A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, the world looks a lot different than it used to. And so does the coronavirus itself. As it’s infected hundreds of millions of people around the globe, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been in a state of constant change, making small tweaks to its genetic code as it goes along.
- PUB DATE: 7/29/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Spectrum News 1

In the past two decades, call volume for the Moses Lake Fire Department has increased an average of 2.5% a year, said MLFD Chief Brett Bastian. While the Moses Lake Police Department has seen more fluctuation in that time, this year it is up by about 6.5% from where it was last year, with around 600 additional calls.
- PUB DATE: 7/29/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Columbia Basin Herald - Metered Site

2021 has already been an unprecedented year for fires. According to the Department of Natural Resources there have been more than double the amount of fires than Washington's ten-year average. "Last year we know that the west coast was hit hard,” DNR Commissioner Hilary Franz said. “Labor Day's firestorms unprecedented 620,000 acres burned in 72-hours right here in Washington state, we lost a little boy’s life, we had an entire town burn down.
- PUB DATE: 7/28/2021 8:41:54 PM - SOURCE: KHQ-TV NBC 6 Spokane

A telling phone conversation with Okanogan County Sheriff Tony Hawley revealed that the firefighters who rolled a firefighting apparatus at the Cedar Creek Fire near Winthrop are not being faulted for the wreck. Hawley says the Chelan County Fire District 3 truck was traversing Wolf Creek Road at around 7 a.
- PUB DATE: 7/28/2021 5:55:59 PM - SOURCE: iFiber One News Radio

Officials and residents met to discuss plans for a new fire station, reports CommunityAdvocate.com.

Both the mayor and fire chief advocated for the proposed location saying that it has been selected due to examining population centers. Response times for part of the area now fall outside a four-minute benchmark.

As the majority of the fire department’s calls are medical emergencies, decreasing the response times is critical.

Some residents voiced concern for the sound pollution and traffic concerns of the fire station. Fire officials emphasized the fire department’s commitment to being “good neighbors.”