The University of Illinois bomb squad was dispatched to a fire station where a resident brought what they thought was a stick of dynamite, reports Herald & Review.

Firefighters moved the object away from buildings and notified the bomb squad while police kept onlookers away.

The stick was actually a road flare, but fire officials were pleased that the proper precautions were taken.

According to a report from WSLS, a $175,000 air truck was donated Wednesday morning and delivered to Mount Hermon Fire and Rescue in Danville, Virginia.

Mike Ownbey, President & CEO of Morgan Olson in Ringgold, presented the truck to Pittsylvania County Public Safety. Morgan Olson builds walk-in vans.

Public Safety Director Chris Slemp noted that, because of where this new truck will be stored, it will cut down response times from an hour down to about 20 minutes.

This air truck will be the second of its kind in Pittsylvania County; the other such truck is being stored on the county’s north end. This vehicle will be stored on the south end and is expected to be put to be ready for action soon.

Slemp and his crew of 400 volunteer firefighters protect Pittsylvania, the state’s largest and most rural county, and is why Bob Warren, Board of Supervisors Chairman, says they are out to get the members the funding they need. The new air truck will be just one piece of the puzzle.

Many volunteers arrive on incident scenes in their own vehicles, without an air tank. The truck has an air pumping tank, critical to their safety. It will also give them a place to treat volunteers who are tired or injured while working.

The new air truck will be used throughout the region in surrounding counties and cities.

The Chuweah Creek Fire, burning northeast of Nespelem on the Colville Indian Reservation, had charred about 36,690 acres of land as of Thursday morning, July 22. Containment was at 40 percent, according to Northwest Incident Management Team 12. Blowing embers on the upper eastern section of the blaze caused two small spot fires Wednesday, but firefighters jumped on them quickly, said officials.
- PUB DATE: 7/22/2021 1:09:23 PM - SOURCE: Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle

The three wildfires in Okanogan County are all outside the town of Winthrop in the Methow Valley. They continue to grow in size, with the largest of them, the Cub Creek 2 Fire, having grown to 38,671 aces and 5% containment. The Cedar Creek Fire expanded by 3,000 acres Wednesday to 18,634 acres with 11% containment.
- PUB DATE: 7/22/2021 10:14:15 AM - SOURCE: KPQ-AM 560 Wenatchee

A volunteer firefighter was killed while helping a person injured in a crash Wednesday morning when another firefighter backed over her in a fire truck along Interstate 25 (NM), reports abqjournal.com.

Police officials say 59-year-old Janet Tracy, a volunteer firefighter from Caballo, was pronounced dead at the scene. They did not add if the 52-year-old man who ran her over, also a Caballo volunteer firefighter, will face any charges.

Police were investigating a single-vehicle, noninjury crash around 11:30 a.m. on I-25, when the second accident occurred about an hour later.

Tracy was providing aid and support to someone involved in the crash when another Caballo volunteer firefighter was repositioning the apparatus.

Officials are not releasing the identity of the other firefighter, and the incident is being investigated by state police.