At once the focal point of the novel coronavirus crisis, King County's case rate has slowed compared to the U.S.'s other hotspots. Even in Washington, it's been bumped out of the 10 counties with the highest rates of cases per 100,000. But the virus was still spreading in July, and the state was carefully optimistic about decreases and plateaus it's seen in the county, especially as those decreases look to be new.
- PUB DATE: 7/31/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Seattle Post Intelligencer

A family's dog died when a fire destroyed their home on Lake Tanwax Thursday evening. The two-alarm fire broke out just after 5:30 p.m. in the 33800 block of Tanwax Drive East near Eatonville. Photos from the scene showed flames reaching dozens of feet high as firefighters worked to douse the fire.
- PUB DATE: 7/31/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish a house fire early Thursday morning in West Central Spokane. One woman was home at the time of the fire in the area of Indiana ave. and Cannon St., saying the fire started in the back of her yard before flames extended to her attic. Spokane Fire Department Fire station 3 received the call before 4 a.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2020 5:44:25 AM - SOURCE: KAYU-TV MyFox Spokane

Callers to 911 in Houston will no longer be asked if they are experiencing COVID-like symptoms, changing a months-long practice to pass on the information to first responders. Firefighters are now told to treat every call as if the patient or home is COVID-positive. Houston Fire Chief Sam Pena said the change is an admission of the widespread nature of the virus in the city and out of concern that callers were not always offering true information.
- PUB DATE: 7/30/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTRK-TV ABC 14 Houston