VIDEO: Rockaway Beach reopened for swimming and surfing Wednesday after officials spent the morning scanning for sharks. "Drone and harbor unit surveillance this morning did not observe any shark sightings, and Rockaway Beach has reopened for swimming as of 10 a.m. NYC Parks, NYPD, and FDNY will continue land, drone, and boat surveillance on Rockaway Beach throughout the day and into the evening," the Parks Department tweeted.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCBS-TV CBS 2 New York City

VIDEO: Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue workers went beyond the call of duty to help a woman with special needs get to her 31st-floor apartment. Floodwaters recently shut down her building’s elevator, and that’s when the first responders stepped in to help. The three firefighters will say they were just doing their jobs, but their job was not easy.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPLG-TV ABC 10 Miami

VIDEO/PHOTO: When Eau Claire firefighter Kevin Blaine isn't pumping water on the scene of a blaze — he's pumping iron in the gym. So much so, he recently took home a gold medal for his strength. Last Thursday Blaine, a 10-year veteran with ECFD, won gold at the 2023 World Police and Fire Games in Winnipeg, Canada in the bench press contest.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2023 2:30:00 AM - SOURCE: WQOW-TV ABC 18 Eau Claire

Three firefighters were taken to the hospital and 30 people were displaced after a fire spread through three triple-decker homes in Dorchester Monday afternoon, officials said. The fire started shortly before 2:30 p.m. Speaking with reporters later, Boston’s fire commissioner said the fire appeared to have started in a basement area of a building at 20 Irma Street before rising through the back of the structure, punching through the roof and spreading to two neighboring buildings.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHDH-TV 7 Boston

VIDEO: The debate over the future of self-driving cars is picking up steam. Safety was the top concern at Monday's California Public Utilities Commission meeting, bringing autonomous vehicle companies Waymo and Cruise face to face with first responders who've raised concerns about the vehicles. San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson said there have been more than 50 cases of the self-driving vehicles interfering with or impeding emergency responders so far this year.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV FOX 2 Oakland

VIDEO: A morning swim during hazardous conditions in Lake Michigan on Sunday turned into a dramatic, large-scale rescue that also put first responders in danger. A Beach Hazard Warning was in effect at the time of the rescue. CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey had the story. The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project said those signs are often missed or ignored.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBBM-TV CBS 2 Chicago

A $4 million award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, will allow researchers in the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health to identify key factors for the successful implementation of workplace sleep coaching to improve sleep health in Arizona firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 8/8/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The University of Arizona Health Sciences

VIDEO: Fire Department Coffee is a veteran-owned business run by firefighters based in Rockford, Ill. Last month, Fire Department Coffee teamed up with the Green Bay Metro Fire Department to create a specialized coffee and t-shirt called, 'Leather & Cheeseheads.' On Monday, the fire department's labor union — Green Bay Area Firefighters Local 141 — was presented with a $10,000 check with the proceeds that it earned from coffee and t-shirt sales.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2023 11:55:00 PM - SOURCE: WGBA-TV NBC 26 Green Bay

The La Crosse Fire Department said one firefighter was injured at the scene of a garage fire Monday morning. Battalion Chief Blane Neher said that they were called to 1313 South Avenue just after 2 a.m. They found a detached garage and camper were fully engulfed when they arrived. Their efforts kept the fire from spreading to the adjacent home which did suffer some damage from the heat of the fire.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2023 3:30:00 PM - SOURCE: WXOW-TV ABC 19 La Crosse

...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS NORTH-CENTRAL AND FAR NORTHEAST WISCONSIN... AT 415 PM, doppler radar indicated scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms along a line from near Eagle River to Lake Tomahawk, then southwest to 9 miles northwest of Merrill. The showers and storms were moving southeast around 15 mph. Special Weather Statement 2023-08-07T16:11:00-05:00 2023-08-07T19:15:00-05:00 Actual Alert Met Expected Minor Observed Oneida; Vilas FIPS6 055085 055125 UGC WIZ005 WIZ010 VTEC

PHOTO: A Wisconsin demolition derby driver was hospitalized with severe burns after his car caught fire in the pit of the Ozaukee County Fair Demo Derby, according to officials. The incident happened Friday night in the city of Cedarburg. The 22-year-old man was among the participants in the Demo Derby, Cedarburg Police said, according to WISN.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FOX News

An explosion and fire at a Sherwin-Williams paint factory in Garland injured one employee and shut the facility down Monday morning, company officials said in a statement. The explosion happened around 1:15 a.m. Monday at the company's plant at South Shiloh Road and Forest Lane in Garland, according to the statement.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFAA-TV ABC 8 Dallas

VIDEO: In an emergency, we expect our first responders to be prepared for anything, but that comes with practice, which is exactly what Collier EMS is getting at Naples Community Hospital. Training in NCH’s new state of the art simulation center helps crews prepare for the unexpected. “Yes, this high intensity, low frequency occurrences, high intensity meaning catastrophic results if you don’t figure out what’s going on and low frequency meaning, I may not see one of these my whole career,” said Dr.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WINK-TV CBS 11 Fort Myers

Just over one year after a 7-year-old girl died in an Albertville house fire, one volunteer fire chief’s mission sparked by her death has put life-saving equipment in the hands of firefighters. Now, Alder Springs Volunteer Fire Department Chief James Edwards said his mission, Project Charlie, has been accomplished.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHNT-TV CBS 19 Huntsville

VIDEO: The City and Borough of Juneau issued a declaration of emergency on Sunday following a glacial lake outburst flooding event that swelled waters to record levels. At least two structures were swept up into rushing waters and other structures were evacuated on Saturday after the flooding event filled Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River to dangerously high levels.
- PUB DATE: 8/7/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTUU-TV NBC 2 Anchorage

VIDEO: Firefighters from all over the state are shooting for a hole in one with effort from the Kelmann Cares Foundation. The Milwaukee Fire Department lost a firefighter last month when one of their members took their own life. As the firefighters battle this sad news, a charity golf event in Sussex on Friday, Aug.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2023 8:41:58 PM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Firefighters on Friday morning, Aug. 4 responded to the scene of a house fire near 36th Street and Mt. Vernon Avenue in Milwaukee. The fire spread to a neighboring home. FOX6 News talked to Dawill Davis. He was able to get his girlfriend and five children out of the home safely. "We were watching tv and my girl saw it first, a spark, and I just saw a little light and flew up in flames," said Davis.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2023 9:04:38 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

An explosion at a Buena, New Jersey home has left two people dead, two injured and another two missing on Thursday, authorities said. A 1-year-old girl was airlifted to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in critical condition. A 16-year-old was also taken there in stable condition. A 2-year-old boy, 3-year-old girl, 52-year-old man and 73-year-old were also in the home at the time of the explosion.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCBS-TV CBS 2 New York

VIDEO: Dale Cieslinski, 60, is accused of throwing a brick at a Seattle Fire Department ambulance Tuesday afternoon in Wallingford. “You are a danger to commit another violent crime, so I’m going to set bail at the amount of $75,000,” said the judge during Cieslinski’s first appearance in court. The crew inside the ambulance was uninjured, though the response time to the call they were on was delayed – obviously, that’s a problem.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

On July 27, the Senate Appropriations Committee considered its Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations bill. The bill proposes cutting the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program (popularly known as the FIRE grant program) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program.
- PUB DATE: 8/4/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IAFC.org