The fear is still there, but some first responders have somewhat mastered coping with that fear of COVID-19. “You push it back so that you can maintain your mission,” Parma firefighter and department spokesperson T.J. Martin said. But the fear of unknowingly carrying the virus is hard to ignore. Martin says no one on his team has tested positive, but it would be comforting to know for sure.
- PUB DATE: 5/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WEWS-TV ABC 5 Cleveland

VIDEO: The more than 20,000 paramedics, EMTs and 911 dispatchers in Massachusetts were honored Wednesday as part of National EMS Week as a large convoy of ambulances traveled from Worcester to Boston. The "Convoy of Champions" set off from UMass Memorial Medical Center about 1:15 p.m. and made the 40-mile drive in about an hour, with a state police escort and a UMass Medical Life Flight helicopter.
- PUB DATE: 5/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBTS-TV NBC 10 Boston

As the world continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of focus has been on the health risks to healthcare workers due to the infectiousness of the virus and the insufficient amount of personal protective equipment (PPE) available. However, another health risk to these providers that is just starting to get attention are the physical and mental health effects from their constant exposure to the trauma of this disaster.
- PUB DATE: 5/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: In Public Safety

The Green Bay Metro Fire Department responded to a building fire located on Lime Kiln Road on Wednesday. The fire department says they were dispatched at around 1:30 p.m. to a trailer at JBS located on the 1300 block of Lime Kiln Road. Fire crews say the building was evacuated before the fire department arrived.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2020 5:45:35 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV CBS 5 Green Bay

A car crashed into a garden center business in the Town of Peshtigo early Wednesday morning. At about 2:26 a.m., the Town of Peshtigo Fire Department was called to a report of a crash with injuries in the area of Highway 41 and Erik's Garden Center. A car crashed into the garden center, stopping just a few feet from a home.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2020 10:09:19 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

It has been a tough year for Girl Scouts in Western Wisconsin to sell cookies, but they are making the most of their massive surplus to support front line workers. The same time that Girl Scouts were about to set up shop in front of retail stores to sell their cookies, everything shut down. Now there are more than 100,000 left over packages of cookies, the Girl Scouts started donating some boxes and now it has turned into a community wide effort.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2020 7:44:34 AM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Since the first coronavirus case was confirmed in the United States on Jan. 21, over one million people in the U.S. have confirmed cases of COVID-19. On April 12, the U.S. became the nation with the most deaths globally, but there are early signs that the U.S. case and death counts may be leveling off, as the growth of new cases and deaths plateaus.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: National Public Radio

The Memphis Fire Department spent more than $2 million on items related to COVID-19 during a two-month period to protect first responders during the pandemic. FOX13 investigated to find out how it is possible to spend that much tax money in such a short time. In just one week, Memphis Fire spent more than $240,000 on its coronavirus response.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHBQ-TV FOX 13 Memphis

Greeley’s unfortunate status as the center of one of the state’s larger COVID-19 outbreaks has led to a high volume of pandemic-related work for the city’s first responders. However, in spite of the potential for exposure, Greeley Fire Department, Police Department and Emergency Medical Services personnel have managed to largely avoid significant spread of the virus within their ranks.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Greeley Tribune

Behind a nondescript strip mall in Carmel, Indiana, a short line of cars gathers mid-afternoon next to a large tent. Medical professionals stand out front, dressed head to toe in blue medical coveralls. People in the cars — many of them first responders — drive up to be tested for COVID-19. The test involves a really long swab placed deep into the nose, toward the back of the throat.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kaiser Health News

Beaver Dam could have a referendum question on the November ballot. On Tuesday, the city’s police and fire commission approved asking the city for a referendum question in November that would ask voters to support a tax increase to cover hiring eight new personnel in the fire and emergency services department.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2020 4:37:05 PM - SOURCE: Daily Citizen

Waterford is in the midst of some big changes. The Village Board on May 11 discussed two projects involving architectural services. One pertains to construction of a new, four-story mixed-use building at the old bowling alley site, 410 E. Main St., and the other is a plan to enlarge Waterford Fire Station No.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2020 5:41:33 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

Firefighters from ten municipalities on Tuesday morning, May 19 responded to the scene of a business fire near 167th and Cleveland in New Berlin. The call came in around 3 a.m. A spokesperson for Lincoln Industries, the company who owns the building, says two employees were inside the building at the time of the fire.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2020 4:51:16 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV Fox 6 Milwaukee

On March 13, 2020, President Trump declared the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreak a National Emergency. Since then, life has inarguably and most drastically changed for all of us. Global travel restrictions grounded all international travel. State-regulated stay-at-home orders suspended non-essential in-person business operations.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Chillicothe News

EMS Week, which takes place in 2020 from May 17-23, is an annual time to recognize the life-saving efforts of emergency medical services personnel. While celebratory events won’t take place in person this year, EMS personnel are getting more recognition than usual: even before EMS week, virtually and during daily cheers for healthcare workers, they are widely hailed as heroes on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Time Magazine

VIDEO: Two firefighters were injured while battling a fire on the city’s South Side. The fire started just before 6 a.m. Tuesday on the first-floor of Vincennes Food Mart in the 7900 block of South Vincennes Avenue in the Gresham neighborhood. The building houses a business and apartments. The fire was upgraded to a 3-11 and spread to a second building, according to fire officials.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGN-TV 9 Chicago

A new mobile app, 1-Check COVID, has been launched by the University of Nebraska as a screening guide for individuals to use as reference if they are concerned that they might have the coronavirus. The app will also help first responders and other health care providers determine a person's likelihood of carrying the disease.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KFXL-TV FOX 51 Lincoln

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans a nationwide study of up to 325,000 people to track how the new coronavirus is spreading across the country into next year and beyond, a CDC spokeswoman and researchers conducting the effort told Reuters. The CDC study, expected to launch in June or July, will test samples from blood donors in 25 metropolitan areas for antibodies created when the immune system fights the coronavirus, said Dr.
- PUB DATE: 5/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

A 45-year-old Boyceville man has been charged with arson after a structure fire broke out in the township of Tiffany. Court records show Jason Figler has been charged of arson of a building. When talking with law enforcement, investigators and others, Figler said "This is it. This is our lives. I did that.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2020 12:18:20 PM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV NBC 13 Eau Claire

The Chippewa Falls Fire Department extinguished a blaze Saturday afternoon at a multi-family residence. The fire at 501 Maitland Drive was reported at 4:29 p.m. Saturday. The fire, which apparently began in a bedroom, caused about $10,000 damage, said Battalion Chief Jason Thom. All occupants had evacuated the residence, and no one was injured.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2020 7:46:43 AM - SOURCE: Chippewa Herald