A record that stood for nearly 30 years fell this past week when the roster at the Alaska Smokejumper Base at Fort Wainwright was filled with the names of 206 jumpers at the same time. That’s more than half of the roughly 400 smokejumpers on rosters nationwide this year. The previous record in Alaska was 202 jumpers on the roster at once.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fire Aviation

You may have heard that freeze-dried food was invented to feed astronauts on the Apollo missions, and although “astronaut ice cream” was never actually used during the operations, it was developed for NASA in the 1960s. Two other items people commonly believe originated with Apollo 11 are Tang and Teflon, but this is apocryphal — NASA isn’t responsible for your non-stick pans or your fruit drink mix.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Digital Trends

King William County allocates more than a half-million dollars to volunteer fire organizations each year, but county officials say they have little, if any, oversight. The county has budgeted $1.43 million for fire and emergency services for the fiscal year that started July 1, according to the county’s adopted budget.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Virginia Gazette

As thunderstorms rolled up from the Palouse and through Spokane Tuesday night, lightning contributed to more than 20 fires in Spokane County alone, Spokane Fire Department Chief Brian Schaeffer said. “We had a surge in fires about 45 minutes ago,” Schaeffer said at about 9:40 p.m. Power outages were reported throughout the Spokane area in the wake of the storms.
- PUB DATE: 7/24/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Spokane Spokesman-Review

One home and two garages are deemed a total loss following a fire on Gordon Ave. and Division St. Firefighters on scene say the official cause of the fire is under investigation, but crews are looking at a downed power line behind one of the garages. Crews says it's possible the power line ignited a fire in the first garage that then spread to the home and another garage.
- PUB DATE: 7/23/2019 10:52:53 PM - SOURCE: KHQ-TV NBC 6