As authorities in two D.C.-area counties investigate a flawed emergency response to a June drowning, new documents show the 911 center in Montgomery County had an automatically generated map that showed precisely where the call for help had come from. Emergency dispatchers in Maryland sent firefighters to the Potomac River after a teen called to say her friend had slipped underwater while the group was swimming in a “river.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Washington Post - Metered Site

When a fellow Glendale firefighter in despair approached Ashley Losch on the job about struggles with mental health, Ashley found herself in an unfamiliar place. Firefighters are highly trained and highly skilled thinkers and problem solvers by trade. Not this time. “I didn’t feel prepared. I didn’t know how to help them in a way that would be effective other than listening,” Ms.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Independent

Burgeoning firefighters will soon have an opportunity to visit hallowed ground as they learn about the gravity of service. The Beaver Dam Fire Department has a fire cadets program open to teenagers from area high schools to teach them about firefighting and prepare them for a possible career as an emergency responder.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2020 3:35:11 PM - SOURCE: Wisc News

La Crosse County recorded 93 new confirmed COVID-19 cases with a 70.99% positivity rate Sunday, according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The county has reported at least 90 new cases on eight of the past nine days, including six days with at least 100 cases, while averaging 116.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2020 1:43:47 PM - SOURCE: Lacrosse Tribune

No one was injured after two garages caught fire on Lahr Avenue, just off of Camp Phillips Road in Weston Saturday afternoon. Six area fire departments responded to the blaze, the call coming in at 1:35 Saturday afternoon. Batallion Chief Evan McBain with the South Area Fire District says that there was some damage to a home on the property, but the family will not be displaced.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2020 3:52:27 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

Madison police arrested a man for allegedly setting a homeless encampment on fire at James Madison Park early Friday afternoon. Authorities say a tent, mattress and clothes were found burning at the park around 1 p.m. The three homeless victims, all in their 30's, reportedly spent Friday morning setting up a tent they had just received next to the park’s shelter.
- PUB DATE: 9/19/2020 12:26:22 AM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Although the Wisconsin State Firefighters Memorial's annual Final Alarm Ceremony won't take place this year because of COVID-19, the Final Alarm Procession through the streets of the city is still on for Sept. 26. Firefighters planned to honor three men who died in the line of duty in 2019, but the Wisconsin State Firefighters Memorial board canceled this year's ceremony because of the pandemic, Wisconsin Rapids Fire Chief Scott Young said.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2020 1:06:07 PM - SOURCE: Appleton Post-Gazette & Post Crescent.com

Firefighters on Friday morning, Sept. 18 responded to the scene of a house fire near 31st and Villard in Milwaukee. The call came in around 5:30 a.m. A 12-year-old boy escaped through that second-floor window. He then jumped down from the roof to safety and was luckily not injured. One firefighter was injured.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2020 5:38:48 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV Fox 6 Milwaukee

Using technology that most everyone already has, regional dispatchers hope to give first responders the ability to see what they will encounter even before they arrive at the scene of an emergency. “When you make a phone call often to 9-1-1 its in a stressful environment or the rate of anxiety is high for the caller, so they are not good information providers at least not at the detail level that we would like to have,” said Roddy Walter, director of WARCOG, a consolidated dispatch center that serves the communities of Ashland, Orrville, Wooster and the fire service for Kidron Ohio.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJW-TV FOX 8 Cleveland

A new peer-to-peer program is providing St. Lucie fire personnel with much-needed resources during difficult times. "Firefighters know what other firefighters go through," St. Lucie County Fire District Division Chief Aaron Shaw said. "And if nothing else, it's just a way for us to vent and speak to each other.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WFLX-TV FOX 29 West Palm Beach

Firefighters don’t just fight fires, many are also paramedics, EMTs, and registered nurses. Now, they’re also COVID first responders. Firefighters are used to quickly evolving situations. That’s why they were able to jump into action once the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “We hope for the best, but prepare for the worst," said Jaime Lopez.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KGNS-TV NBC/ABC 8 Laredo

You would think axes or power tools would be a favored tool in firefighting. But for the Waterloo Fire Department, that's not the case. They put a lot of value into their washing machine. With their jobs involving putting themselves at risk daily, Battalion Chief Bill Beck said that also includes the risk of cancer.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KWWL-TV NBC/CW 7 Waterloo

VIDEO: Kevin Cunrod is a Susquehanna Valley EMT. He is a Manheim firefighter. And in his off time, between calls, he's a TikTok star. "There are a lot of first responders out there who are down and they're stressed," said Cunrod. "If I can help them to not be stressed or my partners not to be stressed, I'll keep doing it.
- PUB DATE: 9/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPMT-TV FOX 43 York

An automatic fire sprinkler system in a downtown Madison apartment complex is being credited with helping protect the complex. However, the Thursday morning blaze did drive one resident from his home. According to the Madison Fire Dept., the individual was cooking shortly in his apartment shortly before 1 a.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2020 3:14:12 PM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Seven people are displaced following an early morning fire in Racine. The Racine Fire Department says it was called to a home shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday, September 17 near 17th and Franklin. Authorities say firefighters found smoke coming from the first floor and were able to quickly put out the fire.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2020 4:50:07 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Waukesha County will be in the spotlight when a new series debuts featuring Waukesha County Communication dispatchers. The ABC unscripted series is called "Emergency Call." The new 10-episode series, hosted by actor Luke Wilson, will document the first few crucial minutes of emergencies told through the lens of America's heroic 911 call takers.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Waukesha Patch

Authorities in Oak Creek managed to revive a Wisconsin man with quick thinking and the use of Narcan following an apparent drug overdose. According to police, officers and first responders were sent to an apartment unit in The Courts, 195 W. Puetz Road just before noon on Aug. 26 on a report of a drug overdose.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oak Creek Patch

VIDEO: An ambulance racing a heart attack patient to the hospital collided with a fire truck en route to a fire in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, leaving the patient dead and a family member seriously injured. The fire truck, Ladder 102, t-boned the ambulance at the intersection of Myrtle Avenue And Throop Avenue just after 12:45 a.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WABC-TV ABC 7 New York

The International Association of Fire Fighters is moving its Fallen Fire Fighter Remembrance to a virtual platform. The International Association of Fire Fighters, the largest firefighters' union in the U.S. and Canada, will hold its annual Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Remembrance virtually on Saturday, Sept.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WIBW-TV CBS 13 Topeka

VIDEO: Crew members on a dive boat say they were never instructed on emergency procedures before a predawn fire swept through the vessel as it was anchored off the Southern California coast, killing 34 people as they slept below deck, according to federal documents released Wednesday. National Transportation Safety Board investigators say the cause of the blaze aboard the Conception remains undetermined but a possible ignition point was phones and other electronics plugged into outlets.
- PUB DATE: 9/17/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News