Opioid overdoses in Spokane County are declining, and the Spokane Fire Department wants to expand its response efforts to continue the trend. After peaking last year with an average of 220 suspected opioid overdoses per month, Spokane County has seen improvement. The numbers have declined since September, and so far this year, the county is averaging 156 suspected overdoses. Spokane Fire’s behavioral response unit and the CARES team are working to help.

The unit responds to emergencies, and the CARES team follows up to get people the help they need. “It is dispatched through the 911 center and it responds out at the moment whether its a psychiatric call, a behavioral health call or an overdose,” said Battalion Chief Anne Raven of the Spokane Fire Department. Data from the Spokane Fire Department shows that overdoses have been trending down over the past year. What might surprise people is that overdoses are affecting just as many housed people as unhoused people in Spokane.

KAYU-TV FOX 28 Spokane

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A weekend structure fire in Soap Lake is offering an early warning for what fire officials say could become a severe wildfire season across central Washington, as May marks National Wildfire Awareness Month and agencies urge residents to take prevention seriously. A close call in Soap Lake

Grant County Fire District 7 crews were called Saturday to a home where a resident was burning weeds with a propane torch – a legal activity inside city limits – but one that quickly turned dangerous. Dry leaves around the house ignited, flames climbed the porch and the fire spread into the attic, according to Chief Erick Brittain. With neighboring residences just two feet away, firefighters feared the blaze could jump from home to home.

Columbia Basin Herald – Metered Site

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VIDEO: The City of Spokane Fire Department installed two fire danger warning signs in the Latah Valley and Eagle Ridge neighborhoods. The department said Youth Build Spokane designed, built and painted the signs for the community. The program serves young adults ages 16-24 as they work through barriers tied to poverty, foster care, justice involvement and homelessness.

The new signs were placed across from the Nomnom gas station at the bottom of S Cheney Spokane Road and next to Fire Station 5 at the bottom of W Eagle Ridge Boulevard. The signs will be updated with current fire danger warnings during wildland season, according to the department. Two more signs will be installed at city locations that haven’t been chosen yet.

KHQ-TV NBC 6 Spokane

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A brown recluse spider infestation led to the temporary closure of Fire Station 3 in Elizabethtown.

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Fire Rover, based in Farmington Hills, focuses on early detection and suppression of industrial fires.

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