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Posted: May 20, 2016

App Helps Crews Protect NW Forests From Wildfires

Some foresters say many Northwest forests simply have too many trees. That makes them more prone to disease, insects - and most worrisome of all - mega-fires. But what’s the best way to thin out forests and bring these areas back to more natural conditions? Turns out, there’s an app for that. This hillside in Central Washington is covered with trees, mostly Douglas fir with some pine sprinkled in.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2016 9:04:11 AM - SOURCE: Northwest Public Radio
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Posted: May 20, 2016

Update: Police believe mother set Everett area apartment fire while child in home

Detectives believe an apartment fire south of Everett Wednesday was intentionally set by a woman who was in one of the units with her 11-year-old daughter. The suspect, 56, allegedly admitted to using matches to set multiple fires within her apartment. Her daughter put out some of the fires, but fled the apartment when one grew in the laundry room.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2016 7:35:29 AM - SOURCE: Everett Herald - metered site
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Posted: May 20, 2016

Update: Police believe mother set Everett area apartment fire while child in home

Detectives believe an apartment fire south of Everett Wednesday was intentionally set by a woman who was in one of the units with her 11-year-old daughter. The suspect, 56, allegedly admitted to using matches to set multiple fires within her apartment. Her daughter put out some of the fires, but fled the apartment when one grew in the laundry room.
- PUB DATE: 5/20/2016 7:35:29 AM - SOURCE: Everett Herald - metered site
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Posted: May 20, 2016

California Fire Apparatus Involved in Crash

North County — A fire engine on its way to a brush fire collided with pickup and landed in a ditch off Old Highway 395 Thursday morning, the California Highway Patrol said.

One North County Fire Department firefighter was taken to a hospital with minor injuries while two others on the rig were not injured. Cal Fire Capt. Kendal Bortisser said. The 33-year-old pickup driver, from Escondido, was uninjured.

The collision occurred about 7:30 a.m. when the firefighters were heading south on the highway to check on a reported brush fire near Old Castle Road in Valley Center, CHP Officer Jim Bettencourt said. The fire engine’s emergency lights and siren were on.

The driver of a northbound box truck towing a wood-chipping trailer yielded to the fire engine by pulling to the right side of the road. But the driver of a Toyota Tundra pickup behind the box truck was going too fast to avoid hitting the back of the truck’s trailer, Bettencourt said.

The impact sent the pickup into the southbound lane, where it collided with the fire engine. The engine driver lost control of the rig and it swerved off the road, straight down into a ditch.

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Posted: May 20, 2016

Annual KVFD Aircraft Rescue Firefighting training

The Kearney Volunteer Fire Department completed annual Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting training Wednesday and Thursday, offering firefighters the opportunity to refresh previous training and get hands-on experience fighting airplane fires. Summer vacation is right around the corner, which inevitably means many people will be taking off this summer for vacation.

However, for more than two dozen firefighters, they’re preparing for the worst case scenario.

"In a structure, the fire starts out small and leads to a big event, where ARFF or aircraft starts out big. Your main climax of the event is right when it happens. You can have a lot of people in a small amount of area, and there's just certain things you have to do right away that are different. You have to train on every area once every 12 months,” Kearney volunteer firefighter Seth Lunbery said.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires fire stations near airports to go through the training and recertification every year, and for the last few years, the department has used instructors from the University of Missouri.

"The department of transportation for Missouri - MODOT - said, 'Hey, we'll buy this mobile airplane for the central region - Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri - so they can get hands-on training and be able to use their own vehicles, their own hoses and people and mutual aide departments,” UM Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Specialist Mark Lee said.

The training offers a classroom setting, but the real fun lies within the hands on activities.

"I think the community expect us to be prepared for an event, and when they come and get out on the planes out here and fly to Denver and back, they want to know that if something does happen that they're going to be safe landing and we'll tend to that emergency the best that we can,” Kearney Volunteer Fire Department fire administrator Jason Whalen said.

The university brings along with them a mock airplane, which ignites in several different locations as well as gives firefighters the ability to extricate mannequin victims from the inside.


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