Stefan Hofer’s ambulance company, West Trail EMS, in Mayville, North Dakota, has received only one or two calls that weren’t related to COVID-19 over the past two months. But he said the case count has ballooned by 20 to 30 percent because of the pandemic. At the same time, the company’s expenses have mounted, its revenue has cratered and its workforce is being decimated by the virus.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVE-TV NBC 10 El Dorado

The Essex Fire Department (EFD) is one of 20 fire departments in the country — and the only one in Vermont — to join a Drexel University study investigating how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the mental health of first responders. The study is run by the Center for Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends (FIRST Center) at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Saint Albans Messenger

The family of an FDNY captain, who died decades ago after fighting a major fire in Queens, is demanding his name be added to a memorial wall honoring those who died in the line of duty. Richard Meister says he never knew his grandfather, FDNY Captain Hans Meister, but he’s heard plenty of stories about the impact he had on other members of his family.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WCBS-AM 880

A man was found critically injured after a fire broke out inside a home in south Capitol Hill Wednesday evening. The fire was reported just before 7 p.m. in the 2100 block of East Denny Way, according to Seattle Fire officials. Firefighters arrived to find dark smoke surround the home. Crews discovered a 40-year-old man unconscious in a room next where the fire was burning but couldn't reach him without sawing a hole in the wall, officials said.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

Crews responded to a fire at the Inland Empire Paper Company in Millwood on Wednesday night. No sprinklers were activated when the fire sparked, so around four to five company employees attempted to fight the flames until Spokane firefighters arrived. Before those crews could knock down the fire, employees shut down the facility’s surrounding high-voltage electrical equipment.
- PUB DATE: 12/3/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXLY-TV ABC 4 Spokane