Yakima firefighters made the day of an 11-year-old boy on Saturday by surprising him at his birthday party — and the fun was caught on camera by the boy's father. The video starts by explaining that Gabe has had a hard time making friends for some years, but that this year things changed for him. According to the video, when Gabe grows up his dream is to become a firefighter, and this year this birthday's theme was firefighters.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 10:40:45 AM - SOURCE: YakTriNews

Bodega Bay’s financially struggling firefighting agency could have a new name, more firefighters and more paramedics under a plan that would expand the growing Sonoma County Fire District next year — but only if the Board of Supervisors ponies up as much as $2.5 million a year to make it happen. The 66-year-old coast agency and the 100-year-old Russian River Fire Protection District both want to join Sonoma County Fire, the latest in a series of moves meant to consolidate and modernize the county’s far-flung and somewhat antiquated fire services network.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Press Democrat - Metered Site

VIDEO: First responders rescued a man trapped in an upside down submerged vehicle in Liberty Bay Saturday morning. The Poulsbo Fire and Police departments responded to the scene of the rollover accident off Fjord Drive around 8:40 a.m. The vehicle went off the roadway into Liberty Bay south of the Poulsbo Yacht Club, according to Poulsbo Fire Department spokesperson Jody Matson.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING 5 News

A Quincy-based addiction treatment company is looking to open a facility in Canton that would include a specialized wing for first responders. ARK Behavioral Health has proposed converting the shuttered Kindred-Tower Hill nursing home, nestled at the end of Getchell Way near Randolph, into a substance-use treatment facility that could help up to 160 people at a time through the first steps of recovery.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Patriot Ledger

According to the National Volunteer Fire Council, 65% of all firefighters in the United States in 2016 were volunteers. But the number of people joining volunteer fire departments is on the decline, and not just in Daviess County. "The volunteer service on the fire side is really suffering," said Randy Lawson, executive director for the Kentucky Firefighter's Association.
- PUB DATE: 12/16/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Messenger-Inquirer