VIDEO: The Ogden Fire Department has a new tool to help meet people in the unsheltered community where they are. This week, the department launched a mobile outreach clinic to give immediate medical care to people experiencing homelessness.

“In our hearts, we need to love them and care about them,” said Ogden City Fire Chief Mike Slater. “And that’s the approach we took. We just want to help people get the right health care, and what we do know is taking someone to the emergency room is not always the best care for that individual.”

It started off with a new initiative last year. Slater said most of the calls for service to the fire department come from the Lantern House homeless shelter. So, through state grants, the department hired a medical advocate to be on-site full-time and help with triage, medication and setting people up with the right medical care. The department said it has been successful so far.

“It’s been a huge relief, especially to our staff and the clients,” said Lauren Navidomskis, the executive director of the Lantern House, “knowing that more than those service workers and the law enforcement agencies, like, there’s a community that’s wrapping behind them.”

KSTU-TV FOX 13 Salt Lake City

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VIDEO: The Rapid City Fire Department’s Cadet Program has been providing firefighter training to high school students for a couple of years. Each year, around 10 high school students from the Black Hills get to experience what it is like to be a firefighter both in the classroom and in the field.

“Before we started the cadet program, we didn’t have a good way to engage high school students; it just didn’t exist for us. So this has been a great opportunity,” RCFD Firefighter EMT & Cadet Mentor Jim Bussell said. While this is an introductory program, learning to react like a professional is the goal.

“A smoky burning building, you know, with a mask on your face, you’re always having to communicate and let others know what’s going on around you. So that was one of the biggest takeaways for me was communication. It really just opened up a lot of career paths for me. One of the biggest ones being Wildland, that’s something I think I want to do after college,” 2024 cadet graduate Carson Bussell said.

KELO-TV CBS 11 Sioux Falls

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Nick Wahlman, a firefighter and paramedic, will be honored with the Lifesaving Medal of Valor on January 15 following his rescue and resuscitation of a man while on vacation in Hawaii, South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue (SPOFR) reported. On November 15, 2025, Wahlman noticed two men struggling in the water off Kihei, Maui. He quickly swam out and found one of the men turning blue and not breathing.

Wahlman brought the man to shore and determined he was in cardiac arrest. Alongside Dr. Ethan Deckert, the Stevens County Medical Program Director who was vacationing with him, Wahlman performed lifesaving efforts. By the time the Maui County Fire Department arrived at the scene, Wahlman and Dr. Deckert had restored the man’s pulse.

KHQ-TV NBC 6 Spokane

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A fire broke out in a home on Englewood Hill Place in Yakima on Tuesday afternoon. All of the home’s occupants were safely evacuated and no one was injured. According to a social media post from the Yakima Fire Department, crews were able to mostly contain the fire to the garage with an “aggressive offensive attack.” YFD also said the fire was in the “overhaul” stage as of 2:33 p.m., meaning flames are out and crews are searching for any additional hot spots or smoldering embers.

KFFX-TV FOX 11 Pendleton

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A late-night house fire destroyed a single-wide mobile home in Ephrata on Sunday, leaving two residents displaced and two dogs unaccounted for. Fire crews were dispatched at approximately 11:08 p.m. to a mobile home located at 630 Basin Street SW, space No. 32, behind the O’Reilly Auto Parts store. According to fire officials, the occupants reported smelling smoke and initially believed their furnace was on fire.

By the time firefighters arrived, roughly 50 percent of the structure was already consumed by flames. Both occupants were able to escape safely, and no injuries were reported. However, two dogs were still unaccounted for following the fire. Firefighters remained on scene until about 2:30 a.m. The home was declared a total loss, and officials confirmed the residents did not have insurance.

An investigation determined the fire did not originate in the furnace, but rather underneath the structure. The blaze is not considered suspicious. Fire officials said a heater or heat tape used to keep pipes from freezing is the suspected cause. Ephrata Fire Department and Grant County Fire District 13 responded to the incident.

Source One News

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