In the middle of a pandemic that has taken the lives of 26 firefighters, the nation is losing more firefighters. COVID-19 related budget cuts -- in communities large and small – have resulted in the layoff or furlough of at least 935 fire department employees, including front-line firefighters, EMTs & paramedics. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IAFC.org
The Olathe Fire Station is the first EMS departments in the country to begin remotely monitoring coronavirus patients. The department has teamed up with a global tech company, Masimo SafetyNet. "There have been some hospital systems using it, but we are the first EMS agency," Olathe Fire Department Medical Director Dr. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDAF-TV FOX 4 Kansas City
A New Jersey Assembly panel advanced a bill that would help first responders and their families financially in the event that they are disabled or injured by COVID-19. Local law enforcement officers, state troopers, firefighters, and emergency medical responders enrolled in one of the three retirement systems associated with these professions are eligible for accidental disability benefits if they sustain a permanent and total disability resulting from a traumatic event that occurred on the job. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hudson County View
Some of the names are written in small, cropped print, others in swooping cursive. A few are flanked by hearts, and some accompanied by short notes scrawled in permanent marker.
Each name written on the Berea Fire Department's pink truck is different, and each one has its story.
"Stories of hope and courage," they're called by Assistant Fire Chief Alan Myers, whose own name appears a few feet above the truck's pump discharges. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Greenville Online
Fort Lauderdale and Broward fire-rescues’ newly released numbers confirm what many have suspected: More people are afraid to go to the hospital and, as a result, are dying at home.
Records released Monday from Fort Lauderdale Fire and Rescue and Broward County Fire and Rescue found twice as many people were already dead when responders arrived at their home in April than a year earlier, and the pattern appears to be continuing in May. - PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Florida Sun Sentinel - Metered Site
Deborah Coughlin was neither short of breath nor coughing. In those first days after she became infected by the novel coronavirus, her fever never spiked above 100 degrees. It was vomiting and diarrhea that brought her to a Hartford, Conn., emergency room on May 1.
“You would have thought it was a stomach virus,” said her daughter, Catherina Coleman. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Washington Post
Nearly 60 people were displaced after a six-alarm fire tore through a Paterson neighborhood on Saturday night.
The blaze was reported around 8:40 p.m. on Beech Street and spread to six houses, according to Paterson Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale.
No injuries were reported among the residents, but a firefighter and police officer suffered minor injuries, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NJ.com
VIDEO: What do you get when you combine a lamp stand, a timer and a germicidal bulb? According to a self-admitted "tinkerer", it's another weapon to protect firefighters and the public during the pandemic.
Lt. Tom Carano, a veteran firefighter with the Cuyahoga Falls Fire Department, came up with the idea and built five of the devices-- one for each of the city's five fire stations. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WEWS-TV ABC 5 Cleveland
U.S. regulators have approved a new type of coronavirus test that administration officials have promoted as a key to opening up the country.
The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday announced emergency authorization for antigen tests developed by Quidel Corp. of San Diego. The test can rapidly detect fragments of virus proteins in samples collected from swabs swiped inside the nasal cavity, the FDA said in a statement. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News
According to a report from The Associated Press, a state agreement allows for the names and addresses of those who test positive for the novel coronavirus to be released to first responders, law enforcement, and paramedics. News Channel 11’s Anslee Daniel spoke to the Washington County 911 director, Greg Matherly, who said that the list will be updated daily, with names regenerating every 30 days after testing positive. - PUB DATE: 5/11/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJHL-TV CBS/ABC 11 Johnson City
Early numbers show how significantly the coronavirus is devastating states' revenue streams — and could force choices between raising taxes or gutting services and laying off public employees.
Why it matters: Even as some states move toward reopening, the economic ramifications of having shut down will haunt them far into the future. - PUB DATE: 5/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: AXIOS
The state of Texas is using lessons learned from hurricane response efforts to combat COVID-19, and UT Health EMS crews are training to be part of the state’s solution.
On Thursday, UT Health EMS provided training at its headquarters for their employees and Hopkins County EMS crews, both of whom are part of the state’s Rapid Assessment Quick Response Force. - PUB DATE: 5/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Athens Daily Review
PHOTOS: High winds on Thursday spread fire and embers across a pallet factory, vacant homes, occupied buildings and a bus garage in downtown Detroit, requiring 60 firefighters to battle flames for seven hours and injuring one on the crew.
Then, power was knocked out in the area as the fire raged. Dave Fornell, deputy fire commissioner for the Detroit Fire Department, said the fire started Thursday in a palette factory near Pulford and Beaufait. - PUB DATE: 5/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Detroit News
Artist Dwight White II has seen a nurse who lives in his University Village apartment building coming and going recently at late hours.
He’s talked to her from opposite sides of the elevator, pleasantries mostly, but never got her name.
She has no idea she’s the inspiration for a mural White just painted on the side of Lulu’s Hot Dogs, 1000 S. - PUB DATE: 5/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chicago Sun Times - Metered Site
When minutes could mean the difference between life and death, first responders and public service agencies require access to the latest offerings in technology and wireless equipment to close that gap.
Adding to a diverse list of products and services, Sourcewell has awarded contracts to AT&T and Sprint in its Wireless Voice and Data Services category; meaning participating agencies can purchase from these world-class vendors for voice, data, and messaging. - PUB DATE: 5/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Sourcewell
If the federal government does not come to the rescue with financial assistance, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says that the city may be forced to lay off city employees like police officers, firefighters, and healthcare workers.
“They found $58B effortlessly for the airline industry, why are they not helping America’s cities and states get back on their feet,” de Blasio asked. - PUB DATE: 5/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNYW-TV FOX 5 New York
On a cold Sunday night in March, Long Beach firefighter and paramedic James Dolas began to feel the first tingle of illness.
The next day, as the 34-year-old came down with a fever, sore throat and muscle pain, his supervisor delivered the bad news: He feared that Dolas and other firefighters at Station 11 had been exposed to the novel coronavirus. - PUB DATE: 5/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Los Angeles Times - Metered Site
As the United States enters its third month fighting the coronavirus pandemic, between 20,000 and 30,000 new cases have been diagnosed every day since the start of May. Even as data` remains highly limited, trends are beginning to emerge about which groups and parts of the United States are being hit the hardest — by the disease as well as economically. - PUB DATE: 5/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: 24/7 Wall St.
Researchers at Ivy League schools are looking into a theory that dogs can detect the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, with their noses. Man's best friend has a sense of smell that is tens of thousands of times more sensitive than humans and CBS's Chip Reid reports that it’s a tool that could be helpful to monitor the spread of the virus. - PUB DATE: 5/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHP-TV CBS 21 Harrisburg
VIDEO: Bailee Bonick isn't crafty, but she is creative. When the 9-year-old Palm Beach Gardens resident saw her friends creating masks, cards and posters to support others during the coronavirus crisis, she decided to assist in her own, unique way. A longtime singer and theater veteran, Bailee created a YouTube video that pays tribute to first responders around the country. - PUB DATE: 5/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palm Beach Post
