Two-and-a-half weeks after a tragic house fire claimed the lives of a mother and her three children, administrators at schools in Oconto say students are slowly healing. Oconto's fire chief described the January 17 fire as the worst in the city's history. Kathy DeCoursin and her three children, ages 15, 13, and 11, could not escape the flames.
- PUB DATE: 2/5/2020 9:42:25 AM - SOURCE: WMTV-TV NBC 15 Madison

A person was found dead inside a storage unit after a fire Tuesday night, according to Oshkosh Police. Officers have not identified the person found dead. They did not say if the person was male or female. At about 9 p.m., police and firefighters were called to a fire inside a storage unit in the 700 block of W.
- PUB DATE: 2/5/2020 3:57:27 AM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

With climate change spurring intense and longer wildfire seasons, fire safety and preparation is no longer an option. As seen in the United States and across the world in Australia and the Amazon, wildfires are devastating and can dramatically affect the economy of a region. With the growing frequency and severity of wildfires, firefighters are needed more than ever to protect cities and communities.
- PUB DATE: 2/5/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: AdvisorSmith

“Gray Death” is a particularly dangerous mixture of heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil and other synthetic opioids, and it has made its way to Indiana. Carfentanil, which is used as a tranquilizing agent for elephants and other large mammals, is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
- PUB DATE: 2/5/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAVE-TV NBC 3

York City's Fire Chief had to make a choice. So, he chose his home. But because of that decision, he could lose his job by the end of this month. Residency requirements in the city of York require the fire chief to live within the city limits. Deardorff lives in West Manchester Township with his children and wife.
- PUB DATE: 2/5/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WPMT-TV FOX 43 York

VIDEO: According to the National Fire Protection Association, firefighters are 9 percent more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than the average American. The Toledo Fire and Rescue department is teaming up with Cancer Dogs, a Canadian company that uses dogs to detect possible cancer in someone's breath.
- PUB DATE: 2/5/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVG-TV ABC 13 Toledo

An interim report on conditions at the fire station include plenty of reasons for alarm. Consultants have documented problems with airflow. No ventilation air is being introduced into the apparatus and rescue vehicle area, and two exhaust fans “do not appear to be functional,” MacRitchie Engineering, Inc.
- PUB DATE: 2/5/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Cape Cod Chronicle

Almost a year and a half after a Fond du Lac firefighter deployed to Afghanistan with the Army National Guard. The department and community gathered to welcome him home. Brett Hefty, a firefighter paramedic with Fond du Lac Fire Rescue is safely back home after serving his country. "It feels great to be home.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2020 4:47:49 PM - SOURCE: WBAY-TV ABC 2 Green Bay

Many fire departments around the country, including in the La Crosse area, are short of volunteer firefighters. One local station is looking at quality over quantity in hopes of getting more recruits. The Holmen Area Fire Department is among several stations in our area where a lot of their staff are volunteers.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2020 4:38:59 PM - SOURCE: WKBT-TV CBS 8 La Crosse

New city firefighters make less than $15 an hour, a lower starting pay rate than city parks laborers earn. The issue came up at last week's Marion City Council meeting when a city resident questioned the existing pay rates for city parks employees, rates that went before city council for approval. "I'm not trying to say that's not an important job, but in the grand scheme of things, if I need my park to look pretty or my house not to burn down, I'm going to choose house not burning down," said Christian Dunston, an East Fairground Street resident.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Marion Star

Lt. Reece Chambers of East Jefferson Fire Rescue has a lot of heart. He’s now on his second one. Chambers, 42, is believed to be the first firefighter in Washington state to return to front-line duty after receiving a heart transplant. He went back on Jan. 2. “New heart, new start,” Chambers said Friday while working at the Chimacum fire station.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Peninsula Daily News - Metered Site

The Phoenix Fire Department responded to more than 250 mountain rescue calls in 2019, more than one every other day. Working with numbers provided by the Phoenix Fire Department, 12 News broke that number down by mountain and focused on the four busiest mountains in the area: Camelback Mountain, Piestewa Peak, South Mountain, and Papago Park.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

VIDEO: From blazes, to crashes and medical emergencies, firefighters risk life and limb everyday to serve their communities, and Great Falls Fire Rescue is no different, tackling all sorts of emergencies since the late 1800s. In its 136 years of service, the Electric City's fire department is no stranger to the history books, scoring statewide firsts in firefighting over the decades, as they tackle both minor and major situations.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTMF-TV ABC/FOX 23 Missoula

VIDEO: Austin Fire Department Chief Joel Baker says the Department is at fault for the foamy water as many as 300 South Austin neighbors had come through their sinks more than a week ago, citing issues with one engine’s foam eductor pump as the culprit. On January 22, crews put out a fire at a church, but needed to use Class A foam because of how intense the fire got.
- PUB DATE: 2/4/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KEYE-TV CBS 42 Austin

Milwaukee firefighters battled a fire in an industrial area of West Milwaukee Monday morning, Feb. 3. Crews got the call to the building near Burnham and Electric Avenue around 6:45 a.m. Officials say the fire spread to the steel ceiling and crews had to fight the fire from the outside using ladder trucks.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2020 2:52:28 PM - SOURCE: WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee

Nine-year-old Mackenzie Clyde is in the fight of her life. "She completed surgery, radiation chemotherapy," Mackenzie's mother, Courtney, said. "After we ended treatment, we found out that her cancer had come back and she had four new tumors in her brain." Mackenzie's prognosis may be terminal, but she has the whole city of West Allis, Wisconsin, ready to fight with her.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2020 2:43:24 PM - SOURCE: WISN-TV ABC 12 Milwaukee

An SUV slammed into the side of Dunkin' Donuts on S. Chicago Avenue near Drexel Boulevard in South Milwaukee around lunchtime on Monday, Feb. 3 -- and FOX6 News obtained dramatic surveillance video showing the vehicle going airborne before striking the building and rolling over. The video showed the SUV speeding from the Walgreens parking lot -- headed straight toward the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2020 12:36:52 PM - SOURCE: WITI Fox Channel 6

The city intends to hire a professional fire service consultant to conduct an examination and analysis of the administration, operations, training and deployment practices of the Fire Department. The study will include a master plan for the Fire Department that will assess its internal operations and staffing, and provide a gap analysis of its current situation against national standards and best practices, according to City Manager Edward M.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Telegram & Gazette

VIDEO: It’s not just for video games anymore. The Myrtle Beach Fire Department is now using virtual reality as a way to better educate the community on what it’s like to be a firefighter. Firefighters plan to debut the technology to students at Pathways to Possibilities next week at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMBF-TV NBC 32 Myrtle Beach

After a photo believed to have been taken last year of a D.C. Fire recruit class showed three white men making what looked like an “OK symbol” with their hands, an internal investigation found they were not aware the hand gesture is associated with white supremacy. Weeks before an internal investigation cleared three members of recruit class 387, D.
- PUB DATE: 2/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTOP-AM 1500 Washington