Decatur is offering an incentive package to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as an encouragement for hesitant city employees, especially first responders. The DeKalb County city is offering extra vacation time, health insurance credits and raffled gift cards to try to increase vaccination rates. Fewer than half of the city’s 150 first responders — police officers, firefighters and public works employees — have gotten vaccinated, Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- PUB DATE: 2/18/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Porterville Fire Department will honor the memory of two fallen firefighters one year after Capt. Ramon Figueroa and Patrick Jones died making sure nobody was trapped inside a burning library. A virtual memorial service will be posted to the department's social media at 4 p.m. Thursday, officials announced.
- PUB DATE: 2/18/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Visalia Times Delta - Metered Site

VIDEOS: Emergency crews rescued 12 people from boats in frigid conditions Wednesday night after the roof of a boat dock collapsed in Old Hickory. Both the Nashville Fire Department and Office of Emergency Management responded to the Blue Turtle Bay Marina in the 2000 block of Riverside Road. Callers to 911 reported the roof of the boat dock collapsed on top of multiple houseboats with people inside.
- PUB DATE: 2/18/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKRN-TV ABC 2 Nashville

Scientists have identified seven new coronavirus variants that have emerged in the United States, according to a study awaiting peer review. All seven variants contained a similar mutation and were found to have emerged as early as July 2020. Scientists say it's not surprising that they're just now identifying new viral variants in the U.
- PUB DATE: 2/18/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

VIDEO: Firefighters battled a large fire in Duncanville that could be seen from Texas Sky Ranger. The fire engulfed five townhomes at 1408 Crosspointe in Duncanville near Clark and Wheatland Road. Michelle Monterro's home was destroyed by the fire. She said her neighbors had work crews in the home doing some sort of repair work when the fire broke out.
- PUB DATE: 2/17/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAS-TV NBC 5 Fort Worth

An agreement was reached Tuesday to protect firefighters with more safety on film sets throughout New York City Eileen Davidson, the widow of a firefighter killed on a movie set in 2018, has pushed hard for the safety crackdown. Michael Davidson, 37, was killed on the set of "Motherless Brooklyn" on March 23, 2018 in Harlem.
- PUB DATE: 2/17/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV ABC 7 New York

Glasgow Assistant Fire Chief Adam Maulden said in his 19-years of service, he has never been as scared as he was Monday at a massive fire when that nearly killed his colleague. At around 4:30 p.m., the Glasgow Fire Department responded to a fire at Hughes HVAC Supply on West Main Street. The building is a complete loss.
- PUB DATE: 2/17/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNKY-TV NBC/CBS 40 Bowling Green

The Coal Township Rescue Squad's fire station was temporarily turned into a bakery as members continued a longtime tradition of making doughnuts for Fat Tuesday. "The amount of years I've been here and the last couple of years, this is the most I've seen us make," Kayla Hoffman said. The volunteer firefighters started cooking thousands of doughnuts at midnight and have been here all day.
- PUB DATE: 2/17/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNEP-TV ABC 16 Scranton

A 29-year-old firefighter who worked for departments in Iredell and Rowan Counties died from COVID-19 last week. Now his family at home and in the fire service have a message they want the community to hear. They spoke very candidly about taking COVID seriously. They say their hope is that their experience will save another family from having to go through the pain they have endured for the last five weeks.
- PUB DATE: 2/17/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBTV CBS 3 Charlotte

Eight families were displaced by an intense fire that destroyed a Passaic multi-family home Friday night. No injuries were reported. Flames blew through the roof, part of which collapsed less than a half-hour after the four-alarm blaze broke out on the second floor of the wood-frame building at Hope and Highland avenues around 8 p.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Passaic Daily Voice

PHOTO: The morning a Winter Storm Warning was issued for Austin and Central Texas, a fire truck in Travis County rolled over, injuring four firefighters. Austin-Travis County EMS confirmed to KVUE's Mike Marut that a Pedernales Fire Department truck rolled over at around 8:39 a.m. in the 16000 block of W.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KVUE-TV ABC 24 Austin

In the public safety world, they are known as LODDs -- line of duty deaths. And now the biggest cause of those deaths in public safety jobs isn't from rushing into burning buildings or getting shot, it is from COVID-19. That's why researchers in the Triangle have developed a way to track coronavirus infections in the public safety group most likely to get them -- firefighters and emergency medical technicians.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVD ABC 11 Raleigh

A pilot program could leave first responders better equipped with additional training, tools and resources to handle the steady volume of mental health-related calls that come through emergency dispatch. After months of discussions that included behavioral health professionals and the safety forces, City Council put $100,000 into this year’s budget for a “hybrid” Crisis Response Pilot Program.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cleveland.com

Broward County has invested millions in a new emergency response system experts say is helping firefighters and officers to respond to emergencies faster. “You as a resident at home when you call 911, you want the closest available unit to come handle your emergency,” said Sunrise Fire Rescue Chief John McNamara.
- PUB DATE: 2/16/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVJ NBC 6 Miami

Firefighters are battling a massive house fire early Friday morning. The fire started around 2 a.m. at a duplex on Montgomery Drive near New World Drive. Firefighters arrived to find flames shooting up through the roof of the house, which was nearly fully engulfed. The strong winds made the fire more difficult for firefighters to get it under control.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WOAI-TV NBC 4 San Antonio

On Broadway, just south of Lincoln, is another Wichita landmark that is hidden in plain sight: the Kansas Firefighters Museum. The museum is small in size but uses the space wisely. The walls, ceilings — every square inch, it seems — is full of memorabilia. There are photos, plaques, logbooks and, best of all, old fire equipment.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KMUW.org

Yes, Stipe Miocic still works as a firefighter when he is not fighting inside the UFC octagon. The current UFC heavyweight champion is a long-running member of the Oakwood and Valley View Fire Departments in his hometown Ohio, where he works as a dedicated firefighter and a paramedic. Over the years, many have cast doubt over his ability to balance the two professions, but Stipe Miocic has proved them all wrong by giving his best to both his careers and not compromising with either.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sports Skeeda

February 10, 2021, marked 40 years since the second deadly hotel fire in three months shook Las Vegas to its core. The city was already reeling from the November fire that claimed 87 lives at the old MGM Grand (today Bally's). Then, on February 10, 1981, it was a terrible case of déjà vu. This time it was the Hilton (now the Westgate), which was the largest hotel in the world at that time.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSNV-TV NBC 3 Las Vegas

Together, they have fought fires, cut back metal to extricate accident victims from cars, taken turns compressing the chest of someone whose heart isn't beating and, since last fall, warmed baby bottles and changed diapers. A shared love of helping their neighbors led Hopewell Volunteer Firefighters Jim and Annie Ferry to fall in love with each other.
- PUB DATE: 2/12/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mercer Me

VIDEO: Dozens of people have been displaced by a massive fire at a condo building in Boxboro. As firefighters poured water on the smoldering brick shell on Swanson Road, one longtime resident stood nearby in shock. “I’ve lived there for 45 years, so there’s a lot of memories there,” one woman said. It was just after five o’clock when firefighters responding to a call for smoke in the attic were greeted by an inferno.
- PUB DATE: 2/11/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBZ-TV CBS 4 Boston