A total of $3.5 million was awarded to 154 fire departments, districts and EMS providers through the Small Equipment Grant Program.
The Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal and Gov. Pritzker announced the OSFM received 540 applications, requesting around $12 million in funding during this grant period. - PUB DATE: 6/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WIFR-LD CBS 23 Rockford
The United States has long prided itself as the world's shining beacon. But its current status is a much darker one: the globe's leader in coronavirus cases.
More than 125,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the US, and more than 2.5 million Americans have been infected.
American life has been irrevocably altered by the worst pandemic in a century. - PUB DATE: 6/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN
PHOTOS: City officials invite area residents to join them next week in a celebration of the Fort Walton Beach Fire Department’s new fire engine.
City officials used $530,000 in half-cent sales tax money to pay for the 2020 engine, which can pump 1,500 gallons of water per minute and carries a full complement of firefighting, rescue and emergency medical tools and equipment. - PUB DATE: 6/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Florida Daily News
Every JFRD firefighter will be tested for COVID-19. Testing started Saturday after 14 tested positive for the virus. The city said more than 200 firefighter are in self-quarantine.
COVID-19 tests are underway on everyone in the Jacksonville Fire Department after 14 firefighters tested positive for the virus. - PUB DATE: 6/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJAX-TV CBS 47 Jacksonville
A car slammed into the living area of a Rialto fire station Friday night, June 26, almost striking a firefighter and leaving a stew of smashed furniture, broken glass and vehicle fluid behind as it reversed out of the building.
The firefighter, an engineer who is a veteran of 15 years, was sitting about 3 feet from where the front quarter of the car went into the building, Battalion Chief Cory Cisneros said Saturday. - PUB DATE: 6/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Sun
A conflict is brewing between the Oneida County Department of Emergency Services and a handful of local fire chiefs who do not want to give up their 3-digit identification numbers.
The county 9-1-1 Center is planning to switch from number identifications to plain language in order to better serve an impending upgrade to a digital radio system. - PUB DATE: 6/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Rome Sentinel
Startup Allerio announced that its easy-to-use Mobile Hub broadband platform designed for EMS use and the healthcare community has been certified for use by the FCC and multiple U.S. carriers—FirstNet/AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and U.S. Cellular.
“One of the unique things about this is that there’s one button on it—it turns the device on, and it turns the device off,” Allerio CEO TJ Kennedy said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. - PUB DATE: 6/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IWCE's Urgent Communications
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday expanded its list of risk factors that make people more likely to develop severe illness or die from COVID-19. The update comes as the number of confirmed coronavirus infections rises to record levels in the United States, driven by alarming spikes in Florida, Texas and other states across the South and West. - PUB DATE: 6/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS News
PHOTOS: A garden style apartment building on Spa Road partially collapsed on firefighters Thursday afternoon in Annapolis as they were battling a blaze that had enveloped all three floors, city fire officials said.
One Anne Arundel County firefighter was injured in the fire, Capt. Aaron Edwards, fire department spokesperson, told The Capital. - PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Capital Gazette - Metered Site
A McDowell County volunteer firefighter was arrested for murder and arson Thursday after authorities say he set a blaze that led to the death of a fellow firefighter.
Robert Lee Beckner, 36, of Iaeger, is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree arson, according to a criminal complaint filed in McDowell County Magistrate Court. - PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Every year on June 30, the mountain community of Yarnell remembers the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who perished in 2013's Yarnell Hill Fire.
Last year, the annual service drew nearly 150 people to a memorial park in the center of town. But this year's 7th anniversary remembrance is taking place virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. - PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Arizona Republic
A senior citizen held at gunpoint an Orange County firefighter who’d entered her home to check on her well-being Thursday morning, before releasing him unharmed, according to Fire Rescue spokeswoman Carrie Proudfit.
Though shots were fired at first responders during the incident, no one was injured, Proudfit said, adding that the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is not currently planning to pursue criminal charges. - PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel
A handful of Nashville Firefighters and Emergency Medical Services employees have tested positive for COVID-19.
The president of the International Association of Firefighters has some concerns.
“The ideal situation wouldn’t be to close a station, if you need to quarantine all personnel from that station, then do it," said Mark Young. - PUB DATE: 6/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVF CBS 5 Nashville
City public safety officials and Mayor Bill Peduto on Wednesday showed off a new “silent” alarm system that alerts only the fire and EMS stations that are being dispatched to the call, rather than blasting the call on a radio for every station and first responder on duty to hear.
The $2.8 million, decade-in-the-making alarm system will cut down first responders’ stress levels and streamline services, officials said. - PUB DATE: 6/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post Gazette
VIDEO: A man working atop the iconic Fresno State water tower had to be rushed to the hospital today after being overcome with heat, eventually going into cardiac arrest. "The extended work period up on top there, the strenuous work that they were doing with the heat and the high humidity today, it just overcame him," said Battalion Chief Mike Gibson of the Fresno Fire Department. - PUB DATE: 6/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KFSN-TV ABC 30 Fresno
There are continued calls to keep two Baltimore City fire units from closing, the closures are proposed as part of city budget cuts.
Firefighters and their families held rallies on Wednesday to voice those calls in public. Firefighters, both active and retired, held rallies outside two fire houses in the city, protesting the proposal to take two engine units out of service permanently, due to city budget cuts. - PUB DATE: 6/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAL-TV NBC 11 Baltimore
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest forecast of expected U.S. coronavirus deaths, predicting that between 130,000 and 150,000 Americans would die of the novel virus by July 18.
The updated forecast put out by the CDC Wednesday consists of a combination of data from over 20 national models, which also predict an increase in fatalities in several states over the next four weeks, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah, which the CDC says will exceed the number of reported deaths of the last month. - PUB DATE: 6/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee
The state Natural Resources Board has unanimously approved allowing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to begin drafting regulations to enforce restrictions on firefighting foam that contains chemicals known as PFAS.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as PFAS, are chemicals that are found in products ranging from firefighting foam to nonstick cookware. - PUB DATE: 6/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wisconsin Public Radio
Three Houston Fire Department firefighters were taken to the hospital to be treated for the injuries they received while battling a house fire early Wednesday.
The fire was reported around 2 a.m. at a home in the 8900 block of Wynmeadow, not far from Monroe and I-45.
When firefighters arrived, the one-story home was already engulfed in flames. - PUB DATE: 6/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KHOU-TV CBS 11 Houston
For the first time in the history of the Pasadena Fire Department, the entire engine crew rolling out of Station 34 was female.
On Tuesday, the all-female crew were under the command of Capt. Tricia Rodriguez.
"FIRST all-female crew in history of Pasadena Fire Department riding together on Engine 34," a social media post picturing the four of them said. - PUB DATE: 6/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KABC-TV ABC 7 Los Angeles
