As authorities in two D.C.-area counties investigate a flawed emergency response to a June drowning, new documents show the 911 center in Montgomery County had an automatically generated map that showed precisely where the call for help had come from. Emergency dispatchers in Maryland sent firefighters to the Potomac River after a teen called to say her friend had slipped underwater while the group was swimming in a “river.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Washington Post - Metered Site

When a fellow Glendale firefighter in despair approached Ashley Losch on the job about struggles with mental health, Ashley found herself in an unfamiliar place. Firefighters are highly trained and highly skilled thinkers and problem solvers by trade. Not this time. “I didn’t feel prepared. I didn’t know how to help them in a way that would be effective other than listening,” Ms.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Daily Independent

If you haven’t seen a firefighter in action lately, you might not recognize them. The long-maintained tradition of firefighters working and living together has undergone major changes in the COVID-19 era. Capt. Shawn Prather and firefighter/EMT Jasper Stenstrom of Graham Fire & Rescue recently gave The News Tribune a modified tour of fire station 95 on 78th Avenue in the Frederickson area.
- PUB DATE: 9/21/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The News Tribune

A tree that made contact with a power line apparently started a wildfire that burned dozens of homes in eastern Washington, according to a utility company. The fire burned the vast majority of homes in Malden and Pine City, including over 100 homes in Malden alone. A burned tree found by Spokesman-Review staff apparently was the fire's starting point during a Sept.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2020 8:16:13 PM - SOURCE: Skagit Valley Herald (GoSkagit.com)

Brinnon Fire Department’s Jerry Rule has returned from a two-week deployment fighting the Palmer, Evans Canyon and Bartholomew wildfires. Rule runs Brinnon Fire Department’s Wildland Firefighting Program and served as the helicopter manager for the multi-agency effort to quell the flames across Washington, which recently kicked up once again amid a recent bout of dry, windy weather.
- PUB DATE: 9/20/2020 1:02:45 PM - SOURCE: Port Townsend Leader