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

Dec. 8, 2021, is officially known as Florida Urban Search & Rescue Task Force 3 Day in Hillsborough County in honor of the first responders that jumped into action after this summer's deadly Surfside condo collapse. In the wake of the tragedy that claimed 98 lives, some 75 men and women across the Tampa Bay area were dispatched to South Florida to assist with search and rescue efforts.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTSP-TV CBS News 10 Tampa

A firefighter was injured trying to save an unoccupied home from burning Wednesday night. The Spokane Valley Fire Department responded to the fire around 10 p.m. near E Crestwood Lane and N Ryley Lane in Otis Orchards. Crews tried to knock down the flames with a hose line, but ran out of water. The Newman Lake and Hauser Lake Fire Departments each supplied a water tender to help provide water for the fire.
- PUB DATE: 12/9/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXLY-TV ABC 4 Spokane