Air tankers, helicopters and ground crews are this morning working to minimizing the growth of the Halfway Fire burning about 35 miles northwest of Yakima off State Route 410. The fire, burning on Forest Service land, is estimated at 74 acres. Containment lines are in place on only a small portion of the fire, according to a news release issued by the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
- PUB DATE: 8/2/2016 10:45:35 AM - SOURCE: Yakima Herald-Republic

The estimated size of the fire that burned through Yakima and Benton counties toward the Hanford nuclear reservation has been more than doubled to 273 square miles. The fire spread little on Monday, according to the Northwest Incident Management Team assigned to the Range 12 Fire. But once the smoke cleared enough for a helicopter to fly the perimeter of the fire with a global positioning system, a better estimate of the size of the fire was made.
- PUB DATE: 8/2/2016 9:33:28 AM - SOURCE: Mid-Columbia Tri-City Herald

Omaha Fire Department Interim Chief Dan Olsen announced Monday that Battalion Chief Joseph Salcedo has been placed on paid administrative leave for sharing "inappropriate content on his personal Facebook page." The department released this statement: "It was recently brought to the Omaha Fire Department’s attention that Battalion Chief Joseph Salcedo had shared potentially inappropriate content on his personal Facebook page.
- PUB DATE: 8/2/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WOWT-TV NBC 6 Omaha

A six-member jury has ruled against a volunteer firefighter who sued for pain and suffering from the loss of his leg after being hit by a car as he rushed to an emergency call in Seaford. On Nov. 14, 2010, Steven Hochman was hit by a car driven by Kevin McCarthy, of Seaford, a retired NYPD officer. Besides McCarthy, Hochman sued his fire captain at the time, Thomas Cattone, saying Cattone had parked his pickup truck on the sidewalk across the street from the firehouse, blocking Hochman from seeing the oncoming vehicle, and the driver from seeing him step from the sidewalk as he hurried to the firehouse.
- PUB DATE: 8/2/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firerescue1