According to the incident report, one person was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation after a fire at Best Western in Eau Claire. When crews arrived they found a dryer on fire on the first floor of the hotel. People were let back inside the hotel once it was cleared by crews. According to the report, the fire did not extend into the structure and crews worked to ventilate the hotel using positive pressure fans.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2020 3:59:58 PM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News

No one was injured but a person was displaced after a fire broke out at an Appleton home early Saturday morning. Shortly before 1 a.m., firefighters responded to a call about a fire in the 700 block of West Wisconsin Avenue, according to the Appleton Fire Department. There was smoke coming from the house's chimney and roof and flames were also visible.
- PUB DATE: 2/22/2020 3:04:41 PM - SOURCE: Appleton Post-Gazette & Post Crescent.com

The Milton Fire Commission approved a new staffing format Thursday aimed to help firefighters respond more quickly to calls and ease what Fire Chief Ernie Rhodes called a “staffing crisis.” The Milton department will have one full-time firefighter and three paid on-premise firefighters available to respond to emergencies 24 hours a day Monday through Friday.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 3:06:44 AM - SOURCE: Janesville Gazette

An overpass was set aflame after a semitrailer hauling thousands of gallons of fuel overturned in Indianapolis on Wednesday. The tanker hit a guardrail on an on-ramp from Interstate 465 to I-70, which split the tank and overturned the semi, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department. Witnesses told the fire department that the driver of the truck exited the tanker on his own with his clothes on fire.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

For FDNY Firefighter Robert Thomas and his three sons, fighting fires and saving lives has become a family affair. All four are city firefighters stationed throughout Brooklyn, joining a growing number of the department’s black “legacy” families, where children follow their mothers and fathers into the FDNY.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New York Daily News - Metered Site

The Milwaukee Fire Department is already in training for a building that hasn't broken ground yet. Ascent, an apartment building near downtown Milwaukee expected to break ground in a few months, has a tall timber frame. At 25-stories, it is expected to be the tallest building of it's kind in the world.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

On February 20, 2003, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in United States history occurred in The Station nightclub. More than two-thirds of the 462 people in attendance were either killed or injured (100 dead, 230 injured). A live band that was using fireworks as part of its act ignited foam insulation that had been installed around and over the stage.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fire Engineering

VIDEO: In its three years, the Skyway 10K has seen thousands of participants. A few have traveled the bridge each year, like friends and firefighters Tom “Bull” Hill and Mike Junge. Hill walks the Skyway to honor firefighters who lost their lives to cancer and PTSD. Hill walked the Skyway in 2018 with a pack covered in the names, shields and objects from firefighters who had died from cancer or suicides related to PTSD.
- PUB DATE: 2/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTSP-TV CBS 10 St. Petersburg

The Milwaukee Fire Department is already in training for a building that hasn't broken ground yet. Ascent, an apartment building near downtown Milwaukee expected to break ground in a few months, has a tall timber frame. At 25-stories, it is expected to be the tallest building of its kind in the world.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 7:38:23 PM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Bed bugs can be hard to spot and even tougher to get rid of. The City of Waukesha Fire Department has a new tool to fight the problem -- and make sure every ambulance is clean. Kira Benkert is getting an ambulance ready for the day's first patient -- including making sure there aren't any unwanted passengers: bed bugs.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

VIDEO: After months of devastation, all the fires burning in the Australian state of New South Wales were declared contained for the first time last week. And who else to thank but the thousands of firefighters who have put their life on the line to extinguish them? Knowing that a simple "thank you" wouldn't suffice, the NSW Rural Fire Service took out a 70-foot billboard in New York's Times Square to thank all the firefighters who helped battle the blazes.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNN

Despite putting a seventh city ambulance in service in mid-2018, Lincoln Fire and Rescue's paramedics remain swamped responding to emergency medical calls in the growing city, retiring Fire Chief Micheal Despain said. Call volumes in Lincoln continue climbing at three times the rate of population growth, mainly because of the medical needs of the city's aging population, Despain said.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Lincoln Journal Star

A Pennsylvania House committee is weighing a measure that seeks to make changes in how fire and emergency services are administered in the state. The House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee took up House Bill 1819, which would create a state Fire Commission. State Rep. Austin Davis, D-McKeesport, the bill’s sponsor, said his district includes professional and volunteer-led fire departments that face issues regarding the ability to provide essential services and the ability to recruit and retain members.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Center Square

Every day firefighters put their lives on the line to protect others, and when their shift ends, some of the risks they face still linger. That's because of the potentially toxic contaminants they encounter while on the job. "We want to make sure that the firefighters are aware that the chemicals, and the soot, and the smoke, and the particulates that get on their clothing during a structure fire, during training, is dangerous.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WGRZ-TV ABC 2 Buffalo

Bed bugs can be hard to spot and even tougher to get rid of. The City of Waukesha Fire Department has a new tool to fight the problem -- and make sure every ambulance is clean. Kira Benkert is getting an ambulance ready for the day's first patient -- including making sure there aren't any unwanted passengers: bed bugs.
- PUB DATE: 2/20/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee

In the last two months, there have been three major house fires in Merrill. Two have been deadly, and in the most recent there were injuries. Chief Josh Klug says one of the things the Merrill Fire Department has always prided itself on is the amount of fire prevention they do within the community.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 6:39:44 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

The state Assembly has approved giving more time to the Village of Mount Pleasant to build a new fire station near the Wisconn Valley Technology Park using tax funds to be generated by Foxconn. Under the initial state bill, passed in 2017, Mount Pleasant would have had until 2024 to build a new fire station either within the Foxconn zone or within 1 mile of the zone, according to Claude Lois, the village’s contracted project director for the Foxconn development.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 3:04:07 PM - SOURCE: Racine Journal Times - Metered Site

Wheatland Fire Chief Lou Denko spent months meeting with town residents to address any potential concerns or questions involving plans to build a new $3.8 million fire station. On Wednesday, it was back to the drawing board. The non-binding referendum stated: “Should the Town Board issue bonds or other debt issues in order to borrow up to $3.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 1:06:13 PM - SOURCE: Kenosha News

Given the recent local and national media coverage regarding the potential environmental hazards of substances that contain the chemical compounds perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl, known more commonly as PFAS, the Monona Fire Department is taking proactive measures to remove PFAS-containing firefighting foam from its fleet.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 1:05:19 PM - SOURCE: Monona / Cottage Grove Herald Independent

The Sparta Fire Chief Mike Arnold says no injuries were reported after a fire broke out on a porch in Sparta Wednesday around 5:34 a.m. The family was alerted to the fire by their cat and smoke detectors, which allowed them to get out of the residence safely. Arnold says the home, located on Kent Street in Sparta, had moderate smoke damage and minor water damage.
- PUB DATE: 2/19/2020 11:54:44 AM - SOURCE: WEAU-TV 13 News