VIDEO/PHOTOS: Two local first responders are setting the downtown Asheville scene on ‘fire’. Technically retired, Tanker 364 is now blazing a new trail in western North Carolina. It’s not your typical fire engine anymore. Tanker 364 has been transformed into the ‘Hot Zone Party Fire Engine' – the brainchild of Terry Whitaker and Dakota Andrews.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WLOS-TV ABC 13 Asheville

The new and highly contagious COVID variant dubbed XBB.1.5 roughly doubled its prevalence in the Midwest over the last week and experts say that growth will likely continue in the weeks ahead. The variant now makes up 43% of cases in the U.S. and more than 14% of cases in the Midwest, climbing in both metrics from 30.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMAQ-TV NBC 5 Chicago

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Two people were killed and a 15-year-old boy was injured in a two-vehicle crash in Tacoma early Wednesday morning. The crash happened just before 4:20 a.m. at the intersection of South 38th Street and Pacific Avenue. The intersection is expected to be closed for several hours. According to Tacoma Police Department (TPD) spokesperson Wendy Haddow, a man was driving northbound on Pacific Avenue when another vehicle traveling eastbound on South 38th Street drove through the intersection “at a high rate of speed” and crashed into the vehicle traveling on Pacific Avenue.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

Two sections of the Methow Wildlife Area in Okanogan County are part of a forest restoration project after approval by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. WDFW Commissioners have approved the Rendezvous - Golden Doe Forest Restoration Project to thin trees on about 464 acres. The department will leave between 20 and 30 of the best available trees per acre, including pine and fir trees.
- PUB DATE: 1/18/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPQ-AM 101.7 Wenatchee

The Spokane Valley Fire Department (SVFD) will be giving 23 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to local police departments. The AEDs will be distributed among the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department, SVFD and Liberty Lake Police Department through a lend-lease program. The AEDs will be carried in police cars for quick access to people who suffer a sudden cardiac arrest.
- PUB DATE: 1/17/2023 2:02:52 PM - SOURCE: KREM-TV CBS 2 Spokane