KThe Racine Fire Department is concerned after they responded to four fires in six days all caused by smoking materials not thrown away safely. "I’m very alarmed at the outbreak of fires in the city due to the same cause," said Racine Fire Lt. John Magnus. One of the fires started Thursday, April 16, at a home on Green Street when the fire department says the owner threw a lit cigarette into a garbage can that was sitting against the home.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2020 1:04:09 PM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

The Rock County Sheriff’s Office is helping investigate a fire in which 12 campground trailers burned Tuesday night. Milton Fire Department Battalion Chief Pete Mory said he knew of no one occupying the trailers when the fire broke out at Lakeland RV Campground. No injuries were reported. Only two of the trailers appeared salvageable, Mory said.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2020 11:39:02 AM - SOURCE: GazetteXtra

The Pleasant Prairie Police and Fire Departments are investigating a fatal fire that happened on Tuesday, April 21. Authorities say they were called to the area near 104th and Main Street around 11:02 p.m. for a mobile home fire. After crews put out the fire, a body was located inside. The identity of the victim is not being released at this time.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2020 4:46:33 AM - SOURCE: WDJT CBS 58 Milwaukee

St. Albans firefighters and EMTs carry a lot of heavy equipment around to help keep people safe. Now they have a much lighter tool to work with as well. “When we do a treatment ‘is your pain better or worse, the same?’ and I thought ‘that’s not good enough’ we have to have something that we can use to communicate more effectively,” says Lt.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WOWK-TV CBS 13 Huntington

A technique that zaps airborne viruses with a narrow-wavelength band of UV light shows promise for curtailing the person-to-person spread of COVID-19 in indoor public places. The technology, developed by Columbia University’s Center for Radiological Research, uses lamps that emit continuous, low doses of a particular wavelength of ultraviolent light, known as far-UVC, which can kill viruses and bacteria without harming human skin, eyes and other tissues, as is the problem with conventional UV light.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbia News

For one Good Samaritan group in southern Georgia, good things come in threes. The coronavirus has sickened 19,398 people in Georgia and killed 774 people as of this writing, straining the resources of first responders. The Community Warriors, a volunteer group known for its benevolent deeds in and around Columbus, Ga.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fox News

Governor Janet Mills' administration announced Tuesday the launch of a new volunteer phone support service, the FrontLine WarmLine, to help Maine health care workers and first responders manage the stress of serving on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The FrontLine Warmline serves health care professionals, such as physicians, nurses and counselors, as well as emergency medical services personnel, law enforcement, and others who are directly responding to the pandemic in Maine.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCSH-TV NBC 6 Portland

The shortage of PPE is getting worse, with hundreds of medical professionals and first responders paying the ultimate price. But if the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that people are resourceful. Scientists at a crime lab in Kansas, for example, deduced a method to use evidence drying cabinets to decontaminate N95 masks for multiple uses.
- PUB DATE: 4/22/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Labratory Equipment

Racine firefighters Tuesday afternoon responded to a house fire blamed on improperly discarded smoking materials, the fourth such incident that the department has responded to since Thursday. Fire crews were dispatched at 3:43 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a house fire at 1911 Harriet St., just west of State Street (Highway 38).
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 5:35:55 PM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

Steve Schreiber, the fire chief of the Black River Falls Fire Department is retiring next month. Schreiber served a total of 33 years and 7 months as a public employee. He said his passion for the job came in 1980 as he started as he joined the Alma Center Volunteer Fire Department. Throughout his career, Schreiber has had many jobs-as a first responder, police officer, and eventually the fire chief in 2003.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 4:39:04 PM - SOURCE: WXOW-TV ABC 19 La Crosse

The Phelps Volunteer Fire Department recently received a long-awaited upgrade to personal protection uniforms for wild-land firefighting. “We were very fortunate to receive a 50/50 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) — $2,500 from the Phelps Fire Department and $2,500 from the DNR,” said Norm Mesun, fire chief.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 1:05:39 PM - SOURCE: Vilas County News

Governor Tony Evers has declared a State of Emergency for all of Wisconsin in response to elevated wildfire conditions. “Our first priority is protecting the people of Wisconsin and this executive order helps us control existing wildfires and use all available state assets to prevent new ones from starting,” Gov.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 9:40:28 AM - SOURCE: WFRV-TV CBS 5 Green Bay

Firefighters on Tuesday morning, April 21 responded to the scene of a duplex fire near 39th and Wright in Milwaukee. Officials say one person in the lower unit was able to exit the home safely. No one was in the upper unit when the fire broke out. The fire caused an estimated $60,000 in damage to the structure and contents.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 4:40:22 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

New York City will throw the “biggest, best” ticker-tape parade for its health care workers and first responders once the city reopens from the coronavirus pandemic, the mayor announced Tuesday. “We will honor those who saved us,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “The first thing we will do, before we think about anything else, is we will take a time, as only New York City can do, to throw the biggest, best parade to honor these heroes.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLNY-TV CBS 55 Riverhead

Pickaway County first responders now can have peace of mind about preventing the spread of COVID-19, thanks to the county’s new decontamination station. The makeshift, multiroom station is set up at the Circleville Police Department. The whole setup cost a few hundred dollars to make from items at a hardware store.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Columbus Dispatch

Precautions to protect vulnerable volunteer firefighters from COVID-19 could lessen some retirement benefits for those going on fewer calls during the pandemic, according to fire officials. Some fire departments are asking older volunteers or those with underlying health conditions — those most likely to suffer serious medical problems or death from the coronavirus — to stay home.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Newsday

With a nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), Roanoke Fire-EMS has come up with creative ways to provide the same protection to their personnel with reusable materials. They say this including the use of new Frogg Togg coats in place of disposable medical gowns. This new personal protective equipment uses a specific material that is impervious to bloodborne pathogens and other bodily fluids, giving their crew the same protection of a disposable medical gown, according to the department, They say the coat is easy to decontaminate, gives their providers a better range of motion and is reusable, alleviating our need for disposable medical gowns.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSET-TV ABC 13 Lynchburg

The COVID-19, a global pandemic that caused more than 164,000 deaths and infected more than 2 million people worldwide, make us rethink how governments, organizations, and societies around the world can work with minimum or without physical contact. Today, the frontline warriors and heroes of the nation are doctors, medical staff, local police, and private security guards and refuse collectors.
- PUB DATE: 4/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Geospatial World

Two companies worked together to dedicate a special memorial for a fallen Appleton Fire Driver Engineer. Appleton Fire Department Driver Engineer Mitch Lundgaard was killed last year when a man opened fire after a rescue call in downtown Appleton. Police shot and killed the gunman. Karl's Transport and South Side Design and Graphics partnered to make a memorial trailer for Lundgaard.
- PUB DATE: 4/20/2020 5:36:10 PM - SOURCE: WGBA-TV NBC 26 Green Bay

Human remains were discovered at the site of a house fire in Marinette County Monday morning. The Sheriff's Office says the remains are believed to be an elderly woman who lived at the home. Investigators are still working to make positive identification and notify family before the name is released.
- PUB DATE: 4/20/2020 7:50:36 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay