Firefighters are thanking a local caller who helped crews save two people in downtown Seattle Sunday morning. The Seattle Fire Department received a call at 10:28 a.m. reporting two people on a fifth-floor balcony waving for help to the caller as smoke filled their apartment window. The caller drove to the building to give the fire department an accurate location — 700 block of 7th Ave — and told a resident of the high-rise building to pull the fire alarm.
- PUB DATE: 5/16/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

A big Pacific Northwest timber company is teaming up with a nonprofit that helps with firefighters' mental health and suicide risk. With financial help from timber giant Weyerhaeuser, the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA) has set up an online behavioral health resource especially for wildland firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 5/16/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KEZI-TV ABC 9 Eugene

Saturday around 2a.m. the Kennewick Fire Department (KFD) responded to a garden shed fire at 4200 block of Clearwater Avenue. Fortunately, no firefighters or residents were injured and no buildings nearby were damaged. According to KFD, a citizen who smelled smoke and saw flames from half a mile away called the fire in.
- PUB DATE: 5/16/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KNDO-TV NBC 23 Yakima

Firefighters doused two burning boats Sunday after they caught fire on the Columbia River near Caterpillar Island. Vancouver Fire was called out at about 2:40 p.m. on reports that two boats, both recreational craft about 20 feet long or less, were on fire in the water near 10612 NW Lower River Road.
- PUB DATE: 5/16/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KATU-TV ABC 2 Portland

Four local fire departments say 911 calls are up and three are asking for resources to keep up with emergencies. Overall, Cowlitz County saw 1,500 more emergency calls in 2021, compared to the year before, said Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue Deputy Chief of Operations Jason Sanders. Cowlitz 2 reports a roughly 12% increase and Longview Fire Department reports a 13.
- PUB DATE: 5/15/2022 8:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Daily News - Metered Site