As the world is getting back to some normalcy, medical experts want to reemphasize the pandemic isn’t over, which is why the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s research team is trying to understand the impact COVID-19 has had on first responders. OSU Wexner Medical Center and researchers at the OSU College of Medicine have been awarded a five-year, $10 million grant from the National Cancer Institute in the National Institutes of Health to study the long-term, longitudinal impact of COVID-19 on first responders, healthcare workers, and the general population.
- PUB DATE: 5/21/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDTN-TV NBC 2 Dayton

The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission voted Thursday to appoint Acting Fire Chief Aaron Lipski to Chief of the Milwaukee Fire Department. Lipski will carry out the term of former Chief Mark Rohlfing, which ends May 17, 2022. Lipski has served with the Milwaukee Fire Department for 24 years. Before taking up Acting Chief, Lipski worked his way from deputy chief of the firefighting division to assistant chief for the support bureau.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 5:51:25 PM - SOURCE: WTMJ-TV NBC 4 Milwaukee

After some in-depth discussion on Monday, May 17, Peshtigo City Council's Finance Committee agreed to recommend that the city use up to $23,000 of this year's Capital Improvement Projects loan to fulfill ISO Audit recommendations for the city's fire department. Fire Chief Chuck Gardon explained that a good ISO rating benefits all city property owners by keeping fire insurance costs down.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 1:05:34 PM - SOURCE: Peshtigo Times

Investigators continue working to determine what caused the Whiting Paper Mill in Menasha to go up in flames. They say, they’re currently following leads and talking to witnesses, to possibly help them reach a conclusion. Authorities say the enormous fire smoldered for nearly 12 hours. A fire of that magnitude, officials say, will take some time to solve.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 2:55:18 AM - SOURCE: WNFL Sports Radio

The death of a 42-year-old man who was found dead inside a burning vehicle in Milwaukee is now being investigated as a homicide. Authorities identified the victim as Lamonn C. Young of Milwaukee, also known as rapper Fatboi Gwalla Gwalla. Young's body was found inside a burning vehicle near Hawley Road and Martin Drive early Tuesday, May 18.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

A company known for mixing firefighting foam containing "forever chemicals" in northeastern Wisconsin is aiming to reduce the amount of contamination in the soil beneath its facility, but it won't be able to eliminate the hazardous compounds completely. Tyco Fire Products, a subsidiary of Johnson Controls, will begin work on a groundwater extraction treatment system this year, according to conditional approval it received from the state Department of Natural Resources.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Metered Site

VIDEO/PHOTOS: A fireball explosion at a home in Martinez was captured in multiple videos Wednesday afternoon, destroying the residence and sending up thick, black smoke hundreds of feet into the air. Investigators say three minors playing with fire were the cause. Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said Wednesday evening that the fire started in a backyard on Arthur Road.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVU-TV Fox 2 Oakland

Allegheny Health Network has teamed up with Marvel Comics to tell the true-life stories of medical responders from community EMS services, who have been serving the community through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Set in the winter of 2020, the first responders’ stories are brought to life in a comic book, titled “The Vitals: True EMS Stories,” that was unveiled Monday.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPXI-TV NBC 11 Pittsburgh

PHOTOS: The Asheville Fire Department might be the most accepting of change in the fire service, given what firefighters have been through over the last several years. The department has made significant changes in a short period of time, specifically when it comes to effort to better protect a firefighter from a risk many weren't even talking about a decade ago.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLOS-TV ABC 13 Asheville

Mayor Sylvester Turner joined Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena to announce the proposed pay raise for Houston firefighters. Turner said because of the $670 million American Rescue Plan from President Joe Biden’s administration, the city will be able to use those funds to help raise firefighters’ pay. He said under the new pay, Houston firefighters will receive an 18% increase in pay over the next three fiscal years, which will be based on qualifications.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston

A University of Florida research team is working on a robot dog that has the ability to enter an enclosed space, scan it, and provide humans with a visual of what’s inside, an application that could lessen dangerous situations for first responders. The team of graduate and undergraduate students is led by Eric Jing Du, Ph.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: University of Florida News

There’s been more than 620 fires recorded in Wisconsin so far this year. More than 1,700 acres have burned. For comparison, in the same time frame last year there were 368 fires and less than a third as many acres burned. John A. Jorgensen is the aeronautics team leader for the DNR. He said it’s not necessarily the number of fires that makes this fire season unique, but the length of the season and how widespread fire risk is.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Aerial Firefighting Magazine

VIDEO: Sacramento area firefighters are facing some new challenges on emergency calls. A man is going up to crews with a camera while they’re on calls, often peppering them with foul language and intimidation. Video shows the man behind the camera verbally confronting fire crews and coming right up to firefighters with taunting language.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOVR-TV CBS 13 Sacramento

For the first time in its history, Albuquerque Fire Rescue now has a behavioral health director. AFR Behavioral Health Director Maia Dalton-Theodore will be tasked with supporting the mental health needs of the department’s firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs. "I really look forward to continuing the ongoing mission of normalizing the ability for people to ask for help and reducing the stigma, and also to continue the work around behavioral health for this department,” she said.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOB-TV NBC 4 Albuquerque

Sixty-six emergency communications districts in Tennessee experienced service interruptions, lasting more than 97 hours, as a result of the Christmas morning suicide bombing on Second Avenue in downtown Nashville, according to a report released earlier this month by the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tennessee Outlook

Atlanta is set to build its first “micro station” for emergency medical services in southwest Atlanta to shorten response times to 911 calls. The City Council on Monday voted to approve up to $4 million in bonds that the city will borrow to fund the new station. It will be located at 4532 Campbellton Road on property that is owned by the city, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a press release.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Metered Site

Tuesday was a "landmark day," as the United States reached a new COVID-19 vaccine milestone: 60% of adults have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the US Centers and Disease Control and Prevention. But vaccination rates across the United States are uneven -- a worrisome trend that could obstruct efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN Health

The pilot of a single-engine plane survived after crashing into a building near Batten International Airport, 3239 N. Green Bay Road, at about 8 p.m. Monday, the Racine Fire Department reported. Few details have been released. Photos posted on social media show that the plane crashed into an industrial/warehouse building at 1901 William St.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2021 1:04:52 AM - SOURCE: Lake Geneva News - Metered Site

VIDEO: A large fire broke out at a paper recycling center in New Jersey Monday afternoon sending plumes of black smoke into the air. The fire, which broke out just before 5 p.m., prompted a 3-alarm response from nearby fire departments to the Colgate Paper Stock Recyclable Processing Facility in New Brunswick.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNBC-TV NBC 4 New York

VIDEO: A firehouse was evacuated and a nearby Roslindale street was shut down Monday night after a suspicious package containing an unknown chemical was discovered. The suspicious package came in the mail to a Brooke Street home, prompting a resident to bring the package to the nearby firehouse on Canterbury Street, fire officials said.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHDH-TV 7 Boston