The Baltimore City Fire Department said history was made in 2020 as the department recorded its lowest number of fire fatalities in the history of the department, according to Fire Chief Niles R. Ford. Reaching a historic low, the department confirmed that there were only seven fire fatalities in 2020.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAL-TV NBC 11 Baltimore

For want of $500 in repairs, the Porter County Courthouse was destroyed by fire on Dec. 27, 1934. It was a spectacular fire that changed the face of downtown Valparaiso. Firefighters from as far as Gary and LaPorte raced to Valparaiso to fight the fire. A LaPorte firefighter’s face was frozen while driving the firetruck without a windshield in subzero weather.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Indiana Times (nwitimes.com) - Metered Site

PHOTO: Nineteen-year-old owner/operator Dylan Mercier is waiting to get his unique Mack Vision out on the road. The St. Anne, Ill., firefighter and owner/operator purchased the 2005 truck with his dad, Ralph, a little over a year ago, and it didn’t take long for his vision to become a reality. “I purchased a firefighter costume for the Mack bulldog on the hood, and after that, I knew what needed to be done,” Mercier said.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fleet Equipment Magazine

VIDEO: An evening fire heavily damaged an 11-unit apartment complex Monday in Muskegon. The involved apartment building is located at 1850 Valley Street, where Porter School was once located. Firefighters on scene said the fire started on the first floor and then spread up the stairs. According to a Facebook post from the Muskegon Professional Firefighters Unit, crews had water pressure issues while fighting the flames.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WZZM-TV ABC 13 Grand Rapids

Frustration is building among some first responders who are still waiting to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Relief, however, may be on the way. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Fond du Lac Fire Rescue has transported more than a hundred patients who had confirmed cases of COVID-19. “Some long haul transfers from our hospital here in Fond du Lac down to Madison and Milwaukee.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 7:51:24 PM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

PHOTOS: The Eau Claire Fire Department was called out to a report of a deer that had fallen through the ice on Saturday. Engineer Tim Brantner and Firefighter Aaron Crane pulled the deer from the river.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 5:14:35 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

The City of Madison Fire Department announced on Monday that Apparatus Engineer Jon Byrd will retire this week, capping off 22 years of service with the City of Madison. Byrd joined the MFD on August 10, 1998, but his journey toward a career in fire and EMS began early in his childhood. His dad was a founding member of Waunakee Area EMS, which meant the younger Byrd spent a lot of time exploring the station as a kid, eventually becoming his dad’s sidekick on EMS calls once he was old enough to drive.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 1:23:54 PM - SOURCE: WISC-TV CBS 3 Madison

A fire early Monday morning at a duplex in the 500 block of North Bateman Street caused about $40,000 in property damage, but no injuries. The fire was reported at about 5 a.m. and the first firefighters to arrive at the duplex found smoke filling the first floor, the Appleton Fire Department said in a news release.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 1:03:20 PM - SOURCE: Appleton Post-Gazette & Post Crescent.com

When it comes to treating heart attacks, time is muscle. The faster cardiologists can open a blocked artery that is causing a heart attack and restore blood flow, the less damage to the patient’s heart. A new “Straight to Cath” program launched by Froedtert South Hospital’s cardiology department in partnership with emergency medical services at fire departments around Kenosha County aims to save time — and lives — by empowering paramedics to bypass the emergency room for some heart attack patients, taking them directly to the cardiac catheterization lab.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 5:50:24 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times - Metered Site

Residents escaped a house fire in Kiel Monday morning. At 4:32 a.m., the Kiel Fire Department was called to 1141 Sixth Street for smoke and flames in the kitchen of a home. The residents were asleep on the second floor of the home when smoke detectors alerted them to the fire. They escaped without injury.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 5:42:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

VIDEO: A strip mall in Moreno Valley is partially destroyed after a fire broke out late Friday night. The fire started around 11:30 p.m. on Friday at Indian Street and Sunnymeade Blvd and fire crews spent several hours battling the flames. As firefighters were working, part of the second story collapsed.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCBS-TV CBS 2 Los Angeles

VIDEO: Most everyone would agree 2020 was a dumpster fire. A town thought that a dumpster fire was, in fact, the perfect way to say farewell to the past year. “Tonight, we’re basically just saying bye to 2020 in a different way,” Fire Chief Brett Ruff said. “Tonight we are having a literal dumpster fire in Belen,” Mayor Jerah Cordova said.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KGNS-TV NBC/ABC 8 Laredo

The United States started 2021 they way it ended 2020: Setting new records amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The country passed the 20 million mark for coronavirus cases on Friday, setting the mark sometime around noon, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 tracker. The total is nearly twice as many as the next worst country – India, which has 10.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WebMD

They say one man's trash is another's treasure. Three homes on High Street in downtown Macon went up in flames on a Wednesday night in 2019, sending five firefighters to the hospital. "It was a house under renovation that wasn't being occupied and it was a pretty bad fire. It totaled that house. It totaled this house," said Andrew Eck while pointing to the remnants of a downtown Macon home.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMAZ-TV CBS/CW+ 13 Macon

Chicago-area industrialist George F. Getz Jr. and his wife, Olive Atwater Getz, were driving through Wilmette, Illinois, when they saw a broken-down fire truck on the side of the road. George casually remarked he would like the 1924, Type 12 American La France fire engine. Considering the Globe Corp.
- PUB DATE: 1/4/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: San Tan Sun News

A woman was injured in a 2-alarm fire at a Milwaukee apartment building in Milwaukee Saturday night. Firefighters were called to North 91st Street and West Custer Avenue at 8:24 p.m. Witnesses told WISN 12 News two people jumped from a window to escape the fire. Milwaukee Fire Department Battalion Chief Andrew Vossekuil said one person was taken to Froedtert Hospital and numerous people were displaced.
- PUB DATE: 1/2/2021 11:09:50 PM - SOURCE: WISN-TV ABC 12 Milwaukee

A dehumidifier sparked a fire at a home in rural Outagamie County on New Year’s Day. At 11:49 a.m., Seymour Rural Fire Department was called to W3116 Kortney Lane in the Town of Osborn for a fire in the basement of a home. The Seymour Rural Fire Department says there was “zero visibility” in the home due to black smoke.
- PUB DATE: 1/1/2021 5:25:02 PM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

VIDEO: Las Vegas Fire & Rescue was battling a massive 2nd-alarm fire at a tire shop near Meadows Lane and Decatur Boulevard Wednesday afternoon. SKY 3 appeared to show the structure fully engulfed as of 4:45 p.m. and fire officials called a second-alarm due to the extensiveness of the blaze. Authorities believed employees at the Econo Lube N Tube were working on a fuel tank on a vehicle when they dropped the tank, causing the fire to quickly spread.
- PUB DATE: 12/31/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KSNV-TV NBC 3 Las Vegas

PHOTOS: Dayton's newest mural stretches an entire city block and tells the history of the city’s Fire Department. It starts at the corner of Main and Buckeye Streets, then runs down Buckeye, all the way to Dayton Fire Station Number Eleven. For this long mural, Tiffany Clark used classic comic book style, borrowing from mid-century versions of Spiderman and the Fantastic Four.
- PUB DATE: 12/31/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WYSO-FM 91.3

A new poster and fact sheet from NIOSH are designed to help educate firefighters about the unique nature of row house fires and how to stay safe when fighting these blazes. Row houses are dwellings connected by shared sidewalls that form a single building. The resources outline typical features of exterior and interior row houses, tactics for fighting fires in these locations, and common areas where fires may spread.
- PUB DATE: 12/31/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Safety+Health