Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has requested four government agencies combine efforts to allocate personal protective equipment (PPE) and rapid COVID-19 tests for federal wildland fire crews. Murkowski recently forwarded correspondence to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) detailing the request. She urged the agencies to work with state governments to ensure fire crews likely to be assigned to federal wildland fire incidents are supported. "Given the intergovernmental nature of federal wildland fire response, the federal government has a unique responsibility to ensure a sufficient supply chain of PPE and rapid testing for all wildfire crews, in coordination with their state counterparts," Murkowski, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote.  

The Anchorage Fire Department says one person was taken to the hospital after a multi-family structure caught fire Thursday. AFD says they responded to call around 2:30 a.m. of a fire in the Sand Lake area. Once on the scene, fire crews determined the fire may have started on the outside of the building and moved to the roof. AFD says it may have started on the deck. One person was taken to the hospital before crews arrived AFD said. The fire was put out by 3:43 a.m. The cause is under investigation.  

The Anchorage Fire Department has released the preliminary cause of a condo fire near Taku Lake that displaced several families at the beginning of the month. Fire Marshal Brian Dean said the fire at the condo building on Foxridge Way on May 1 is believed to have been caused by discarded smoking materials, based on AFD's preliminary report. "There was ample evidence of smoking materials in the area of origin on one of the decks there," he said. "Witnesses put people out smoking on the deck just prior to the fire as well, so that's our preliminary cause." Four condos were destroyed, leaving four families displaced. Several pets died in the fire. Multiple people were injured, including a man who had to jump from his third floor balcony to escape.  

When the first U.S. case of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, was confirmed on Jan. 21, it appeared to be contained — the patient was a man living near Seattle who had recently returned from Wuhan, China and immediately isolated himself, and the local health department had conducted contact tracing to make sure that anyone he had encountered was now quarantining at home. But as more people returned to the U.S. from China, and then Italy, the site of the second major outbreak, the number of cases started to tick upwards. And due to the nature of the virus — which is highly contagious but can present without symptoms for many people — it began to spread in communities where there were no known cases and no testing measures in place. From there, the number of cases soared — up to 1,000 by March 26, and to 1 million by April 28. That spread can be seen in the above graphic, which shows how the virus circulated through the country over the last few months.  

Police Chief Eric Clifford fears the city could again become addled by gangs, drugs and double-digit homicides if the department is forced to lay off about 40 cops because of a deepening fiscal crisis brought on by the coronavirus. "Quite frankly, we go to the bare bones minimum of what we do – protect life and property – and we have to start scaling back on what we do as a department," he said. "What I see is that the long-term effect is that we might start seeing a rise in gangs, a rise in the dealing of drugs, a rise in crime, and that's unfortunate because we put in a lot of good work over the last seven to 10 years stamping that down." Fire Chief Ray Senecal could find himself down about 33 firefighter/paramedics as well, which he recently said would make the already dangerous job of battling blazes even more perilous and hamper the department's ability to carry out other critical potentially life saving duties.  

Minneapolis' police officers and firefighters deserve a "significant portion" of emergency federal COVID-19 aid, union officials said, arguing that an infusion of potentially millions of dollars is needed to avoid cutbacks or layoffs. In a letter to lawmakers, the unions made their pitch for a bigger cut of funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act — with Minnesota receiving $2.2 billion in aid, roughly $700 million of which is going to first responders. They argue the proposed funding boost would come in handy as Minneapolis stares down an anticipated $100 million to $200 million budget shortfall. "Given that the Minneapolis Police Department constitutes approximately 9% of sworn law enforcement officers in the State and the Minneapolis Fire Department employs roughly 20% of all full-time licensed firefighters, we believe that Minneapolis should be in line to receive a substantial portion of the funds dedicated to assist police and fire departments," said the letter, signed by Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll and Mark Lakosky, head of Local 82, the firefighters union.  

The opioid epidemic is getting worse, and the COVID-19 pandemic could be to blame. For many folks who may be struggling, times of social isolation drive feelings of stress, anxiety and depression, and drug abusers use opioids to relieve this stress. Sara Goldsby, the director of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, says they have seen about a 30% increase in EMS response to overdose in the last few months. They say these are numbers that are similar across the entire United States as well as in South Carolina. "We know that people's routines have been altered," Goldsby says. "In fact, we see an elevated number of overdose incidents during the weekdays now, compared to we are used to seeing them over the weekends, so we know some things have shifted and changed with the social isolation and the circumstances."  

VIDEO: One artist is using his talent to create a reimagined version of iconic American images to honor essential workers amid the coronavirus pandemic. Scott LoBaido is popular for his murals of the American flag across the country. For more than 25 years, he's painted renditions of the flag on police stations, homes, cars, veterans buildings and more in all 50 states. LoBaido has now partnered with the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation for "Sunrise: A Tribute to First Responders." At 5 feet by 6 feet, the artwork is influenced by the iconic images of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima during World War II and firefighters raising the flag at ground zero on Sept. 11. In another touch to the image, LoBaido included a flyover of U.S. military aircraft in a nod to the recent America Strong flyover by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds, which was in honor of essential workers on the coronavirus frontlines.