Though the Alexandria Fire Department doesn’t have any female firefighters, the city’s Board of Works and Safety on Monday voted unanimously in favor of a contract that would double the number of weeks for paid maternity leave from four to eight. Capt. Adam Matson said the newly approved contract also provides three days of paternity leave.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Herald Bulletin

VIDEO: A firefighter drill in Georgia turned into a surprise marriage proposal. Two Savannah fire stations partnered for a training session Wednesday, but unbeknownst to one firefighter, that wasn't the real purpose of the day. In fact, there wasn't going to be a drill at all. Tyler Carlson was blindfolded and sent into a burn building to find a downed firefighter.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMUR-TV ABC 9 Manchester

In 2010, an East Tennessee firefighter by the name of Michael Robinson saw first-hand how hot a burning building can be when he almost watched his partner die from overheating. “We didn’t have anything to help us cool off. We had some lukewarm bottles of water, a cold towel around his neck and it could have turned out a lot different but we saved him,” said Robinson.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WVLT-TV CBS 8 Knoxville

Two years after COVID-19 first forced widespread closures in the U.S., Americans are more optimistic about the trajectory of the pandemic than they have been since last June before the delta and omicron variants of the virus swept through the country. As COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline, Americans' concern about contracting the disease has dropped precipitously.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Gallup

In the area Eastside Fire & Rescue serves, there have been 67 fatal overdoses since January 2020. Battalion Chief Greg Garat has been there to respond to the 911 calls. "With the fentanyl that's getting mixed into the drugs, you never know what you're going to get," Garat said. At a Friday news conference about crime in downtown Seattle, Frank Tarentino III, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration Seattle Field Division, said drugs are fueling the problem.
- PUB DATE: 3/8/2022 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle