Fire and EMS departments throughout the area are struggling to fill positions, but this week the Merrill Fire Department expanded its ranks - making history along the way. To Kendall Nelson and the crew at the Merrill FD, she's the 189th member of the team. But along with it comes a major milestone - being the first full time employed women in the departments 125 year history.
- PUB DATE: 11/12/2022 1:02:00 AM - SOURCE: WAOW-TV ABC 9 Wausau

Authorities in Green County are investigating after a bridge in rural Monroe was allegedly set on fire early Thursday morning. Lt. Cody Kanable with the Green County Sheriff's Office said at about 2:25 a.m., someone reported the fire on the bridge for the Badger State Recreational Trail at Round Grove Road.
- PUB DATE: 11/10/2022 3:14:00 PM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV ABC 27 Madison

VIDEO/PHOTOS: At least two families are without a home following a fire in Grant County. Witnesses told 27 News it happened at the Wisconsin Wood Inn in Dickeyville around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. A couple who lived in one of the apartments attached to the motel said, despite their heat being off, they could feel it through the vents and realized something wasn't right.
- PUB DATE: 11/10/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAOW-TV ABC 9 Wausau

Firefighters battled heavy flames Wednesday afternoon in a commercial building on Broadway Street in Lowell. While flying overhead, Sky5 could see flames and smoke spreading through the building and bursting through the roof. The roof collapsed in several areas. "There was initially a mayday with a firefighter, but everybody's been accounted for and they're all right," Chief William Charron with the Lowell Fire Department said.
- PUB DATE: 11/10/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCVB-TV ABC 5 Boston

VIDEOS: An El Paso Firefighter who’s not only fighting flames, is also fighting the stereotypes. Jacqueline Manriquez is the focus of this week's Breaking the Bias segment. "At the end of the day, when you bunker up, I don't think you can categorize yourself as a female or a male,” Manriquez said. “You're just categorized as a firefighter.
- PUB DATE: 11/10/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KDBC-TV CBS 4 El Paso

New details in the arrest of a Forest Service burn boss during a prescribed burn in Grant County last month are raising the possibility that the sheriff who arrested him could in turn be subject to prosecution. On Oct. 19 a prescribed burn being executed by the U.S. Forest Service, with help from Oregon Department of Forestry and contract crews, escaped the burn area, scorching approximately 18 acres of adjacent private land in Bear Valley, about 7 miles north of Seneca.
- PUB DATE: 11/10/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Blue Mountain Eagle

Engine No. 1 is roaring down Livingston Avenue, lights flashing, sirens blaring, horn honking, engines racing, pulses pounding. And in the back seat, Antonio is wearing his custom-made turnout gear, fire helmet and a big smile. After being sworn in as an honorary member of the New Brunswick Fire Department by Mayor Jim Cahill on Wednesday, Nov.
- PUB DATE: 11/10/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tap into New Brunswick

VIDEO: Today, the Richmond Hill subdivision looks like a typical south Indianapolis neighborhood. But longtime Hoosiers will never forget what happened here 10 years ago. An explosion in a home rocked Richmond Hill on Nov. 10, 2012, killing Jennifer and Dion Longworth, who lived next door. There were heroes that night, including a family who heard and felt the blast.
- PUB DATE: 11/10/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTHR-TV NBC 13 Indianapolis

One person was sent to the hospital after a house fire in the city of Kiel on Tuesday afternoon. According to a release from the Kiel Fire Department, crews were sent to the 300 block of Linden Street for a report of a house on fire with three occupants and pets possibly still inside around 2:00 p.m.
- PUB DATE: 11/9/2022 2:12:25 AM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV CBS 5 Green Bay

Several residents were forced out of their homes early Wednesday following a fire at a pedicab warehouse, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD). The blaze was reported just before 4:30 a.m. at an alley on the 1400 block of Market Street. There, flames burned quickly due to lithium batteries in the warehouse and prompted officials to evacuate the neighboring Potiker Senior Residents complex, SDFD Battalion Chief Banker said.
- PUB DATE: 11/9/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNSD-TV NBC 7 San Diego

