Ryan Krings is a busy man. Not only does he have a full-time job as a firefighter with Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue, where he works about 56 hours a week, but he's the volunteer chief of the Winneconne-Poygan Fire Department. Though Krings isn't paid as volunteer chief, he works about 20 hours a week there on top of coaching football at the high school.
- PUB DATE: 1/20/2022 5:41:57 AM - SOURCE: Oshkosh Northwestern

Paul Oliver is the newest member of the Ashland Fire Department. Oliver recently graduated from Chippewa Valley Technical College’s fire medic associate degree program and also has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Minnesota. Oliver comes to AFD with five years of experience with the Lake City, Minnesota Fire Department and two years with the United Fire Department and Baldwin Ambulance Service.
- PUB DATE: 1/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Ashland Daily Press

Petersburg Fire and Rescue has hired the first female fire chief in its nearly 250-year history. Chief Tina R. Watkins is taking over on a permanent basis after a number of years where interim leaders have directed Petersburg’s fire department. Watkins began her career as a firefighter. For the past 11 years, she has been a Battalion Chief for Richmond Fire and Emergency Services where she supervised five stations and six fire companies.
- PUB DATE: 1/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Progress-Index

VIDEO: Authorities say two people have died after a vehicle collided with a fire truck in Camden County Wednesday morning. The crash occurred around 10:30 a.m. near Warwick Road and North White Horse Pike. Authorities say a fire truck from Lawnside was heading southbound on Warwick when it collided with a car that was heading west on White Horse Pike.
- PUB DATE: 1/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTXF-TV FOX 29 Philadelphia

An investigation into the Yute Commuter Service plane that caught fire on Nov. 20, 2021 has found that the fire was started by wiring in the aircraft that was installed incorrectly. The wiring was installed as part of a federally funded experimental safety program, and there could be over 200 other planes in the region that have the same problem.
- PUB DATE: 1/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTOO-FM 104.3 Juneau

VIDEO: First responders at the California State Capitol on Wednesday blasted hours-long wait times to transfer patients to emergency rooms. Emergency health workers voiced their growing frustration during a hearing, saying the wait times are bad for patients and keep them from other calls. Some agencies reported waiting up to eight hours to transfer patients to emergency rooms.
- PUB DATE: 1/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOVR-TV CBS 13 Sacramento

PHOTOS: Sometimes Fire Departments have some really cool tools at their disposal. This one, from the Town of Hermon Fire Department's Facebook page, caught my eye. So I reached out to Hermon Fire Chief Cody Sullivan to get the skinny on this member of Hermon's rescue fleet, the rescue-boggan, also known as the "snowbulance".
- PUB DATE: 1/20/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WQCB-FM 106.5 Brewer

Five adults and six children are without a home after a duplex fire in Appleton late Tuesday morning. The Appleton Fire Department responded to a report of a house fire on the 1600-block of E. Capitol Dr. at 11:30. Video and photos from the scene show damage to a garage separating the two sides of the duplex.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

A fire at a Kenosha senior-living apartment building left three people dead Monday night, Jan. 17. The fire broke out around 9:30 p.m. Monday at the Saxony Manor Apartments on 22nd Avenue. Neighbors are searching for answers. "I said ‘holy crap’ – there’s flames coming up," neighbor Geri Smith said.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

VIDEO: The Stevens Point Fire Department is warning about the dangers of oxygen-related fires, in light of several fires involving smoking. They released an educational video aimed at saving lives and property, saying these types of fires are avoidable. "Everybody still has that one family member or maybe you're a smoker at home, and we're just trying to get out to these people that it's not an if, it's a when or if you're injured or killed if you're smoking with your oxygen on," said Stevens Point Fire Marshal Drew Egan.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAOW-TV ABC 9 Wausau

It has been a busy beginning of the winter for ice rescue crews. The Oshkosh Fire Department says they have to keep their skills sharp to keep people safe. John Holland, the public information officer for the Oshkosh Fire Department said, “The training is extremely important just because it is a low volume number of calls but the risk is so great.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV CBS 5 Green Bay

VIDEO: Investigators are looking into whether gas caused the deadly house explosion that killed one woman and injured eight others Tuesday in the Bronx. One home has to be demolished, and at least two others are destroyed. The explosion happened Tuesday morning at a home on Fox Street near Intervale Avenue in Longwood.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLNY-TV 55 Riverhead

Indiana firefighters could get annual blood testing for exposure to synthetic PFAS chemicals through a proposed pilot program, according to a new bill introduced in the state house. First developed in the 1940s, PFAS is a class of thousands of synthetic chemicals that have been extensively used in numerous applications including nonstick cookware, water-repellent fabrics, fast food wrappers and firefighting foam.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WVPE-FM 88.1 Elkhart

Mooresville Fire-Rescue has new technology to help them arrive at a 911 call faster, when seconds count most. The new tech is called AVL (Auto Vehicle Locator) and it works in conjunction with CAD (Computer-Aided Dispatch) to ensure the closest firefighters and EMT's get to the call quickly. Mooresville already averages a fire truck arriving at a call within five minutes, 85 percent of the time, but AVL will help improve that number.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Mooresville Patch

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention breaks the opioid epidemic into three waves. The first wave began with the introduction of OxyContin—the highly addictive painkiller made by Purdue Pharma and introduced in 1996—and an increase in prescribing opioids. Spiked opioid addiction rates quickly followed.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNDO-TV NBC 23 Yakima

The United States has not yet reached a national peak of the omicron variant, the nation’s top doctor said, urging caution even as the explosion of cases has started to plateau in some areas. “We shouldn’t expect a national peak in the next coming days — the next few weeks will be tough,” U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H.
- PUB DATE: 1/19/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Washington Post - Metered Site

Two people are dead and five others have been injured in a fire at a senior apartment complex in Kenosha. Fire Department Battalion Chief Ken Schroeder says the fire started at the Saxony Manor apartments about 9:30 p.m. Monday. Two people died in the fire and five others are hospitalized. Two of the five injured have life-threatening injuries.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

VIDEO: Officials launched an investigation after several buildings in Salisbury were destroyed by a nine-alarm fire as whipping wind gusts battered the seaside town early Monday morning. Firefighters responding to a reported fire in the area of Central Avenue and North End Boulevard around 2 a.m. found heavy flames tearing through Michael’s Oceanfront Motel.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHDH-TV 7 Boston

VIDEO: There's creative and then there's creative. The Newberry Fire Department was trying to come up with ideas to help get more people interested in applying to be a volunteer firefighter. Gene Shealy, captain of recruitment for the fire department in Newberry said, "the thought came up why don't we try to put a sign on these concrete trucks.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLTX-TV CBS 19 Columbia

VIDEO: Firefighters in New Jersey are still trying to determine what caused a massive fire in Passaic on Friday night. Hundreds of firefighters battled the 11-alarm blaze in an industrial complex where flames shot 70 feet into the air. The fire was just a few feet away from igniting the Qualco Chemical Plant which was filled with potentially hazardous materials such as chlorine.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV ABC 7 New York