Two water rescues and a motorcycle accident near Fall City made for an eventful evening for Fire District 27 emergency personnel, and surrounding agencies yesterday. None of the 17 people involved in the water incidents were injured during their adventures, but a motorcyclist who crashed after hitting a patch of gravel sustained a broken shoulder and some broken ribs, said FD 27’s acting Lieutenant Joe Springer.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2017 1:18:19 PM - SOURCE: Snoqualmie Valley Record

Store a wide variety of equipment in a very small footprint. Can store 24 SCBA units, up to 32 air cylinders, up to 1,400 feet of 2½-inch, or be set up as a combination storage system depending on your department’s needs.

The following Configurations are available:

1. MPSS-H: Hose Configuration includes three Double Hose Ledges
2. MPSS-S: SCBA Configuration includes 24 Air Pack L-Bracket with two Speed Clips* 
3. MPSS-C: Cylinder Configuration storage includes eight V-Shelves for Cylinders and eight Air Pack L-Brackets with two Speed Clips*
4. MPSS-HC: Hose and Cylinder Configuration includes two Single Hose Ledges and (4) V-Shelves for Cylinders
5. MPSS-HSC: Hose/SCBA/Cylinder Configuration includes three V-Shelves for Cylinders, two Single Hose Ledges, (1) Double Hose Ledge, eight Air Pack L-Brackets with two Speed Clips*

*Specify bottle size - 5", 6" or 7"

To learn more about the five different configurations of the Multiple Purpose Storage Systems or to request a custom combination, visit www.readyrack.com.

A major fire is burning south of Yakima on Rattlesnake Ridge. Firefighters estimate at least 4,000-5,000 acres have already burned. Many homes have been threatened and neighborhoods in the Thorpe Road area have been evacuated. Roosevelt Elementary School on 16th Avenue in Yakima has been opened for any who have fled their homes.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2017 9:54:58 AM - SOURCE: KIMA-TV CBS 29 Yakima

US Digital Designs (USDD) and its partners at Racom Corp. have recently completed the training and installation for a new Phoenix G2 Fire Station Alerting System in Dubuque, Iowa.

This is USDD’s fourth installation in Iowa, as the company also services the communities of Davenport, Urbandale, and Marion.

The six fire stations in Dubuque serve nearly 60,000 people, and the city is already seeing a decrease in response times—one of many benefits of an automated dispatch system.

As the KCRG-TV9 news reporter, Katie Wiedemann, discovered, Dubuque’s emergency team is seeing a decrease in response times of 30 to 60 seconds.

New ‘Voice’ Helping Dubuque Emergency Crews
A new “voice” in Dubuque is helping first responders get to emergencies faster. The Dubuque Emergency Communications Center is now using a recorded voice to make that initial call out to first responders.

When an emergency call comes in, Dubuque fire and rescue crews pride themselves on leaving the fire station in record speed. “The tone goes out, they have 60 seconds to be in the vehicle and out the door,” said Dubuque Fire Chief Rick Steines.

But, what they say they want to improve is the time between when someone first calls 911, and when the dispatcher sounds the alarm.

Enter Samantha. She’s the newest member of the Dubuque emergency communications dispatch team. Instead of placing a frantic 911 caller on hold while the dispatcher contacts the fire department, the dispatcher instead types a message while talking with the caller, hits send, and Samantha puts out the call to fire crews. “It takes all of that work off the dispatcher, sends the message actually quicker than the dispatcher can manually,” said Steines.

Fire officials say Samantha streamlines the process. “It always reads the message in the exact same order, all the time. It’s the exact same voice in the exact same cadence all the time,” said Steines.

The basic system cost the fire department $235,000. Steines says that’s an improvement worth the investment. “Between 30 and 60 seconds shortening of the time, so that’s significant,” said Steines.

For more information, visit www.stationalerting.com.

An arson suspect has been arrested after flames raged through two large homes Thursday morning on the south end of Whidbey Island, officials said. Crews responded to the scene, in the 5700 block of Capt. Vancouver Drive, southwest of Langley, at around 5:30 a.m. after receiving reports of smoke and flames spewing from a home there.
- PUB DATE: 7/6/2017 7:09:57 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000