VIDEO: Firefighters in Alachua County have created new coins to honor the accomplishments of crew members. The first recipient of the Chiefs Challenge Coin was Lieutenant Larry Stewart who advocated for the creation of the awards. He has served the department for more than 30 years. The second recipient is Captain Karem Scott-Kotb who designed the coins.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCJB-TV ABC/CW+ 20 Gainesville

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that at least 21 people have had a severe allergic reaction after receiving their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. All of the patients have recovered. The reaction, called anaphylaxis, can be life-threatening, and must be treated immediately with an emergency injection of epinephrin, often given via EpiPen.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

From simple beginnings, starting with three hose companies and 75 volunteer firefighters, the Hollister Fire Department can now boast of four dedicated fire stations, each filled with specialized firefighting equipment. The department recently reached its 145th anniversary on Dec. 27. The city was founded when Colonel William Welles Hollister split with his partners in the Flint-Bixby ranch, with Hollister taking the area of the ranch that became the city of Hollister in 1872.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Benito Link

Few are brave enough to fly 10,000 feet in the air, parachute jump out into an unknown forest only to touch land and fight a raging forest fire. For longtime Wenatchee resident and author Gene Jessup, it was just another day on the job. Jessup was a smokejumper for the North Cascades Smokejumper Base in the late 1950s and ‘60s.
- PUB DATE: 1/7/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wenatchee World

A house fire in Vancouver’s Shumway neighborhood Wednesday morning displaced a family of four and their pets. Vancouver Fire Department crews were dispatched at 9:43 a.m. to 3200 I St. for the report of a residential structure fire. The family was asleep when they were awoken by a smoke detector in the basement of the single-story home, Vancouver firefighter Jesse Martin said.
- PUB DATE: 1/6/2021 5:19:12 PM - SOURCE: Vancouver Columbian - Metered Site