EMS structure in urban areas varies to fit the need of the community. It is often part of the Fire Department – but may be a third service separate from police and fire – or follow a public utility model privately contracted to provide EMS services. In more suburban and rural areas EMS often follows a fourth model, with volunteers providing part or all of the EMS care in that county.
- PUB DATE: 10/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: JEMS.com

The Washington Emergency Management Division has launched a new online map to help local jurisdictions and the public at large figure out different languages spoken in counties and Census tracts across the state. The goal is to help local governments know ahead of time what languages they need to have emergency messaging translated into before a disaster occurs.
- PUB DATE: 10/23/2019 7:11:58 PM - SOURCE: Emergency Management

An aircraft crashed late Wednesday morning in the 4200 block of 192nd Street East, about a mile north of Spanaway. The plane was upside down and two people were trapped inside: a 76-year-old man and a 64-year-old man. But they were conscious, a Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman said. “When we hear plane crash, we always take it as it’s going to be very serious and a very hard extrication,” said Darrin Shaw of Central Pierce Fire and Rescue.
- PUB DATE: 10/23/2019 5:55:10 PM - SOURCE: KIRO-FM Radio

PHOTOS: Hundreds of islanders packed Fire Station 21 for the annual Bainbridge Island Fire Department pancake breakfast. Bainbridge Fire Chief Hank Teran said firefighters and volunteers served about 1,400 breakfasts, and nearly 1,500 people climbed aboard a Bainbridge fire engine for a firetruck ride through the neighborhood.
- PUB DATE: 10/23/2019 1:04:40 PM - SOURCE: Bainbridge Island Review

A local woman who filed suit after she was wrongly investigated and charged with first-degree felony arson will receive a $100,000 settlement. The Seattle Times reports that the Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority has settled the civil-rights lawsuit with 66-year-old Linda Poplawski of Des Moines. Authorities say the arson charges resulted from a November 2016 fire in a Kent strip mall that leveled a Dollar Tree store and damaged two other businesses.
- PUB DATE: 10/23/2019 11:56:27 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000