Fire departments across the region have implemented new procedures to ensure the safety of first responders and a partnership elevated the options for some departments. "We've got to be prepared to be able to quarantine or isolate any of our people in case they run into a potential exposure." South Beloit Fire Chief Michael Davenport said.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WIFR-TV CBS 23 Beloit

At least 5,000 firefighters across the U.S. are under quarantine because of the coronavirus, an official with the International Association of Fire Fighters union told Hill.TV on Monday. Jim Brinkley, the union’s assistant to general president of technical assistance, said on Hill.TV’s “Rising” that the number is likely higher due to “severe underreporting.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Hill

The International Association of Fire Fighters has released a tracking tool that shows which fire departments have reported exposure to COVID-19 or have had employees test positive with the virus. Firefighters respond to patients who could be infected with coronavirus every day. “The same way we do going into a fire while people are running out of it, we are running into people’s homes who may have contracted coronavirus,” said Tom Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMC-TV NBC 5 Memphis

An innovative way of spray sanitizing is being put to good use by local emergency departments and Lawrence County Housing Authority apartment units during the coronavirus epidemic. They have the Shenango Area Fire District and the New Castle Fire Department to thank for the extra layers of protection, using the devices they built that are being used to disinfect surroundings.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Castle News

City governments are facing a difficult reality right now as the coronavirus pandemic has led to a revenue shortfall. In Tukwila, wage cuts are being considered. According to Rachel Bianchi, Tukwila's Deputy City Administrator, no decisions about wage reductions have been made yet. However, the firefighters union said they have already seen reduced staffing levels and they call it unacceptable.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

A coalition of unions representing healthcare workers and first responders is calling on the D.C. government to take a more aggressive approach on coronavirus testing. The organizations fear doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare workers will be unable to treat patients if too many of them get sick.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA-TV CBS 9 Washington, DC

Not all heroes wear capes. 10-year-old Aldrich Intermediate student SaMera Richardson is spending her time at home during the coronavirus/COVID-19 disruption learning to sew and make face masks that she donated to the Beloit Fire Department. “My mom used to be a first responder and I like how they always help people no matter what’s going on,” she said.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 8:15:38 PM - SOURCE: Beloit Daily News

Two people died in a Monday morning motorcycle crash, Mount Pleasant Police confirmed Monday afternoon. At approximately 8:30 a.m. Monday, Mount Pleasant Police and South Shore firefighters responded to the area of Highway 11 and International Drive for a reported motorcycle crash, according to a Mount Pleasant Police Department news release.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 4:42:45 PM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times

The virus did not creep toward San Jose firefighters. It lurked among them. It was March 6, a week after the country’s first community-transmitted COVID-19 case at a Vacaville hospital. Exposure to the virus remained largely linked to overseas travel. California’s case count had just scraped triple-digits.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

New York City paramedics and emergency medical technicians must wear medical-grade face masks while treating any patient during the coronavirus outbreak, FDNY honchos have announced. The FDNY last month said first responders should only wear N95 respirator masks while performing up-close “aerosol-generating” procedures like CPR, but remain unmasked during less critical jobs.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News

As the coronavirus continues to spread and send many patients to the hospital, ambulance crews are balancing a thorough disinfection process with getting back on the road as quickly as possible. It’s a situation that has led to an uptick in business for cleaning and restoration companies that have a specialized disinfection process in their repertoire, such as Pittsburgh-based G.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Starting next week, city workers on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic in Carmel, Indiana will be tested weekly for the virus. In the first week, the city of about 100,000 people just north of Indianapolis expects to test about 350 police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel, as well as city staffers who still have to physically show up to work, like those in charge of code enforcement on construction sites and sewer utility workers.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Route Fifty

VIDEO: A fire that spread across 15 acres destroyed more than 3,500 rental cars at the rental car overflow area of Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) on Friday, Lee County Port Authority said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. It drew a response from every Lee County fire department with assistance from aviation and fire departments in neighboring Collier and Charlotte counties.
- PUB DATE: 4/6/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WINK-TV CBS 11 Fort Myers

Longtime Janesville seamstress Diane Jacobson likes to keep her sewing machines busy and in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, she’s donating reusable medical gowns and cloth masks to Rock County first responders. Jacobson donated 11 reusable cloth medical gowns to the Beloit Fire Department last week and is in the process of making 20 more for Janesville Fire Department staff.
- PUB DATE: 4/5/2020 8:20:32 PM - SOURCE: Beloit Daily News

An elderly woman died Saturday after a house fire in the Bay View neighborhood. “There was smoke pouring out of every window the basement, the vents in the roofs, there was just smoke coming out of everywhere," said neighbor Chris Haertl. Fire and smoke engulfed this house on the corner. A neighbor said three people lived inside: a woman in her 80s, her son in his 60s, and a roommate.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2020 8:41:40 PM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

A multi-unit residential building fire broke out on Saturday morning in Brockway, WI, near Black River Falls. At 9:20 am, the Black River Falls Fire Department responded to the fire. Authorities say immediate mutual aid was requested for fire engines from Hixton and Merrillan. There was smoke coming from the first floor of the building when firefighters arrived, and heavy fire inside.
- PUB DATE: 4/4/2020 3:07:25 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

A deer is safe thanks to firefighters who rescued the animal when it broke through the ice Thursday. Marinette Fire Department Asst. Chief John Pennings said crews were called to the scene on the Menominee River around 12 p.m. Thursday afternoon. The assistant chief adds that crews were at the scene for about an hour, saying it took about a half hour to rescue the animal, and then they stayed on scene for 30 more minutes to nurse the deer back - since it was hypothermic.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2020 3:39:25 PM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

Two Mukwonago Fire Department personnel are now in self-quarantine after transporting an individual who later tested positive for COVID-19, Fire Chief Jeffrey Stien said Friday. The department was informed of the case by the Waukesha County Health Department on Thursday and the two emergency personnel were then ordered to self-quarantine.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2020 1:04:32 PM - SOURCE: WaukeshaNOW

Fire destroyed a garage in the town of Oconto Thursday afternoon. Oconto Fire and Rescue Department was called at 2:21 p.m. to 4802 State 22, about 5 miles west of Oconto, where firefighters found heavy flames and smoke coming from a detached garage. The fire had already extended to a nearby enclosed car trailer, Lt.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2020 8:06:43 AM - SOURCE: Green Bay Press-Gazette

Authorities in Waukesha say an apartment resident on Kensington Drive managed to alert their apartment neighbors and evacuate the building after a fire broke out early Friday morning. According to the Waukesha Fire Department, first responders were called to an apartment on the 1800 block of Kensington Drive just after 3 a.
- PUB DATE: 4/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Waukesha Patch