Spokane County Fire District 8 is asking voters to renew a maintenance and operations levy on the February ballot to continue its level of service and make improvements to stations and equipment, spokesman.com reported.

The district’s four stations serve 110 square miles directly south of the Spokane and Spokane Valley city limits. Last year the district responded to 4,248 calls for service, more than 80% of which were for medical issues. The number of annual calls increased by 29% from 2018-21.

Renewing the levy will help the district maintain its goal of having one paramedic at each fire station at all times so there are advanced life support options available to residents, the report said. The cost of the levy will be 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value, putting the price at $16.68 per month for a home valued at $400,000, according to the report.

Maintaining and upgrading the fire stations is a key part of the budget. The district’s station in the Ponderosa neighborhood was built in 1974 and hasn’t been renovated or upgraded since, the report said.

Anyone with questions about the levy renewal is encouraged to attend a public informational meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 2 at Station 82, 12100 E. Palouse Highway.

San Bernardino County has been awarded $12 million in federal community project funding as part of the omnibus appropriations bill passed by Congress at the end of 2022, fontanaheraldnews.com reported.

This funding will support the planning, design, and construction of five major community projects across the county, including one in Fontana, that will greatly improve facilities in regional parks, rural fire stations, unincorporated areas, and the county flood control district, the report said.

The new funding was awarded by Reps. Pete Aguilar, Norma Torres, and Jay Obernolte as well as by California U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Feinstein directed $3.75 million to the county to repair and expand the Mt. Baldy Fire Station. This rural station deep in the San Gabriel Mountains is an aging facility built nearly a century ago. Expansion is critical for the station, allowing it to house modern fire engines and accommodate the need for fire crews. This remodeled facility will enhance county efforts to protect residents from the dangers of wildfire, especially in isolated rural communities.

A few weekend fires are bringing an advisory from Rural Metro Fire (RMF) in Josephine County. It says a fire destroyed a shop and pickup early Monday morning in the 200 block of Teel Lane in the New Hope area southwest of Grants Pass. It says though no injuries were reported, the fire is one of three fires in three days involving extension cords running to vehicles.
- PUB DATE: 1/24/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KDRV-TV ABC 12 Medford

After sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a motorcycle accident five years ago, it seemed as if Jimi King’s dream of becoming a full-time firefighter vanished in an instant. Doctors at St. Anthony’s Hospital, who had at first given him just a 1% chance of surviving the crash, were slightly more hopeful after King came out of a four-day coma.
- PUB DATE: 1/24/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Canon City Daily Record - Metered Site

Each year, an estimated 7 to 12 million people worldwide sustain burn injuries that require medical care. That trauma can lead to long recovery, absence from work, school, or even death. Amid those dark statistics is a bright spot in Sacramento: The Firefighters Burn Institute, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2023.
- PUB DATE: 1/24/2023 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: UC Davis Health