Firefighters statewide have threatened to quit instead of being vaccinated, but, for some local firefighters – it’s more complicated than that. They want to know if their job will change if they ask for an exemption. For the past 20 years, Tim Archer has been on the frontlines. He’s also the president of the Spokane Firefighter’s Union and says he hasn’t gotten the vaccine for religious reasons.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXLY-TV ABC 4 Spokane

Fire killed 3,700 and injured 16,600 people in 2019. Direct property losses due to fire reached $14.8 billion a year. Firefighters paid a high price for this fire record as well; in 2019, 62 firefighters died on duty. America’s fire losses today represent a dramatic improvement from more than 40 years ago.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: American Security Today

Police and crime lab technicians began investigating Thursday the deaths of a couple inside their east Kennewick home. They are believed to be the parents of a 43-year-old suspected gunman who went on a deadly rampage Wednesday, killing his neighbor and wounding another man before igniting a series of fires.
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Tri-City Herald - Metered Site

Miss Colfax Lorien Smith was so excited for her friend being named Miss Congeniality, she was stunned when Miss Washington for America Strong was named. "It was hitting me when they said last my name. It was a 'wait a minute. Did they just say what I think they said?'" Smith said. "I was in tears ..
- PUB DATE: 8/27/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Whitman County Gazette

Crews set controlled fires on Bethel Ridge on Wednesday evening to prevent the Schneider Springs Fire from moving south. The burn was scheduled for earlier in the day Wednesday but was postponed because conditions were not ideal. Firefighters hoped to continue the firing operation Thursday, but conditions were not favorable, fire information officer Kate White said.
- PUB DATE: 8/26/2021 6:49:49 PM - SOURCE: Yakima Herald-Republic