With many hunting seasons in Alaska opening this month, the Alaska Division of Forestry reminds hunters heading into the woods to be careful with any activities that could ignite a wildfire. While abundant rainfall, shorter daylight hours and cooler temperatures have reduced fire danger across most of the state in the last six weeks, it will only take a few hot days to dry the surface fuels that could fuel a wildfire. The two biggest culprits of "hunter fires" are campfires, and the use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). While campfires are important elements for a comfortable hunting camp and support warming, cooking and conversation, they also pose a wildfire threat if not used properly. Hunters using ATVS should check to make sure spark arrestors are working properly before they head into the field. While using ATVs, hunters should watch engines and mufflers for grass buildup that could fall off and ignite a fire in dry vegetation.  

Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Wednesday aimed at protecting police and other first responders from bias-motivated crimes in Georgia, capping a series of controversial moves by state Republican leaders that nearly derailed passage of a separate bill outlawing hate crimes. The bill Kemp signed into law sets out punishments for those who commit crimes against police officers, firefighters and medics because of their "actual or perceived employment as a first responder." Crimes would have to involve serious physical injury or property damage. Backers of the legislation have highlighted it as a show of support for police and other first-responders amid nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice that have prompted tense and at times violent encounters between officers and protesters.  

Four firefighters were overcome by fumes after stumbling onto a drug mill operating in the basement of a Paterson home. The firefighters were responding to a small fire in the basement of the Illinois Avenue home when they were overcome just before 1:30 a.m. Thursday. They evacuated the structure and collapsed on the driveway. The four were rushed to the hospital, where they were treated and released. The firefighters appear to have appear to have stumbled on an illegal K2 manufacturing operation in the "drug dungeon" of a home. They likely inhaled chemicals that was being used in the drug processing. Hazardous materials crews responded after unknown materials were discovered. Two families, consisting of 11 people, who live there were left homeless by the fire, which is under investigation.  

PHOTOS: On Tuesday, Lebanon's capital city of Beirut was rocked by a massive explosion at the city's port. Thousands were injured and at least 100 people are known to have died so far. While citizens and government officials there are still evaluating the extent of the damage, others are pointing out similarities between this disaster and one that happened in a small Texas town in the 1940s. On April 16, 1947, a French-owned cargo shipped called the SS Grandcamp exploded in the docks of Texas City, according to the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). The ship was carrying ammonium nitrate, the same chemical used in the Oklahoma City bombing and the chemical believed to have caused the Beirut explosion. The chemical has been used in wartime explosives but is also used to make fertilizer.  

Public safety should retain control of its 50 MHz of 4.9 GHz spectrum—airwaves that the FCC is considering for at least some commercial use—through an allocation to the FirstNet Authority, according to the newly formed Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA). "We're concerned that public safety is going to lose spectrum that we might need," Jeff Johnson, CEO of the Western Fire Chiefs Association and former vice chairman of the FirstNet Authority, said during an interview with IWCE's Urgent Communications. "[The PSSA was] created to provide a voice to public safety, saying, ‘We think that the 4.9 GHz spectrum needs to remain with public safety'—that's Position 1. "Position 2 is that we think that [the 4.9 GHz spectrum is] best given to the people who have proven themselves as the watchdogs for public safety on these matters, and that's the FirstNet Authority. We trust that they'll develop an effective working plan for how to go forward."  

Using anonymous cell phone data, University of South Florida researchers are pinpointing how and where people in the Bay area move to try to predict how the coronavirus will spread and impact our hospitals. The data is collected by a third-party vendor from devices on which users have enabled location services. Researchers have no access to any personally identifiable information. Dr. Matthew Mullarkey and his team at USF's Muma College of Business have—predictably—watched mobile device movement in our region consistently grow since reopening began. But distance alone doesn't tell the whole story. It's also about how many different places people are going—and staying for a while—and how many other people are also at those places, according to Mullarkey, who leads the Project ASPeCT study.