Therapy dogs brought some much-needed smiles and comfort to fire crews battling the Paradise and Hagen Fires in Walla Walla and Umatilla Counties. Go Team Therapy Dogs TriCities and Go Team Walla Walla Therapy Dogs spent part of the week with crews working around the fires.

The visits brought comfort and a morale boost to people dealing with long shifts, hot weather and high winds. The therapy dogs included Aspen, Jazz, Norman, Roscoe, Ernie, Olivia and Luke. Their role at camp was centered on supporting crews who were working away from home.

KNDO-TV NBC 23 Yakima

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VIDEO: Pregnant firefighters across the nation are struggling with their departments’ reproductive health policies, and a nonprofit created in Washington is working to change that.

Maia Brown has been a firefighter in Washington for 14 years. She said when she first started working, the thought that her career had any effect on her reproductive health never came to mind.

“But as time passed, something inspired me to look into it,” she said. And when she did look into it, Brown said she found that most of the research focused on male firefighters.

“But it didn’t seem like too far of a stretch to imagine that if it’s affecting the men, it’s affecting the women too,” Brown said.

The exposures at play include toxins from fighting active fires, heat, stress, sleep disruption, chemicals in cleaning supplies, and exhaust in the apparatus bay, to name a few.

So, back in 2018, Brown started a website, meant to be a placeholder for the research she could find. “Over time it’s evolved,” she said. “There’s become such an incredible community of people that are also invested in this.”

KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

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PHOTOS: A Martin County Sheriff’s Office helicopter crew is being credited with spotting a large fire late Sunday night and helping get firefighters to the scene before the flames spread to a nearby home.

The MCSO Air One pilot and tactical flight observer were on patrol around 10:30 p.m. when they noticed flames coming from a detached garage along Southwest Martin Highway, according to the sheriff’s office. he crew immediately alerted deputies and Martin County Fire Rescue.

Firefighters arrived to find the roughly 1,600-square-foot structure engulfed in flames, with its roof already gone. The sheriff’s office said the fire was threatening the main home on the property. Crews were able to contain the blaze before it reached the house.

The homeowners were not home at the time, according to MCSO. No one was injured.

Firefighters found a Class C motorhome and a Jeep inside the structure. The sheriff’s office said the garage and both vehicles were completely destroyed.

MCSO praised the Air One crew and responding deputies and firefighters, saying the helicopter crew’s discovery allowed emergency crews to reach the property in time to keep the flames from spreading to the home. Martin County Fire Rescue said the State Fire Marshal was notified. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

WPEC-TV CBS 12 West Palm Beach

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An apartment fire in Cathlamet, left 21 people displaced from their homes Monday morning. Crews with the Cathlamet Fire Department were called out to the building, located near Front and Main streets, around 2:15 a.m. There, they found the building engulfed in flames with “multiple power lines arcing throughout the area.”

A fire department spokesman said that flames burned through the roof of the three-story building, and the apartments were a total loss. Seven people needed medical treatment at the scene, but were released without needing to go to the hospital. One neighbor told KGW that the apartment was a low-income building that also served as a homeless shelter.

“A lot of them just came out with pajamas on or one guy you know with no clothes on no shoes … Red Cross hasn’t been there yet,” she said. Crews were able to stop the worst of the flames, and will be in the area for some time to thoroughly extinguish the building, according to the department.

KGW-TV NBC 8 Portland

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VIDEO/PHOTOS: Firefighters say a fast and aggressive response helped stop the Hidden Meadows Fire north of Battle Ground before flames reached hundreds of nearby homes.

The fire grew to about 12 acres Monday, prompting Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuation notices as crews attacked the flames from the ground and air. By Monday night, officials said the most active parts of the fire were under control. Areas previously under Level 2 and Level 3 evacuation notices were reduced to Level 1, while earlier Level 1 notices were lifted.

Crews initially arrived to find about an acre of fire moving through brush and young timber. With homes in its path, firefighters quickly called in aircraft to drop retardant and helicopters to make water drops. Crews initially arrived to find about an acre of fire moving through brush and young timber. With homes in its path, firefighters quickly called in aircraft to drop retardant and helicopters to make water drops.

KATU-TV ABC 2 Portland

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