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

As temperatures continue to reach the 100 degrees this summer, this can make life uncomfortable for everybody especially for firefighters. NBC Right Now talked with Benton County Fire District 2 about those struggles and some of the things they do to deal with the heat. They say although their equipment protects them from heat and retains heat they don't have their crew in a fire for no more than 20 minutes.
- PUB DATE: 8/18/2020 7:57:01 PM - SOURCE: KNDO-TV NBC 23 Yakima

Firefighters made substantial progress Tuesday on a wildfire on the Yakima Training Center, even as they fought another fire in the Naches Ranger District and cleared out after a blaze near Granger. With the Ahtanum Ridge fire contained, officials are assessing the damage. Along with two homes and about five outbuildings, at least 200 fruit trees were lost to the blaze, according to Horace Ward, operations manager with the Yakima Valley Office of Emergency Management.
- PUB DATE: 8/18/2020 7:38:17 PM - SOURCE: Yakima Herald-Republic