VIDEO: New research could soon change emergency medicine and make it easier for first responders to stop bleeding anywhere in the world. Researchers in Pittsburgh and Cleveland have developed the first-ever freeze dried artificial platelets.

“One of the most frustrating things are the patients that we don’t ever get a chance to take care of. The patients who don’t have access to the lifesaving resources that we have in the hospital,” said Matthew Neal, M.D., a trauma surgeon and professor at University of Pittsburgh.

Blood platelets help stop the bleeding when people get injured but in traumatic situations, the body doesn’t always have enough or they cannot work fast enough. Currently donated blood platelets can only be given to a patient inside a hospital setting or within close proximity.

But one little vial could soon change that and field medicine as first responders know it. Neal and Anirban Sen Gupta, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University, spent nearly 10 years researching blood platelets and how to make artificial platelets.

The result is a small vial of powder — freeze-dried artificial platelets. One vial is the equivalent of one donated unit of platelets that would be given to a bleeding patient. They said the powder only has to be combined with 10 mL of sterile water which first responders already carry.

WTAJ-TV CBS 10 Altoona

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VIDEO: The screams. The bodies lying across the freeway. The people trying to run away from a toxic cloud before collapsing to the ground. Fifty years later, retired Houston firefighters say they still remember every detail from one of the deadliest disasters in Houston history. “It looked like a war zone,” retired Houston firefighter Brad Rilay said.

On May 11, 1976, a tanker carrying more than 7,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia plunged off the 610 West Loop ramp and crashed onto the Southwest Freeway below. The impact ripped open the tanker, sending a massive cloud of toxic ammonia into the air during the middle of the morning rush.

Seven people died. Dozens more were injured. And the disaster changed the Houston Fire Department forever. Rilay was only 20 years old when he responded to the scene. That morning had started like any other shift.

Rilay said he and a district chief had just finished another call farther down the Southwest Freeway when dispatchers warned crews about a tanker crash involving ammonia near the West Loop interchange. As they drove toward the area, traffic completely locked up.

Rilay said he ended up driving against traffic on the freeway shoulder just to reach the scene. When they arrived, he said the destruction was overwhelming.

“Man, it looked like a war zone, you know, the parts of the truck scattered everywhere, and the truck driver’s body was lying in the middle of the road,” Rilay said.

The crash scene stretched across the freeway. Pieces of the tanker and destroyed vehicles were scattered throughout the interchange. Victims were already dying from exposure to the fumes.

Rilay remembers immediately finding several people on the ground struggling to breathe. “We immediately came across three people, one man who had already died, and there were two who were struggling to breathe,” he said.

At the time, Houston firefighters had little training on hazardous material incidents and almost no specialized equipment to handle a chemical release that large. Firefighters grabbed an air pack from the chief’s car and tried helping victims breathe through the mask.

“But I don’t know how much good that did,” Rilay said quietly. What stayed with him most was the helplessness. “You know, have a brown mucus coming out of their mouth and their nose, and the feeling of not being able to help them,” Rilay said.

KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston

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A two-story home in Snohomish was heavily damaged in a Mother’s Day fire, but no injuries were reported, according to Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue. Crews were called Sunday afternoon to help Snohomish County Fire District 4 with a residential fire in the 1700 block of Sixth Street. When they arrived, firefighters found heavy flames coming from both floors of the home.

Firefighters were able to quickly bring the fire under control, officials said. The home had heavy fire damage throughout, and crews had to do extensive cleanup while checking for hotspots. No members of the public, pets or firefighters were hurt, officials said. After the fire, Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue reminded families to talk about what to do if a fire starts in a multi-story home.

KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle

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Pend Oreille County Fire District #2 responded to a vegetation fire on Leclerc Road at around 4:44 p.m. Saturday. The fire was about 0.5 acres in size, and was contained within 5 minutes of arrival. The fire district said “quick response and aggressive firefighting tactics” helped immediately stop the spread of the fire, which was caused by an unattended slash pile.

“We cannot say enough about the outstanding fast response times — made possible because the Kalispel Tribal Fire Department is fully staffed 24/7/365 by the dedicated men and women of the Kalispel Tribal Nation,” the fire district wrote in a social media post. “A huge THANK YOU to the initial engine crew and the entire on-duty crew of the Kalispel Tribal Fire Department for your professionalism, diligence, competence, and capability today.” The fire district also warned residents to be cautious when burning anything.

KHQ-TV NBC 6 Spokane

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Four Spokane Valley high school students, and two hotel employees received the Spokane Valley Fire Department Lifesaving Award Monday afternoon. The six were recognized after helping save a man found unconscious in a hotel pool. The rescue happened on April 18. Patrick Erickson of SVFD says it took place at the pool of the Mirabeau Park Hotel & Convention Center. It was there that Rae Overby, one of the teens said she saw the man lying still in the deep end.

“Luckily, I was able to realize someone was down at the bottom of the pool, not conscious,” Overby told NonStop Local at the award ceremony. “So I dived down in.” Overby said with the help of other nearby teenagers, she pulled the man out of the pool and began chest compressions. Ben Wagele was one of those other teens. “[First responders] told us that kids nowadays just record the incident and not jump in so I think we did a pretty good job of helping him,” Wagele said. In total, four high school students and two hotel employees saved the man.

KHQ-TV NBC 6 Spokane

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