The dizzying speed of omicron's spread has left Americans questioning much of what they know about Covid-19, especially on the cusp of holiday travel. "This is hitting us at a very inopportune time," said Dr. Katherine Poehling, an infectious disease specialist and vaccinologist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina.
- PUB DATE: 12/22/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

PHOTOS: A two-story house and its contents were destroyed in a blaze Monday that fire departments from six Jackson County communities fought for more than four hours. The county’s emergency dispatch center paged the Black River Falls Fire Department to the house on Larkin Road in Irving Township shortly before 9 p.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 4:36:09 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

Asemi trailer full of soybeans was damaged by a fire on the side of Interstate 90/94 Monday night. Portage Fire Department were called to a report of a semi-trailer fire at 7 p.m. near an off ramp on the interstate south of the Baraboo River Waterfowl Production area where I-90 meets I-39. Portage Fire Chief Troy Haase said the driver of the semi-truck was able to disconnect the truck before it become engulfed in flames.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 2:50:14 PM - SOURCE: Portage Daily Register

No one was injured and no significant structure damage was reported after a chimney fire in rural Lincoln County. The Merrill Fire Department was called to W4793 Pine Avenue in the Town of Scott Monday evening to find flames coming from a chimney. Crews were able to contain the fire to the chimney itself, using fire extinguishers and chimney bombs to put out the flames.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 9:10:25 AM - SOURCE: WSAU-AM 550 Wausau

One person is dead following a two-alarm apartment fire near 13th and Cleveland in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Dec, 21. Crews were called to the scene around 12:52 a.m. When crews arrived on the scene they found heavy smoke and fire on the first and second floors. Dispatchers received several phone calls from people inside the building, some physically disabled.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WIWI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

A Monday night house fire in Appleton has left one person and their pet without a home, and caused an estimated $75,000 in damages. According to the Appleton Fire Department, on Dec. 20 around 11:30 p.m. crews responded to a house fire on West Franklin Street. The person that called in the fire reportedly saw a couch on the house’s front porch on fire.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV CBS 5 Green Bay

No one was hurt after a fire overnight in a duplex in Eau Claire. The Eau Claire Fire Department said in a release that eight people in the building, including seven in the side of the duplex that caught on fire, were safely evacuated when crews arrived at 2:31 a.m. Monday to reports of a structure fire on Christopher Drive on Eau Claire’s west side.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV NBC 13 Madison

PHOTOS: A bomb exploded on Nashville's historic Second Avenue in the early morning of Dec. 25, 2020. The blast damaged 65 buildings and displaced dozens of businesses and residents in a city already weary from a year marred by the COVID-19 pandemic and deadly tornadoes. After a year of investigation, painstaking demolition and community collaboration, the shells of the most-damaged buildings stand largely cleared of debris and ready for the 200-year-old street's next evolution.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tennessean

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Ann Mulkey's son Louis was one of the Charleston 9 firefighters. When Powell Roofing got a call from Mulkey, they decided to team up with some local businesses to give her a free roof. "Oh my gosh. I've never had anything like this happen to me, to this magnitude. And to do it because of Louis, you know, just made it that much more special," said Ann Mulkey.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCIV-TV ABC 36 Charleston

Firefighting is in the blood of the Fanella family, stretching back four generations in Mount Carmel Township. Robert B. Fanella died at age 88 in 2014. His son Robert "Bob" Joseph Fanella, 63, his grandson Robert "Bobby" James Fanella, 40, and his great-grandson Ethan Robert Fanella, 19, are volunteer firefighters for the Atlas Fire Company and Natalie Fire Company in Mount Carmel Township.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Daily Item

In 2020, San Francisco fire stations revived a tradition from grandma and granddad’s day, after a report from the Chronicle sounded the siren to bring back the SF fire station holiday decorations contest. That contest was scuttled in 1951 over some prudish backlash that the fire departments were spending more than their allotted $50 per station on decorations, but the Chronicle’s report mustered up enough holiday cheer that the SF Fire Department decided to pull all the St.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: SFist

The highly transmissible Omicron variant is now dominant in the United States, according to new data released by the CDC on Monday. The variant now makes up more than 73% of new infections, a nearly six-fold increase compared to the week before. Omicron makes up the highest share of new cases in the South, Central Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and the New York area.
- PUB DATE: 12/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CBS News

One man was injured Sunday morning after a house fire in Lincoln County. Fire crews responded around 8:30 a.m. to a structure fire on County K in the town of Merrill, according to the Merrill Fire Department. Fire department officials said a man who lived in the home was able to get out before firefighters arrived, and he was taken to Aspirus Merrill Hospital for injuries.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2021 5:14:46 AM - SOURCE: Wausau Daily Herald

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Firefighters were still responding to hot spots and smoke on Monday leftover from a deadly weekend fire at the QVC distribution facility in Rocky Mount. The Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office said search and rescue members located a body on the outbound side of the loading dock at the distribution facility on Sunday morning.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WRAL-TV NBC 5 Raleigh

VIDEO: As a devastating tornado rolled through Rudd Wednesday night, a local resident went above and beyond to protect his neighbors from what was to come. With heavy winds and rain bearing down on the town, Volunteer Firefighter Tyler Hicks answered the call when asked to sound Rudd's tornado siren system by hand.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIMT-TV CBS 3 Mason City

Bruce Sams is no stranger to fighting for his life and fighting to save others’ lives. As a McMinnville firefighter, it’s right there in his job description. But the North Albany resident didn’t expect to be fighting for his own life against one nasty case of COVID-19. Fortunately, for Sams, 55, landing in the intensive care unit of Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center meant being admitted to one of the few hospitals in the country using a brand new treatment.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Albany Democrat-Herald - Metered Site

VIDEO: You can find a lot of things at Faneuil Hall. From Keytar Bear to Ned Devine’s and even John Legend. The past few years, you may have even caught Buddy the Elf. And while the notable Christmas character is known for spinning around turnstiles and eating already chewed gum off railings in New York City, this Boston-based Christmas elf has one goal in mind: pillow fights.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston.com

Quinlan Roe remembers his first lecture in Missoula College’s new paramedic program. He said it was from the director of the program, Dave McEvoy, who shared a story about being handed a newborn baby struggling for breath. McEvoy told his students he still remembers the fear and trust in the mother’s eyes.
- PUB DATE: 12/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSEN-AM 1150 Shelby

An evaluation of Hartford Fire and Rescue showed that the department is currently faring better than many fire departments are with national shortages in fire and emergency medical service personnel, but that is not likely to last forever. The Common Council heard a presentation this week from Dan Williams from Strategic Management & Consulting.
- PUB DATE: 12/19/2021 4:46:30 AM - SOURCE: Greater Milwaukee Today

Marshfield Fire Chief Scott Owen celebrated his last day on the job on Friday. Chief Owen has been at the Marshfield Fire Station for over 25 years. Owen said it's the people at the station who have made the job what it is. He said that while he is looking forward to retirement, it is bittersweet to say goodbye to his second family.
- PUB DATE: 12/18/2021 5:01:02 PM - SOURCE: WAOW-TV ABC 9 Wausau