VIDEO: More than a hundred residents at a Buckhead apartment complex were displaced after a massive multiple-alarm fire broke out early Wednesday afternoon and quickly engulfed the building. As Chopper46 flew over the Avana on Main Apartments in the 500 block of Main St. N.E., heavy plumes of smoke could be seen billowing from the building as flames raged out of control.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGCL-TV CBS 46 Atlanta

A new sense of urgency is emerging to get Seattle firefighters the gear they need at riots and other scenes of violence. Crews are being called upon to take bigger risks to help people who are hurt and this equipment is one way to keep them safe. “We're trying to be able to have every single firefighter be able to be protected,” said Debbie Steinhauer, founder and president of the Seattle Fire Foundation.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

Alarms were going off for some Chicago firefighters this week. First, there was a COVID-19 outbreak at the Quinn Fire Academy, and now, hundreds are expected to gather in one spot to take a test. As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Wednesday, some firefighters believe their safety is being put at risk, as well as the safety of the public they serve when it comes to potentially contracting and then spreading coronavirus.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBBM-TV CBS 2 Chicago

When American Girl, the maker of American Girl Dolls, announced its “Heroes With Heart” contest to honor frontline workers, one girl knew exactly who to nominate. April O’Quinn, an EMT with the Richmond Ambulance Authority, was nominated by her niece, Lacey. Families were asked to nominate a hero who makes a difference in their lives and goes “above and beyond.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WWBT-TV NBC 12 Richmond

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread so rapidly since the first U.S. case was reported Jan. 20 that it’s now the third-leading cause of death in the country, Thomas Frieden, MD, former director of the CDC, told CNN. "COVID is now the number 3 cause of death in the U.S. -- ahead of accidents, injuries, lung disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many, many other causes," Frieden said.
- PUB DATE: 8/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WebMD

VIDEO: A massive fire at a plastics facility in Grand Prairie is likely to continue burning for several days and could knock out electricity in the area for some time, firefighters say. Meanwhile, officials are urging people to stay indoors because of the "toxic plume" rising from the scene that could be an irritant for people with respiratory issues.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAS-TV NBC 5 Fort Worth

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, motorists each day drove about 8.8 billion miles on American roadways, while the U.S. railroad system carried 85,000 passengers and 5 million tons of freight. Though travel habits have shifted since the coronavirus outbreak, transportation infrastructure remains vital to the health of the U.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

Funding commitments are now in place for the Rescue Hose Co. to add paid firefighters for the first time in its 140-year history. Greencastle Borough Council agreed to develop a budget to support paid firefighters using a fire tax during a joint meeting with fire company representatives and Antrim Township supervisors last week.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Echo-Pilot

On Aug. 17, the United States recorded its fewest COVID-19 cases in nearly 2 months, with 35,112 new cases and 445 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The new cases raise the total to 5,469,604 cases and 171,344 deaths. Though the decrease in cases is a sign that early summer hot spots, including Arizona, Texas, and Florida, are showing falling case counts, reports from schools that have opened across the country, as well as nursing home data, show congregate living is still a major contributor to COVID-19 outbreaks.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CIDRAP

The Chicago fire academy is closed until further notice after an apparent COVID-19 outbreak impacting both students and instructors. Officials said they are working to determine the source of the outbreak at the Robert J. Quinn Fire Academy, located at 558 W. De Koven Street in the South Loop. It's not clear how long the building will be shut down.
- PUB DATE: 8/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLS-TV ABC 7 Chicago

New York City firefighters disarmed a stabbing suspect inside a firehouse in Queens Monday. Daniel Gomez, 27, was arrested and charged with assault after he was accused of stabbing a 26-year-old man in the leg Monday morning. Officials say FDNY Squad 288 encountered the victim and brought the man into the firehouse in Maspeth for treatment.
- PUB DATE: 8/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV ABC 7 New York

Another day of dead marine life surfacing in Biscayne Bay as the swath of suffocated fish appears to be spreading. On Saturday, members of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue went out on the water to help the animals breathe. The effort was coordinated by Miami Waterkeeper after reaching out to Port Miami for use of their fireboats.
- PUB DATE: 8/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPLG-TV ABC 10 Miami

VIDEO: No injuries were reported Tuesday after a fire damaged a tank at a Pasadena refinery. The fire was reported about 5:45 a.m. in an oil tank on the northeast corner of the property at Pasadena Refining Systems. According to Bill Stephens, a spokesman for Chevron, the fire was extinguished about 6:30 a.
- PUB DATE: 8/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Click 2 Houston

Facing mounting outrage over its decision to cancel the Tribute in Light, the 9/11 Memorial and Museum has backed down and agreed to stage the beloved display on the 19th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. “In the last 24 hours we’ve had conversations with many interested parties and believe we will be able to stage the tribute in a safe and appropriate fashion,” CEO Alice Greenwald said in a statement.
- PUB DATE: 8/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Post

The Shreveport Fire Department unveiled a new duty uniform t-shirt Friday to promote COVID-19 safety measures. Mayor Adrian Perkins joined Shreveport Fire Chief Scott Wolverton and Willis Knighton Health System Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Brian Crawford to unveil the new t-shirt, which is printed with messages on the back reminding people to mask up when in public, wash up at least 20 seconds, and keep up with current CDC guidelines.
- PUB DATE: 8/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTAL-TV NBC 6 Shreveport

PHOTOS: Raised on blocks to ease stress on the wooden wheels, the 111-year-old Union steam pumper traveled 50 miles Saturday on a flatbed truck from Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, to Reading. The crew transporting the 1909 pumper stopped in Leesport to weigh it before bringing it to the Reading Area Firefighting Museum at Fifth and Laurel streets.
- PUB DATE: 8/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Reading Eagle

The Jan. 11 crash that killed two Lubbock first responders remains an open investigation as detectives await critical information from an out of state laboratory that was temporarily closed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lubbock police spokesman Lt. Leath McClure said investigators expect to have the information soon as the the lab hopes to reopen next week.
- PUB DATE: 8/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Nearly six full months after leaving the track in an ambulance following one of the most horrifying accidents in recent memory, NASCAR veteran Ryan Newman made his return to the Daytona International Speedway on Sunday for the Cup Series' Go Bowling 235. And before he took the green flag for his first laps on the speedway's Road Course, he took a moment to offer a thank you to those who worked to make sure he could eventually walk away and race again.
- PUB DATE: 8/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: 247 Sports

It was the worst of the worst. Good young men. Running for their lives. Nowhere to hide. The fire was relentless. This month marks the 83rd memorial anniversary of the worst forest fire disaster in Wyoming history when it comes to loss of firefighter lives. In an obscure and difficult place to reach called Blackwater, a group of forest rangers and Civilian Conservation Corps firefighters lost their lives on Aug.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Cowboy State Daily

When everyone who tests positive for coronavirus in your community gets a call from a public health worker asking them about their contacts, and those contacts are then asked to quarantine, that can be a powerful way to keep the virus from spreading. But contact tracing can do more than that: At scale, the data gathered in those calls also offers vital information about where transmission is happening in a community.
- PUB DATE: 8/14/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: National Public Radio