First responders with the Yakima Fire Department (YFD) began receiving the COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday, January 5, 2021. They received the Pfizer vaccination Tuesday morning at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. First responders were the first from YFD to receive the vaccine and additional first responders will continue to receive it.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 2:37:04 PM - SOURCE: KNDO-TV NBC 23 Yakima

Due to the pandemic, the city of Oakland is facing a huge $62 million budget deficit this year. So far, one of the proposed cuts drawing the most heat is to the Fire Department. With all the revenue it’s lost during COVID-19, Oakland has some difficult choices to make. Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Ed Reiskin sent a letter to city employees last month saying without massive cuts, “…the General Purpose Fund will be insolvent before the end of the fiscal year… Even the City’s emergency reserve will be completely exhausted.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPIX-TV CBS 5 San Francisco

The Baltimore City Fire Department said history was made in 2020 as the department recorded its lowest number of fire fatalities in the history of the department, according to Fire Chief Niles R. Ford. Reaching a historic low, the department confirmed that there were only seven fire fatalities in 2020.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAL-TV NBC 11 Baltimore

For want of $500 in repairs, the Porter County Courthouse was destroyed by fire on Dec. 27, 1934. It was a spectacular fire that changed the face of downtown Valparaiso. Firefighters from as far as Gary and LaPorte raced to Valparaiso to fight the fire. A LaPorte firefighter’s face was frozen while driving the firetruck without a windshield in subzero weather.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Indiana Times (nwitimes.com) - Metered Site

PHOTO: Nineteen-year-old owner/operator Dylan Mercier is waiting to get his unique Mack Vision out on the road. The St. Anne, Ill., firefighter and owner/operator purchased the 2005 truck with his dad, Ralph, a little over a year ago, and it didn’t take long for his vision to become a reality. “I purchased a firefighter costume for the Mack bulldog on the hood, and after that, I knew what needed to be done,” Mercier said.
- PUB DATE: 1/5/2021 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fleet Equipment Magazine