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

An off-duty Wisconsin firefighter-EMT was killed Friday while clearing the scene of a collision as part of a speedway safety crew. River Falls Firefighter-EMT Eddie Nicholson, 62, died after a damaged bus rolled onto him in the aftermath of the crash at Cedar Lake Speedway, according to RiverTowns.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firerescue1

VIDEO: Twelve firefighters were injured in a fire and explosion in the Toy District of downtown Los Angeles on Saturday evening. As of Sunday afternoon, three have been discharged and eight remain hospitalized. The incident began with a fire that was first reported around 6:26 p.m. on Saturday. As firefighters were responding to the blaze inside the building at 327 East Boyd Street, the site of a butane honey oil supplier called Smoke Tokes, there was a “significant explosion,” said LAFD Captain Erik Scott.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KCAL-TV CBS 9 Los Angeles

Police and fire investigators launched a criminal probe Sunday into the cause of an explosion at a hash oil manufacturer in downtown Los Angeles that sent firefighters running for their lives. Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s major crimes division were working with the city Fire Department’s arson investigators to determine what might have sparked the blast that shot a ball of flames out of the building Saturday night and scorched a fire truck across the street, police spokesman Josh Rubenstein said.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA-TV 5 CW Los Angeles

Sunday is the beginning of National EMS Week when the U.S. recognizes those who serve in emergency medical services. According to the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT), National EMS Week was started in 1974 by then-President Gerald Ford. This year in particular, the week is a good opportunity to honor the service that EMTs and paramedics provide to society in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, "one of the most daunting and demanding challenges our country has ever faced," a proclamation signed by President Trump on Friday said.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox Business

A Virginia 911 center is combining remote solutions with FirstNet connectivity as part of a multi-pronged strategy to ensure operational continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic today and to evaluate new technological options for the center in the future. Doug Campbell, deputy director of the Department of Emergency & Customer Communications (DECC) for the city of Alexandria, Va.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IWCE’s Urgent Communications

Early in the novel coronavirus pandemic, Nick Fugate figured he would probably get infected sooner or later. As a paramedic with King County Medic One, he and his colleagues were transporting gravely ill patients every day, amid an atmosphere of uncertainty and urgency. Even now that hospitalizations have declined, Fugate puts his odds at 50-50.
- PUB DATE: 5/18/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Seattle Times

A stranded driver was rescued by first responders in West Allis Sunday, May 17 after heavy rain led to flooding along the Root River Parkway. The driver said his truck got stuck in deep water — with the whole street flooded. West Allis firefighters came out with a boat — and pulled the man to safety.
- PUB DATE: 5/17/2020 7:43:41 PM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

Firefighters helped to rescue a resident of a Pleasant Prairie senior living facility Saturday, after a fire broke out at the apartment complex. At 7:40 a.m. Saturday, Pleasant Prairie police and fire departments responded to the Prairie Villa Senior Apartments, 9500 81st St., for a report of a fire alarm that had gone off, according to a Pleasant Prairie Fire and Rescue Department news release.
- PUB DATE: 5/17/2020 8:59:39 AM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced on Friday that burning permits remain suspended for debris piles, barrels, and grass or wooded areas. DNR officials say as the continuation of this permit suspension is to ensure the public remains safe from potential wildfires. The department notes that the spring season is a critical time for wildfires in Wisconsin to happen.
- PUB DATE: 5/15/2020 10:26:15 PM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV and WJMN-TV Green Bay

After a total of 40 years in emergency response services, Black River Falls Fire Chief, Steve Schreiber, had his final day on the job. Out of those 40 years, Schreiber spent almost 34 of them working as an employee for the city of Black River Falls. In 1991, Schreiber joined the city fire department and in 2003 he was hired as the Fire Chief, where he has spent his last 17 years.
- PUB DATE: 5/15/2020 7:23:33 PM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV NBC 13 Eau Claire

The Beloit Fire Department didn’t have to look far for its new leader, as the Beloit Police and Fire Commission promoted interim chief Daniel Pease following meeting on Friday morning. The commission voted unanimously to approve hiring Pease as chief after meeting in closed session for just under 10 minutes.
- PUB DATE: 5/15/2020 8:48:02 AM - SOURCE: Beloit Daily News

Some recent fires with the common link of cigarettes have left more than 80 people in the community without a home. A release said Madison Fire Department has responded to at least six fires suspected or determined to be caused by improperly discarded smoking materials since February. The fires caused nearly $3 million in property loss.
- PUB DATE: 5/15/2020 7:55:52 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

No one was injured, but a family was displaced in a fire this morning at Spring Isle Apartments, 1333 Wayland St. According to a press release from the Beaver Dam Fire Department, they were dispatched to a report of a fire inside the rental office around 4 a.m. “On arrival, fire and smoke were coming from the office area on the first floor of the building, extending into the second floor outside,” Beaver Dam Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief Matt Christian said in the press release.
- PUB DATE: 5/15/2020 7:43:55 AM - SOURCE: Daily Citizen

There are reminders everywhere. A sticker on the window of a fire engine. A painting on the wall of a fire station. A flag crafted out of discarded fire hose. A framed photograph of a flag-draped coffin. Mitch Lundgaard, a 14-year veteran of the Appleton Fire Department, was killed in the line of duty a year ago, on May 15, 2019, but his memory has endured in memorials scattered across the city's fire stations, and in the memories of those who worked with him.
- PUB DATE: 5/15/2020 6:18:19 AM - SOURCE: Green Bay Press-Gazette

VIDEO: Firefighters battled a blaze that spread through an El Monte strip mall and resulted in a partial roof collapse Thursday night. Crews raced to the scene after getting a report of smoke coming from the strip mall in the 10100 block of East Valley Boulevard about 8:10 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
- PUB DATE: 5/15/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA-TV 5 CW Los Angeles