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Posted: Jan 11, 2017

Woman killed in wrong-way crash with ambulance on I-5 in Seattle

An Oregon woman is dead after driving the wrong way on Interstate 5 Wednesday morning in Seattle and crashing into an ambulance, the Washington State Patrol reports. The collision happened at about 2 a.m. in the HOV lane of northbound I-5 near Michigan Street. Emergency crews responded and found the wreckage of a red Ford Expedition and an ambulance at the scene.
- PUB DATE: 1/11/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KVAL
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Posted: Jan 11, 2017

Fire Truck Photo of the Day-VT hackney Rescue

Morrisville (NC) Fire & Rescue light rescue. Dodge 5500 4x4 cab and chassis; Cummins 6.7-liter 325-hp engine; 12.6-foot Hackney seven-compartment body.

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Posted: Jan 11, 2017

Seattle artists advocate for space safety after California's 'Ghost Ship' fire

Members from the Seattle Arts Commission met with city officials Tuesday to advocate for increased safety measures for Seattle artists. The meeting comes just over a month after a warehouse fire in Oakland, California that killed 36 people. The ‘Ghost Ship’ warehouse, that served as a performance space and housing unit for artists, was not up to city codes operated without a permit.
- PUB DATE: 1/10/2017 9:38:54 PM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 and Radio 1000
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Posted: Jan 10, 2017

Yakima: Fire causes $50,000 in damages, family cat dead

Yakima firefighters say a family of four was displaced and the family cat died in a Monday night fire that caused an estimated $50,000 in damages to a west Yakima home. No people were injured in the fire that burned on the second floor of a house on the 4800 block of McCargar Street, said Yakima Fire Department Capt.
- PUB DATE: 1/10/2017 4:37:20 PM - SOURCE: Yakima Herald-Republic
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Posted: Jan 10, 2017

Indianapolis Installs New Routers to Keep Fire Apparatus Connected

The Indianapolis Fire Department is now equipping all of its trucks with cloud-connected routers in a bid to ensure that first responders always have access to the internet.

The department installed Cradlepoint LTE routers on all of its vehicles earlier this month, replacing old USB air cards that often failed to stand up to the rigors of firefighting. Crucially, IT officials can also use the company's cloud-based platform to track where each device is at all times, and check on each router's functionality without ever leaving the station.

"The bottom line is, the Cradlepoints have been awesome," Capt. Dale Rolfson, the department's IT manager, told StateScoop. "With the cloud platform, I can see every single device, and it tells me whether or not they're connected."

Indeed, Rolfson believes the shift has made a huge difference in how firefighters communicate with support personnel, and vice versa. With first responders constantly needing access to all kinds of data, like GPS coordinates or structure plans, Rolfson said it's been vital for his department to start providing them with more consistent connectivity when they're out in the field.

"We're able to push data in areas where you can't even get a cellphone signal," Rolfson said.

Rolfson noted that he's been working on such a transition "for almost five years in total," largely because of the unreliability of the department's method for getting its firetrucks connected.

For years, Rolfson said firefighters depended on "USB modems we connected to all mobile data computers" on board the trucks. But he said the USB connection required to make that system work was often no match for the complexities of such high intensity work.

"You're putting it in a vehicle that's going to shake, rattle and roll as you're going down the road, so the connection would come loose," Rolfson said. "They were easily damaged. Your transmitting and receiving antenna were all in that USB modem, so especially for our trucks that have a lot of steel, that would create a barrier for that signal to get through."

 

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