Five Ketchikan residents are safe after a house fire Sunday night, but the blaze left the family's home uninhabitable. Ketchikan Fire Marshal Andrea Buchanan says a power strip sparked the Sunday night house fire at 1776 First Avenue. "They had a plug into a plug into a plug," she told KRBD in a phone interview. That large electrical load along with a bend in the extension cord allowed a fire to start in a storage room. Buchanan says the home was not equipped with smoke detectors. She says a male occupant heard a loud noise — like something falling onto the ground. "When they came out to investigate, the male occupant found a fire to the rear of the house and he tried to extinguish it while the wife called 911," she said. Ketchikan firefighters arrived first, followed by North Tongass and South Tongass volunteers, around 30 responders in all. When they got there, Buchanan says they found the fire had spread to the attic.  

A 34-year-old man has been charged with murder for a Saturday incident that left what is believed to be an adult and a juvenile female dead. A burning vehicle was reported near midnight on Nov. 30 on Newell Street, and law enforcement and emergency medical arrived to find an SUV "fully engulfed" while parked in a vacant lot. Inside, they saw two apparently deceased individuals. Now the suspect, Tylan Fely has been charged with multiple counts including Murder 1, Murder 2, Arson 3, Misconduct Involving a Weapon 3, Misconduct Involving a Corpse, Tampering with Evidence, Criminal Negligent Burning 2 and Criminal Mischief 3. In 2005, Fely was convicted for manslaughter after he killed someone following a road rage incident.  

A crowd of people lined up on one end of Worcester's Union Station one recent Sunday morning. They were there to see a special exhibit commemorating the Worcester Six. "I guess 20 years is the time to break all this stuff out again and show the people. And the people still support us," said Angelo Bongovio, a Worcester firefighter from 1983 to 2011. "We'll never forget these guys." Bongovio was on duty at the Worcester Historical Fire Society's exhibit to greet visitors and answer their questions. The room is filled with posters made by school kids thanking the department, patches and caps sent in from firefighters around the country, and memorabilia salvaged from the burnt ruins of the Worcester Cold Storage & Warehouse Co. building.  

In the Fall of 2017, a member of the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department (DFR) died by suicide. Earlier that year, the firefighter had been arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) and as a result faced disciplinary action. When the department learned of a second alcohol-related issue later the same year, and pending the outcome of the investigation, additional disciplinary action led to the firefighter being placed on administrative leave. Upon learning that he was being placed on leave and being sent home, the firefighter assumed he would be fired. After leaving the station, he went home, sent a text to his family and shot himself. The firefighter had several events occurring in his life simultaneously that if shared with his DFR family might have raised enough flags that would have been identified as warning signs.  

Community groups threatened demonstrations and legal action against a newly signed controversial Monroe County law to protect emergency responders from threats and harassment. "We will certainly challenge it in court," Rev. Lewis Stewart, president of the United Christian Leadership Ministry, said. "That's a fact. That's a promise." The Monroe County Legislature approved the law in October and County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo signed the law Monday evening following a public hearing at the legislature. That hearing drew angry comments inside the legislative chambers and loud protest outside on Main Street. "It is unconstitutional," Stewart said. "It is racist. It tramples on the first amendment." "This is a stupid, unconstitutional political stunt," Bill Destler, former president of R.I.T. said.  

Emergency dispatch centers in Lake County are studying ways to consolidate or share the same equipment, personnel and policies to provide better service and increase efficiencies for residents and visitors. Since 2013, Lake County, through the Lake County Emergency Telephone System Board, has studied whether consolidating more than a dozen independent primary and secondary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) or dispatch centers in Lake County could enhance 911 service, according to Jim Hawkins, a deputy county administrator who also serves as 911 consolidation planning project manager. New legislation in 2015 forced consolidation of smaller systems, and at the time, a study by the task force found that there were 19 dispatch centers employing 280 full-time equivalent positions at a cost of $33 million per year.  

The city of Lansing cannot unilaterally withdraw from Leavenworth County Fire District No. 1 by terminating an interlocal agreement. That is according to a ruling issued last week by Leavenworth County District Judge David King. The judge also ruled that a termination of an interlocal agreement cannot be used to require the apportionment of all of a fire district's property. The decision came in a case that concerned a 2003 interlocal agreement that helped establish Fire District No. 1. The fire district provides fire department services to the city of Lansing and Delaware and High Prairie townships. The 2003 agreement was signed by representatives of Lansing and the two township as well as a representative of the Leavenworth County Commission and an assistant attorney general for the state of Kansas.