As the coronavirus pandemic has taken over headlines and dominated conversations on public health, another crisis has seemingly been swept under the rug.
The opioid epidemic.
Snohomish County health officials said it their weekly media briefing that opioid use numbers are up since last year.
First Lady Melania Trump used some of her time at the Republican National Convention Tuesday to address the national epidemic. - PUB DATE: 8/27/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle
VIDEO: No one was injured fighting an inferno Tuesday that collapsed the roof of the Moose Event Center on Howard Street in Hibbing, according to fire officials. But what does hurt to the small town, is the loss of a building that houses many businesses and memories.
“As I stood outside and watched it just kept, no matter how much water it got worse, and worse, and worse,” said Marybeth Perreira, who watched from the Androy Hotel across the street. - PUB DATE: 8/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KQDS-TV FOX 21 Duluth
The majority of calls Honolulu firefighters respond to are medical ones, and many are suspected COVID-19 cases. But the head of their union said the Honolulu Fire Department is making those sickened or quarantined prove they were exposed on the job.
If they can’t, the union said, they could be denied benefits. - PUB DATE: 8/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hawaii News Now
PHOTO: A farm in Massachusetts is paying tribute to the first responders who sacrificed their own safety to help others during the coronavirus pandemic.
This year's corn maze design at Schartner Farm in Bolton serves as a thank you to first responders. Along with the words "Thank You," the maze features the Star of Life, which represents emergency medical services personnel; a police badge; a firefighter crest and the caduceus, also known as the Staff of Hermes, which is often used as a symbol of medicine. - PUB DATE: 8/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCVB-TV ABC 5 Boston
It’s been almost eight months since Chinese scientists identified the coronavirus and doctors are still discovering new symptoms that can ravage the body and leave lasting damage months after recovery.
While more than 813,000 people have died from the disease, most of the more than 23.6 million people with confirmed infections have recovered. - PUB DATE: 8/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNBC
Dorchester County firefighter and Summerville resident Dave Moore is planning to walk 100 miles across the Lowcountry in 48 hours to raise money for U.S. veterans, families of fallen heroes and local first responders.
According to a news release from the Travis Manion Foundation, Moore will start his trek at 7 a. - PUB DATE: 8/26/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Berkeley Independent
VIDEO: A huge fire broke out at an apartment building that is under construction in central Phoenix early Tuesday morning.
Video from the scene shows massive flames engulfing the building north of 12th Street and Indian School Road. A large plume of black smoke could be seen for miles.
Capt. Todd Keller with the Phoenix Fire Department said it is a two-story apartment building that has been under construction for about seven months. - PUB DATE: 8/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KASW-CW6 & KTVK-3TV (azfamily.com)
PHOTOS: When Jeannette fire Chief Bill Frye and Mark Scalzitti were junior firemen, they would jump on the back of a 1965 Mack fire engine to respond to calls.
Too young to drive it at the time, both have fond memories of getting suited up in the fire station and riding Engine 6 through town, the siren blaring. - PUB DATE: 8/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
VIDEO: Lubbock Fire Rescue is partnering with the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering to help improve firefighter safety. Their current project is developing a safer firefighter helmet to help mitigate the risk of traumatic head injuries while on the job.
Lt. Brady Robinette said what spurred this research was the tragedy on Jan. - PUB DATE: 8/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KJTV-TV FOX 34 Lubbock
People living in some of the largest U.S. cities and their surrounding areas face the highest risk of contracting COVID-19 in the near future, according to a new set of online dashboards created by researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.
The risk analysis model used by the website examines more than 3,000 U. - PUB DATE: 8/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The University of Texas at Austin
Back in April, in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, there was a national shortage of protective N95 masks. Ryan Githens and Joe Webster, both engineers for Oceaneering, an engineering and applied technologies company with offices in Hanover, used their design skills to create a workaround solution to keep first responders in their community safe — an adapter that allows firefighters to use their SCBA masks as an N95 filter, "protecting their respiratory system and face from potential exposure to the virus," Githens said. - PUB DATE: 8/25/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun - Metered Site
VIDEO: Hundreds of firefighters battled a six-alarm fire at a warehouse in the Tioga-Nicetown section of Philadelphia Sunday morning.
Fire Commissioner Adam Theil said that about half of all on-duty firefighters were at the scene battling the blaze at a warehouse on the 3300 block of Stokley Avenue. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPVI-TV ABC 6 Philadelphia
PHOTOS: IMPD is investigating after a woman was killed when her car collided with an IFD fire engine at the intersection of Shelby Street and Southern Avenue Sunday morning.
Around 10:45 a.m., the IFD truck was responding, with lights and sirens activated, to a possible residence fire on Sumner Avenue. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTHR-TV NBC 13 Indianapolis
VIDEO: A group of DeKalb County firefighters showed off their musical skills during a recent jam session.
In a video posted to Twitter, DeKalb County Fire Company 23C jammed together to Carlos Santana's "Maria Maria" in a "post workout jam session." A group of DeKalb County firefighters showed off their musical skills during a recent jam session. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAGA-TV FOX 5 Atlanta
The budget Austin City Council approved on Aug. 23 for the 2020-2021 Fiscal Year comes with a number of different investments in Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
Much of the discussion around Austin’s new budget revolved around the ways the budget begins a process of transitioning around $150 million dollars from the Austin Police Department into other areas of public health and safety over the course of the next year. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAN-TV NBC 36 Austin
New York's first responders were given an unusual warning this week, a first since the Sept. 11 terror attacks: skip this year's in-person anniversary events. In a letter addressed to members of the FDNY, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro cautioned against the department's members attending anniversary events this year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to threaten the safety of everyone, especially retired members and families of 9/11 victims that are at a greater risk due to health and age. - PUB DATE: 8/24/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNBC-TV NBC 4 New York
VIDEO: A raging fire engulfed a home in Great Kills early Friday morning, displacing a family and injuring nine firefighters.
Video from the scene shows flames and thick black smoke pouring from the upper floors and roof as FDNY members sprayed the inferno with hoses.
The three-alarm blaze was reported at about 3 a. - PUB DATE: 8/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Staten Island Live
A new Oregon State University study suggests that firefighters are more likely to be exposed to potentially harmful chemicals while on duty compared to off duty.
The on-duty firefighters in the Kansas City, Missouri, area experienced higher exposures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are a family of chemicals that are known to have the potential to cause cancer. - PUB DATE: 8/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Science Daily
VIDEO: With COVID-19 restrictions loosening in S.C. Shriners Hospital in Greenville along with firefighters from Greenville Fire Department surprised the children with a day full of joy.
“One of our employees just asked if they could donate some fun hats to the kids to brighten their day and they took it and ran with it from there. - PUB DATE: 8/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSPA-TV CBS 7 Spartanburg
PHOTOS: When D.C. firefighters responded to the report of a fire in Northeast Thursday evening, a man suspected of setting the fire attacked Fire Engine 8.
As they were trying to put out the fire, which was outside in the 300 block of 18th St. NE, the man became aggressive toward the crew, according to a DC Fire and EMS spokesperson. - PUB DATE: 8/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJLA-TV ABC 7 Washington, DC
