Since 1999, more than a million people have died from drug overdoses. It's an issue that has grappled communities, both big and small, across the U.S. "The drug overdose crisis is impacting nearly every corner of the U.S.," The San Francisco Chronicle's data editor, Dan Kopf, said. The Chronicle, a Hearst newspaper, has documented the accelerating epidemic as drug overdoses claimed the lives of 107,669 people last year.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WBAL-TV NBC 11 Baltimore

The City of Tacoma is thinking about building a new fire station, and it wants your input. The new station would go up in a vacant corner of the South End Recreation and Adventure campus. That’s near South Tyler Street and South 58th. “The new station would strategically place the Tacoma Fire Department in a better location to respond more effectively to the growing South End community,” said the City of Tacoma.
- PUB DATE: 8/24/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KIRO-TV CBS 7 Seattle

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has authorized federal funds to help crews put out the Gray Fire and the Oregon Fire, currently blazing through Spokane County. FEMA approved Washington's request for a federal grant for the Gray Fire on the morning of Aug. 18, and the Oregon Fire request followed just hours later.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2023 9:34:45 PM - SOURCE: KCPQ-TV FOX 13 Seattle

Multiple fire agencies knocked down a brush fire in Otis Orchards that broke out Wednesday around noon. The Spokane Valley Fire Department says a vehicle fire on North Campbell Road caused the brush fire, which spread to about 2 acres. Five homes in the area were evacuated as a precaution, and after about an hour and a half, the homeowners were allowed to return to their property.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2023 4:54:00 PM - SOURCE: KXLY-TV ABC 4 Spokane

Police arrested a man and a woman from Tacoma on Monday accused of dressing as firefighters and burglarizing evacuating homes, according to the Spokane Police Department. The department said Detective Lynch went to a reported burglary in the 20100 block of West Thorpe Road in Medical Lake. Detective Lynch said a family member of the homeowner told him a suspicious man and woman arrived at the house in a blue Audi.
- PUB DATE: 8/23/2023 1:58:00 AM - SOURCE: KIRO-TV CBS 7 Seattle