Vashon Fire & Rescue’s board of commissioners has approved its 2022 budget, along with a levy that will collect approximately $5.3 million from property owners at the rate of approximately $1.36 per $1,000 in assessed property value. The levy, approved at a Nov. 24 commissioners’ meeting, will bring in approximately $300,000 more than the district’s 2021 levy, and fund virtually all of the district’s expenses for 2022, which the new budget forecasts at slightly over $5.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2021 1:05:49 AM - SOURCE: Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

A massive fire destroyed a vacant building in South Jackson. The fire was reported about 9 p.m. Wednesday at what was once the ANCOR Adult Daycare on Robinson Road. The flames were so intense that part of the building collapsed. Deputy Chief Cleotha Sanders said the business was not operating and there was no power to the building.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WAPT-TV ABC 16 Jackson

The pandemic has shown how critical emergency medical services are across the country. But in South Carolina and most other states, EMS is not classified as an “essential service,” as law enforcement and fire services are. While those services have been part of the US in some fashion since colonial times, EMS is much younger, established in many areas of the country in the 1970s, according to South Carolina EMS Association Advocacy and Legislative Chair Steven McDade.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WIS-TV NBC/CW 10 Columbia

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Jefferson County Public Schools is utilizing virtual reality to train future firefighters. The district is incorporating virtual reality into its academic programs and pathways, including in the Fire Science program at Fern Creek High School. Students use VR headsets to experience what it's like to enter a burning building.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDRB-TV FOX 41 Louisville

Christopher Williams is still in disbelief that he’s going to be an astronaut. “It’s still almost a little bit surreal, something that you’ve dreamed about your whole life and now getting the opportunity to do, I feel so lucky and honored to have the chance to do this and to be part of the team,” he told MyMCM.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: My Montgomery County Media