The Washington State Department of Commerce recently awarded Southeast Thurston Fire Authority a $244,440 grant to partially fund the recommission of Station 22, a small substation abandoned more than a decade ago near Lake Lawrence. Fire Chief Mark King said the fire authority is still looking to find other sources of grant funding to mitigate the cost of a potential bond.
- PUB DATE: 4/19/2019 1:51:05 AM - SOURCE: Nisqually Valley News

An elderly man was found dead after a fire in downtown Winslow Thursday night. Emergency responders were called to Winslow Green at 8 p.m. April 18 for a two-alarm commercial fire. Photos posted on social media showed large flames escaping from windows in the upper floor of the complex, above the pharmacy and adjacent clothing store.
- PUB DATE: 4/19/2019 1:42:05 AM - SOURCE: Bainbridge Island Review

A firefighter responding to the High Plains fire south of Jewel Cave on Wednesday died of an apparent heart attack. Custer County Sheriff Marty Mechaley reported that Dwayne Hudson of the Argyle Fire Department was a passenger in a fire response vehicle and suffered a medical emergency while en route.
- PUB DATE: 4/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Custer County Chronicle

The state House Judiciary committee tabled Wednesday a bill opening a three-year window for workers’ compensation benefits to be provided for all Montana volunteer firefighters. Senate Bill 29 cleared the Senate Jan. 29 but was not referred to a House committee until last week. The bill calls for all volunteer fire departments in Montana to provide workers’ compensation coverage by October 2022.
- PUB DATE: 4/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Independent Record

The drinking water in Paradise, California, where 85 people died last year in the nation’s worst wildfire in a century, is contaminated with the cancer-causing chemical benzene, officials said. Officials said they believe the contamination happened after the November firestorm created a toxic combination of gases in burning homes that got sucked into the water pipes as residents and firefighters drew water heavily, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported Thursday.
- PUB DATE: 4/19/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTLA-TV WB 5 Los Angeles