There were an estimated 42,795 fatalities due to motor vehicle crashes in 2022, down by 0.3% from the year prior, according to early estimates released in April 2023 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. While a reduction in crash-related deaths, even one as slight as this, is generally positive, the facts remain deeply concerning: Crash-related deaths rose more than 10% in 2021 and more than 7% the year before that, marking a disturbing trend leading into and persisting through the COVID-19 pandemic.
- PUB DATE: 8/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KTVZ-TV NBC/CW+ 21 Bend

VIDEO: People are starting to return to their homes as firefighters confirmed the Jenny Creek Fire near La Center, Wash. was 90% contained on Thursday. The fire, now at 32 acres, started Wednesday afternoon when a mobile home caught fire north of town and the flames spread up a hill, forcing nearby residents to flee.
- PUB DATE: 8/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPTV FOX 12 Portland

VIDEO: Dry, hot conditions made it easy for a brush fire to take off in Lakewood on Wednesday, forcing evacuations of several neighborhoods. Crews were able to get the upper hand, saving homes and lives in the process. Police went door-to-door to evacuate residents as the fire tore through Fort Steilacoom Park while firefighters attacked the flames from both the ground and the air.
- PUB DATE: 8/17/2023 11:51:50 PM - SOURCE: KCPQ-TV FOX 13 Seattle

VIDEO: As communities around the Puget Sound go through their fourth straight day of high heat, the threat of wildfires remains high. Once-green landscapes are now shades of brown as grass and shrubs continue to die of thirst. And now, dry conditions have led to a string of fires in the past week, building off an already busy July.
- PUB DATE: 8/17/2023 11:14:00 PM - SOURCE: KIRO-TV CBS 7 Seattle

VIDEO: Crews are investigating what caused a barn and airplane hangar to catch fire in Unincorporated Buckley Wednesday night. According to East Pierce Fire and Rescue (EPFR), shortly before 10 p.m., crews were dispatched to a barn that caught fire near the corner of Sumner-Buckley Hwy E and Kelly Lake Rd.
- PUB DATE: 8/17/2023 3:07:03 PM - SOURCE: KCPQ-TV FOX 13 Seattle