Pend Oreille County Fire District #2 responded to a vegetation fire on Leclerc Road at around 4:44 p.m. Saturday. The fire was about 0.5 acres in size, and was contained within 5 minutes of arrival. The fire district said “quick response and aggressive firefighting tactics” helped immediately stop the spread of the fire, which was caused by an unattended slash pile.

“We cannot say enough about the outstanding fast response times — made possible because the Kalispel Tribal Fire Department is fully staffed 24/7/365 by the dedicated men and women of the Kalispel Tribal Nation,” the fire district wrote in a social media post. “A huge THANK YOU to the initial engine crew and the entire on-duty crew of the Kalispel Tribal Fire Department for your professionalism, diligence, competence, and capability today.” The fire district also warned residents to be cautious when burning anything.

KHQ-TV NBC 6 Spokane

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Four Spokane Valley high school students, and two hotel employees received the Spokane Valley Fire Department Lifesaving Award Monday afternoon. The six were recognized after helping save a man found unconscious in a hotel pool. The rescue happened on April 18. Patrick Erickson of SVFD says it took place at the pool of the Mirabeau Park Hotel & Convention Center. It was there that Rae Overby, one of the teens said she saw the man lying still in the deep end.

“Luckily, I was able to realize someone was down at the bottom of the pool, not conscious,” Overby told NonStop Local at the award ceremony. “So I dived down in.” Overby said with the help of other nearby teenagers, she pulled the man out of the pool and began chest compressions. Ben Wagele was one of those other teens. “[First responders] told us that kids nowadays just record the incident and not jump in so I think we did a pretty good job of helping him,” Wagele said. In total, four high school students and two hotel employees saved the man.

KHQ-TV NBC 6 Spokane

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The Yakima Fire Department reported a structure fire on the 200 block of Union Street just before 9:00 p.m. that burned two occupied outbuildings, a large tree and a manufactured home. Crews knocked the fire down quickly, according to Yakima Fire Department Captain Jeremiah Stilley.

Stilley confirmed the two outbuildings were being used as living spaces. He also said no one was hurt in the fire. The cause remained under investigation. The Red Cross was contacted to help after the fire, but that support was not ultimately needed.

KNDO-TV NBC 23 Yakima

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VIDEO: The City of Spokane and the West Plains Water Coalition handed out water filters on Saturday to West Plains residents dealing with contaminated water tied to the airport pollution zone. NonStop Local stopped by the event and spoke with organizers about how they planned to address the problem. Organizers described the filter giveaway as an early step in a much larger response.

“This is a brand new thing. The government authorities have been really slow over the years to acknowledge the trouble… but now they’re getting started towards acknowledging the danger and starting up with the solutions…” said John Hancock with the West Plains Water Coalition.

Hancock said the issue had built up over several decades. He explained that PFAS had been running downhill from the airport firefighting operation for more than 40 years and had polluted hundreds of wells through synthetic chemicals in the groundwater.

“Because PFAS has been running downhill from the airport firefighting operation for 40+ years and there are hundreds of polluted wells as a result of this synthetic chemical in the groundwater…” Hancock said. “PFAS is a synthetic class of chemicals that we know from Teflon pants, from gore-tex raincoats… Very poisonous…”

KHQ-TV NBC 6 Spokane

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