VIDEO: The Bath Township Fire Department has received a grant to help firefighters communicate better when they go inside a burning building.

The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation awarded the department more than $30,000. The department is using the money to buy voice amplifiers that attach to firefighters’ breathing masks. Bath Township firefighter Ben Zeeb said talking during a rescue is extremely difficult.

“It’s just very chaotic, it’s very noisy and it’s very hard to communicate,” Zeeb said. Zeeb said smoke, noise, and masks can muffle their voices. If firefighters cannot hear each other over the flames and equipment, it can slow down a rescue and put crews at risk.

“If I get trapped or there’s a changing fire condition that I see that can’t get communicated to him, that could change the situation for both us inside and what operations are happening outside,” Zeeb said. Special voice amplifiers exist to help with that situation.

Bath Township Fire Chief Mark Koonter said the department does not have any of its own. “Not having that is like trying to talk to somebody over the radio and they’re talking through a window,” Koonter said.

WILX-TV NBC 10 Onondaga

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VIDEO: For more than three decades, William “Bill” Blenk was the person running toward danger, saving lives as a firefighter and training the next generation as an EMT instructor.

But 21 years ago, life flipped in an instant when he became the one who needed saving. He was 64 when a stroke took away his ability to do the simplest daily tasks.

“I could not talk. I could not write. I could not eat. I had to learn how to eat,” he said. His wife, Pat, said she still remembers the terrifying moment it started.

“He said, ‘Pat, Pat, something’s gravely wrong.’ I said, ‘What’s wrong?’ And then he had the weakness starting. And when we got to the hospital, he couldn’t talk,” she said.

Faced with a sudden silence, Pat found a way to bridge the gap. She wrote out the letters of the alphabet on a piece of paper so her husband could spell out his thoughts one letter at a time.

Rather than putting their lives on pause, the couple made an intentional choice early on not to let a stroke write the rest of their story.

WECT-TV NBC 6 Wilmington

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A routine medical call led firefighters to an active explosives lab inside a home near Martha Lake, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

South County Fire crews were called around 2 p.m. Tuesday to a home in the 400 block of Lakeview Road in unincorporated Lynnwood. While helping the patient, firefighters noticed signs that explosives might be inside the residence, the Sheriff’s office said.

Deputies were sent to the scene. A sergeant who arrived immediately recognized chemicals and chemical precursors commonly linked to making explosives, and it appeared devices were being manufactured inside the home, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Washington State Patrol Region 2 Interagency Bomb Squad was called in. Bomb technicians sent a robot into the house and confirmed an active explosives lab.

A deputy then got a search warrant, and the home was searched. Bomb technicians went in, processed the scene, and removed all explosives and precursor chemicals from the home.

Authorities say they do not believe there is any immediate danger to the public. The investigation is ongoing.

KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

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A homeowner was injured after an explosion was reported at a Spanaway home Wednesday morning.
Central Pierce Fire & Rescue crews were dispatched at around 10:50 a.m. to a home in the 2500 block of 170th Street East.

According to fire officials, the homeowner heard an explosion and discovered flames inside the garage. He called 911 and got his family out safely before crews arrived.

Crews found the garage engulfed in fire, with heavy smoke spreading into the home. They quickly knocked down the fire and cleared the smoke from the home.

The homeowner was treated at the scene by fire department personnel for a minor injury. No additional injuries were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Pierce County Fire Marshal’s Office.

KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

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VIDEO: A Seattle City Council member is proposing restoring $7 million for the Seattle Fire Department’s overtime budget, after new city projections identified $12.7 million in additional unused funds.

Councilmember Maritza Rivera said she wants to use the funding to restore overtime money that was cut in Mayor Katie Wilson’s initial proposed budget.

The proposed cut drew criticism from the Seattle Fire Fighters Union Local 27 and the fire department over concerns about staffing and emergency response times.

Union President Kenny Stuart said firefighters are already being asked to work additional hours to maintain staffing.

“The fire department has been asking firefighters to come back after their shift is done over and over and over,” Stuart said. “Sometimes for as long as 72 hours in a row.”

KIRO-TV CBS 7 Seattle

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