being the last station in the city to use horse brigades: It’s now listed on the State Register of Historic Places. The Wisconsin Historical Society, which bestowed the distinction on the station last month, cements the building’s heritage as the last surviving firehouse in the city, although it’s no longer used as a fire station.
- PUB DATE: 9/22/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

VIDEO: One person is in critical condition after a possible honey oil lab explosion in Merced Monday morning. Merced Fire Department Fire Chief Derek Parker said the person was airlifted to a local hospital. "The garage door was in the middle of the street,' Parker told ABC10. The explosion was reported just after 8 a.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXTV ABC 10 Sacramento

Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. submitted to the City Council on Monday a 248-page report that examined every aspect of the Worcester Fire Department, including how it can better prevent line-of-duty deaths. Since 1999, the city has suffered the loss of nine firefighters who all died while battling blazes.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Masslive.com

Ryan O’Connor has spent more than a decade handling thousands of calls while working as a volunteer emergency medical technician with the Snyder Fire Department. Most came evenings and overnights because O’Connor works full-time in the banking field. The way he sees it, that service didn’t matter much to the state Bureau of Emergency Medical Services last spring, in the midst of a pandemic, after a miscommunication within the all-volunteer department caused O’Connor’s EMT recertification paperwork to be sent six days after his certification expired.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Buffalo News

It’s been two years since WCCO first reported on the dangerous needle littering problem in parts of south Minneapolis. At that time, Minneapolis firefighters planned to pick up the needles until the city found a better solution. But despite their efforts, the problem is arguably worse, says Assistant Minneapolis Fire Chief Melanie Rucker.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCCO-TV CBS 4 Minneapolis

A fire in an attic may not be the way most people start their day, but for rookie Tampa firefighter Lauren Glanton, it seems to come naturally. "That was my alarm clock," she said. "It was fire time, time to rock and roll!" Answering the call runs in the family. "Broken legs, gunshot wounds, overdoses and everything else," said Lauren’s dad, Larry, a Tampa Fire Rescue paramedic who has seen it all during his 24 years with the department.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVT-TV FOX 13 Tampa

VIDEO/PHOTOS: A famed church in the Far South suburbs went up in flames Sunday afternoon. Around 2 p.m., nearly a dozen fire departments responded to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Beecher following reports of a massive blaze. Fire crews eventually extinguished the fire but the historic church was heavily damaged.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGN-TV 9 Chicago

Developed by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL), POINTER is groundbreaking new first responder tracking and location technology that allows first responders to pinpoint their colleagues more precisely in emergencies.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTTG-TV FOX 5 Washington, D.C.

With lessons learned from 9/11 so widely, recently and painfully recounted, the story of suffering and loss that continue for more than 100,000 fellow Americans must not be forgotten. We cannot lose sight of it as if seeing it through a rear-view mirror, fading in the distance. We need to keep these fellow citizens front and center.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Eagle

VIDEO: The pandemic has put more burden on first responders answering emergency medical calls. Dallas Fire-Rescue is hoping to cut down on burnout, response times and overtime with a new approach to staffing its ambulances. A new pilot program will run for six months. At first, DFR will use internal staff to determine if the model works.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KDFW-TV FOX 4 Dallas

No clear culprit. No smoking gun. While COVID-19's origin story is currently defined by a lack of hard evidence and data, scientists around the world continue their search for answers to how the pandemic began. CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks to leading virologists, epidemiologists and coronavirus researchers in "The Origins of COVID-19: Searching for the Source," premiering at 8 p.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN Health

PHOTOS: The looping and twisting cobalt blue rails of the Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast loomed above the trees. The iconic siren of the ride occasionally blared through the warm September air as maintenance worked on the ride in the closed park. Below the steel supports, firefighters donned in orange and neon yellow wet suits, whitewater helmets and red personal flotation devices hung onto rescue boards through the class-four rapids of the Thunder River ride at Six Flags.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbia Missourian

PHOTOS: Inside the garage of the firehouse, a 1956 pumper and ladder combination fire truck from Glasgow Volunteer Fire Department is the newest addition to the Fire Station 4 Airbnb on Rivermont Avenue. The restored truck still runs but didn’t fit inside the Glasgow department so the Woodland family opened up his home to it recently.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The News & Advance

For 150 years, the people of Lexington have called on the members of the Lexington Fire Dept. to come to their rescue in an emergency. The brave men and women always run toward the danger to save lives. Their sacrifice doesn’t go unnoticed, and was formally recognized Thursday by the Lexington-Fayette County Urban County Government.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKYT-TV CBS/CW 27 Lexington