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

The Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) recently delivered one of the new Oshkosh Striker aviation fire trucks to Cayman Brac Fire Station to provide fire and rescue aviation support at Charles Kirkconnell International Airport (CKIA). The delivery of the new truck to the Sister Islands joins the 1st Oshkosh Aviation Striker delivered last year as part of CIFS’s ongoing fleet modernization plan to further build its international airport operations support and resilience across the service.

Brac CIFS Station Manager Mr. Witney Tatum commented on the importance of the new truck to Cayman Brac: “The new truck and accompanying equipment, we now have two Aviation fire trucks which significantly improves our aviation operational support and efficiency for Charles Kirkconnell Airport (CKIA),”

District Commissioner for Cayman Brac & Little Cayman Mark Tibbetts said: “This new truck investment facilitates the Sister Islands airport operation to accommodate larger planes and, by extension, support having more visitors to our islands. We are very grateful for the investment in the new trucks. I thank my colleagues at the Ministry of Homes Affairs for their support in ensuring the Sister Islands achieved this goal.”

Speaking about the aviation capabilities of the new trucks, Deputy Chief Fire Officer (Aviation) Mr. Brevan Elliott explained: “Like on Grand Cayman, this new truck will equip the Sister Islands with state-of-the-art fire and rescue equipment and technology to provide a more efficient and effective rapid response service to airport operations. The industry standard is two minutes total to reach each end of the runway. This new truck will also improve operations and ensure our Sister Islands crew can provide the time-sensitive support required to ensure passenger and public safety in the event of a major incident.”

Designate Chief Fire Officer Mr. Dwight Randy Rankin added: “Our fleet modernization plan will ensure CIFS officers are equipped and technically trained at an international industry level to utilize the equipment, technology, and provide the necessary level of professionalism across all three islands for over 10 years. This investment of a unified fleet of Oshkosh Strikers delivers a crucial component to further building on our existing infrastructure while building the resiliency of our emergency response support into the future and completes the replacement of all of our aviation fire trucks in Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac.”