A recent nationwide study shows Maryland has an alarming level of “forever chemicals” in its waterways. The study, conducted by the national Waterkeeper Alliance, looks at the level of PFAS contaminants in U.S. surface waters. PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), often referred to as “forever chemicals,” are manufactured chemicals that do not break down in the environment.
- PUB DATE: 11/9/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBFF-TV FOX 45 Baltimore

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the Great Boston Fire of 1872, which is remembered as the largest fire in the city. The fire began on the 80 block of Summer Street, and would go on to burn through 776 buildings, spanning 65 acres of Downtown and the Financial District. A series of unique circumstances came together to create a perfect storm for the fire to happen and get as bad as it did.
- PUB DATE: 11/9/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBTS-TV NBC 10 Boston

A weekly report released Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adds numbers to previous predictions of a troubling flu season. The number of hospitalizations reported by Oct. 29 has surpassed every recent year during the same week going back as far as the 2010-2011 season. While not a direct case count, the number of people hospitalized with a virus such as influenza or COVID-19 reflects the health care burden of a disease and shows how many people are being harmed.
- PUB DATE: 11/9/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNET

Firefighters on Tuesday, Nov. 8 responded to the scene of house fire near 9th Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Racine. Upon arrival at the fire, flames were visible at the rear of the single-family dwelling. The fire burned portions of the exterior and interior of the house. Officials say the fire had traveled through the walls, attic and eaves.
- PUB DATE: 11/8/2022 4:00:00 PM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

The Madison Fire Department (MFD) confirmed the cause of a porch fire on the city's west side Sunday was due to an electrical malfunction. MFD spokesperson, Cynthia Schuster, said crews responded to the 200 block of South Allen Street around 12:00 p.m. to a reported house fire. Firefighters arrived to find the homeowner outside, who told them the fire started under the porch where a space heater was to keep two exposed water pipes from exposure to the cold.
- PUB DATE: 11/8/2022 12:59:00 AM - SOURCE: WKOW-TV ABC 27 Madison

A 16-year-old boy from Wabasha was injured Sunday after falling approximately 20 feet to the ground while climbing to his tree stand, according to authorities in Buffalo County, Wisconsin. The Buffalo County Sheriff's Office said the incident happened around 1 p.m. near a home on Brantner Road in Modena Township.
- PUB DATE: 11/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Bring Me The News

One person was seriously injured after an extra-alarm house fire in the Logan Square neighborhood Tuesday morning, the Chicago Fire Department said. The fire broke out in a three-story, single-family home in the 2400-block of North Washtenaw Avenue at about 6 a.m. and spread to several neighboring homes.
- PUB DATE: 11/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLS-TV ABC 7 Chicago

VIDEO/PHOTOS: A Rockland man believed to be the longest serving firefighter in New York State celebrated his 100th birthday on Sunday. Things were a lot different 80 years ago when Amiel D'Auria first volunteered for the Chelsea Hook and Ladder Company in Nyack. "We had to be right up in front of everything," said D'Auria.
- PUB DATE: 11/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News 12 The Bronx

VIDEO: The fire that lit inside a Chesterfield Firefighter two years ago launched a mission to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health among first responders who accomplish some of the most stressful and emotional work of any profession on a daily basis. Back in 2020, a close friend of Lt. Kenny Mitchell, who was also a firefighter, took his own life.
- PUB DATE: 11/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVR-TV CBS 6 Richmond

While police officers are often dispatched alongside other first responders when drug overdoses are reported, an analysis of hundreds of overdose events in one Rhode Island city found that there were scant incidents that actually needed involvement from law enforcement. “It was surprising and promising to find that arrests only occurred in about 1% of all cases of overdoses attended by police,” said Alexandria Macmadu, study co-author and a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Epidemiology at Brown University’s School of Public Health.
- PUB DATE: 11/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: News from Brown