VIDEO: A massive fire at a plastics facility in Grand Prairie is likely to continue burning for several days and could knock out electricity in the area for some time, firefighters say. Meanwhile, officials are urging people to stay indoors because of the "toxic plume" rising from the scene that could be an irritant for people with respiratory issues.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXAS-TV NBC 5 Fort Worth

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, motorists each day drove about 8.8 billion miles on American roadways, while the U.S. railroad system carried 85,000 passengers and 5 million tons of freight. Though travel habits have shifted since the coronavirus outbreak, transportation infrastructure remains vital to the health of the U.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: USA Today

Funding commitments are now in place for the Rescue Hose Co. to add paid firefighters for the first time in its 140-year history. Greencastle Borough Council agreed to develop a budget to support paid firefighters using a fire tax during a joint meeting with fire company representatives and Antrim Township supervisors last week.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Echo-Pilot

On Aug. 17, the United States recorded its fewest COVID-19 cases in nearly 2 months, with 35,112 new cases and 445 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The new cases raise the total to 5,469,604 cases and 171,344 deaths. Though the decrease in cases is a sign that early summer hot spots, including Arizona, Texas, and Florida, are showing falling case counts, reports from schools that have opened across the country, as well as nursing home data, show congregate living is still a major contributor to COVID-19 outbreaks.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CIDRAP

The 2015 Twisp River Fire, which killed three firefighters and injured four more, provided a scenario that placed individual firefighters in a position where they had to navigate multiple, conflicting firefighting goals, rules, leaders’ intentions and laws. “The Twisp River accident was not an individual or system failure but the effect of complex conditions,” according to a report issued Dec.
- PUB DATE: 8/19/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Omak Chronicle