First Response ambulance response times failed to meet Decatur City Code requirements, but the EMS committee on Tuesday did not recommended City Council action or make a finding that the ambulance service had good cause for its failure. Decatur Fire Chief Tony Grande said he’s frustrated at First Response’s failure to meet the requirements of the city code, but noted that some of the failure could have been the result of overly conservative classification of calls as emergencies by Morgan County 911 and by delays at Decatur Morgan Hospital in preparing patients for non-emergency transport from the hospital.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Decatur Daily

A driver had to be pulled from his vehicle early Wednesday after he crashed it into a fire truck, according to an official with the Houston Fire Department. The crash happened about 3 a.m. in northeast Houston, near Little York and Maple Leaf. The black Chevrolet Impala drove up under the truck, he said.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Houston Chronicle

First responders in Foxborough, Massachusetts, will soon be first in the state to carry a new device that has the potential to save lives. Firefighters filled a classroom Tuesday to train on new ultrasound technology. Unlike most ultrasounds in doctor’s offices, the new device is not bulky and the probe can be plugged into a phone or tablet.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NECN

Leaders of the St. Joseph County 911 center near here know thousands of dispatches have been delayed this year because of computer problems that are being fixed. But they still don’t know how long delays lasted, or if they might have affected responses to emergencies such as fires and heart attacks. Officials say that to investigate those delays, data needs to be provided by Tyler Technologies, the Plano, Texas-based software company whose New World computer-aided dispatch system has been riddled with problems since the center started using it in June 2017.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: South Bend Tribune

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has authorized the use of federal funds to help fight the Boyd's Fire, located three miles northwest of Kettle Falls. FEMA Region 10 Administrator Mike O'Hare approved the state of Washington's request on Monday. The fire, which started on Saturday, has burned over 3,000 acres of state and federal land, and forced portions of State Route 20 to close.
- PUB DATE: 8/15/2018 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KXLY-TV ABC 4