In the middle of a pandemic that has taken the lives of 26 firefighters, the nation is losing more firefighters. COVID-19 related budget cuts -- in communities large and small – have resulted in the layoff or furlough of at least 935 fire department employees, including front-line firefighters, EMTs & paramedics.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IAFC.org

The Olathe Fire Station is the first EMS departments in the country to begin remotely monitoring coronavirus patients. The department has teamed up with a global tech company, Masimo SafetyNet. "There have been some hospital systems using it, but we are the first EMS agency," Olathe Fire Department Medical Director Dr.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WDAF-TV FOX 4 Kansas City

A New Jersey Assembly panel advanced a bill that would help first responders and their families financially in the event that they are disabled or injured by COVID-19. Local law enforcement officers, state troopers, firefighters, and emergency medical responders enrolled in one of the three retirement systems associated with these professions are eligible for accidental disability benefits if they sustain a permanent and total disability resulting from a traumatic event that occurred on the job.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Hudson County View

Some of the names are written in small, cropped print, others in swooping cursive. A few are flanked by hearts, and some accompanied by short notes scrawled in permanent marker. Each name written on the Berea Fire Department's pink truck is different, and each one has its story. "Stories of hope and courage," they're called by Assistant Fire Chief Alan Myers, whose own name appears a few feet above the truck's pump discharges.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Greenville Online

Fort Lauderdale and Broward fire-rescues’ newly released numbers confirm what many have suspected: More people are afraid to go to the hospital and, as a result, are dying at home. Records released Monday from Fort Lauderdale Fire and Rescue and Broward County Fire and Rescue found twice as many people were already dead when responders arrived at their home in April than a year earlier, and the pattern appears to be continuing in May.
- PUB DATE: 5/12/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Florida Sun Sentinel - Metered Site