Leaders in states across the country are sounding the alarm about rising COVID-19 cases that experts say could foreshadow a coming surge. In New York, several COVID-19 clusters have created "hotspot" zip codes, the governor said, with a positivity rate about five times more than the statewide figure.
- PUB DATE: 10/1/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

Topeka’s first structure fire came soon after the city was founded. The nine men who founded this city in December 1854 built a cabin here, which was destroyed in an accidental fire soon afterward. Still, it wasn’t until March 1870 that Topeka created a fire department. This week’s History Guy video at CJOnline focuses on that department, which turned 150 years old this year.
- PUB DATE: 10/1/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Topeka Capital-Journal

Water surrounds three sides of Logan International Airport, with all departures and arrivals flying over Boston Harbor. There are a handful of coveted jobs on the Massachusetts Port Authority team that protects the harbor, the Massport Fire Department's Marine Unit. The $7 million vessel is equipped with water guns that can pump up to 6,000 gallons of water per minute.
- PUB DATE: 10/1/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCVB-TV ABC 5 Boston

In an emergency, seconds count. During a fire, choosing the right door to enter or pinpointing where someone is trapped can be a deadly guessing game. In response to emergency situations, the first tool of its kind in Southwest Florida is helping to save lives. When North Collier County firefighters head out on a call, they respond with a $5,000 drone packed in the chief’s truck.
- PUB DATE: 10/1/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WINK-TV CBS 11 Fort Myers

Wautoma Area Fire District Chief Larry Buntrock honored six retiring firefighters with impressive large plaques during their Monday, September 28 meeting: Danny Struzynski, 25 years of service; David Weiland, 35 years of service; and Pete Fischbach, 26 years of service. Not pictured are: Doug Wilcox, 40 years of service, Don Bertzyk, 58 years of service, and Mark Putskey, 35 years of service.
- PUB DATE: 9/30/2020 1:05:21 PM - SOURCE: Waushara Argus

VIDEO: The Bernalillo County Fire Department and Albuquerque Fire Rescue have contained a large fire at a recycling yard in the area of Edith and Montano on Tuesday. “The smoke was very black, I don’t know if that means it’s hot or what; you could see the flames, they were probably higher than our building.
- PUB DATE: 9/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KRQE-TV CBS/FOX 13 Albuquerque

The terrifying moment a gunman opened fire on a crowd of Las Vegas concertgoers is painfully etched into survivor Dean McAuley’s memory. Now he and others who escaped the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting on the Strip are having healing images etched on their skin, something McAuley calls a “reminder of survival” and a “badge of honor.
- PUB DATE: 9/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Las Vegas Sun

It started as a seemingly perplexing case of pneumonia. From a wet market in Wuhan, China, COVID-19 has spread to nearly every country on the globe in just under nine months. It’s overturned daily lives, shuttered businesses and schools, and disrupted the world economy. It’s infected more than 33 million people worldwide and has killed at least 1 million people — a toll that’s likely to be far more than the official tallies show, global health officials say.
- PUB DATE: 9/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNBC

Modern day firefighters benefit from high tech equipment and regular training but those measures do little to shield them from their number one killer: suicide. "Our firefighters experience terrible things. Terrible things that they can't share with their families because it is just going to depress their families, quite honestly," said Los Angeles City Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas.
- PUB DATE: 9/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KABC-TV ABC 7 Los Angeles

The foundation invites residents to watch the 45 minute special on the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation website and through the foundation’s social media platforms at 10 a.m. Sunday, as well as take a moment to read the 2020 Roll of Honor; a collection of stories about fire heroes submitted by their families, friends and fellow firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 9/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Rolla Daily News

Beloit and Janesville fire departments soon could share personnel for training activities, with more coordination possible in the future, according to Beloit Fire Chief Daniel Pease. Pease told the Beloit Police and Fire Commission on Monday that he plans to meet Janesville fire command staff to discuss sharing a training officer to coordinate trainings for both departments.
- PUB DATE: 9/29/2020 8:17:45 PM - SOURCE: Beloit Daily News - Metered Site

A coordinated effort to improve ambulance service for rural residents is on the ballot this November in five neighboring communities. If voters approve, the five communities will pool their resources to hire paramedics so that people calling for an ambulance throughout the region will get a faster response and improved services.
- PUB DATE: 9/29/2020 1:13:58 PM - SOURCE: Lake Geneva News

A 68-year-old Pleasant Prairie man died Monday in a house fire on the 8300 block of Old Green Bay Road. Pleasant Prairie Police Chief David Smetana said that a relative of the man who died called 911 at about 4:25 p.m. Monday after returning home to find smoke coming from the second floor of the house.
- PUB DATE: 9/29/2020 8:24:49 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

A fast-moving fire trapped three children inside a Bronx home on Monday morning. They had to be rescued by firefighters. Police said the girls’ mother brought her 7-year-old son to the hospital for an unspecified injury and left the three girls, who range in age from 16 months to 6 years old, home alone.
- PUB DATE: 9/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCBS-TV CBS 2 New York

Philadelphia is about to promote its first Black female battalion fire chief. CBS3 spoke exclusively with the trailblazing firefighter for our Justice and Understanding series. “It kind of feels weird because I’ve been a captain for seven years so to hear chief, because people have already started, but I’m like no, that’s not me yet,” Capt.
- PUB DATE: 9/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KYW-TV CBS 3 Philadelphia

Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved legislation prompted by the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others in Calabasas earlier this year. The bill signed Monday makes it a crime for first responders to take unauthorized photos of deceased people at the scene of an accident or crime. Reports surfaced after the Jan.
- PUB DATE: 9/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA-TV 5 CW Los Angeles

An explosion related to an earlier reported gas leak in Dubuque was the source of a large fire on Monday evening along Loras Boulevard. Dubuque Fire Department Chief Rick Steines said that a house was destroyed in the explosion, but nobody who lives there was injured. One firefighter was hurt, though the extent of their injury was not released.
- PUB DATE: 9/29/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KWQC-TV NBC 6 Davenport

Police are investigating a fire that took place over the weekend in a downtown neighborhood as a possible hate crime. The fire happened in the early morning hours Sunday, though police didn't release many other details, describing it only as a "serious incident involving a possible arson that damaged a home," according to a post on the Appleton Police Department's Facebook page.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2020 1:02:06 PM - SOURCE: Appleton Post-Gazette & Post Crescent.com

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has reported 117,588 total positive coronavirus test results in the state and 1,283 total COVID-19 deaths. Of Wisconsin’s total COVID-19 cases, 19,560, or 16.6%, are active, according to DHS. Yesterday, 19,050, or 16.4%, of Wisconsin’s total COVID-19 cases, were considered active.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2020 12:38:07 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV ABC 5 Green Bay

Fond du Lac Police are investigating a fatal crash that occurred over the weekend. Authorities say they responded to a report of a car striking a moped at the intersection of South Pioneer Road and Forest Avenue shortly before 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26. Officers arriving on the scene found the operator of the moped – 62-year-old Thomas Norton – with life-threatening injuries.
- PUB DATE: 9/28/2020 12:38:06 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay