A tall, unoccupied wooden building known locally as the Old Swanson's Apartment building is on fire. The Bethel Fire Department responded to the scene just before 7 a.m. on Oct. 5. At first there was just thick, eye-stinging smoke filling the air near the river. A fleet of fire trucks and ambulances arrived, flashing red and white lights in the early morning darkness. One firefighter walked the perimeter of the building, shining a thick beam from a large flashlight into the windows. Then a hole opened in a wall of the second story, showing orange flames burning within the structure. The hole quickly grew, and the firefighters began assembling hoses. By 10:30 a.m., a tower of gray-brown smoke billowed from the burning building, drifting across the Kuskokwim River. Firefighters shot jets of water from four hoses into the building. Three hoses aimed from the ground into busted windows with flames behind them.  

PHOTOS: A five-alarm fire in Elizabeth left two young girls dead and two adults hospitalized in critical condition Monday, a city official said. The children who died were approximately 7 and 11 years old, according to city spokeswoman Kelly Martins. The blaze began around 6 p.m. in the 800 block of Elizabeth Avenue and was under control about two hours later. Police officers rushed to rescue the children, but were impeded by bars on a window of the building. The two adults - a man and a woman - were taken to an area hospital, the spokeswoman said. At least 21 residents were displaced from their homes by the inferno. Authorities were working to determine what caused the fire. The fire raged through a building that includes commercial space and apartments.  

When Ray Tannatta first introduced the Highrise Lifeline in the early 1990s, it seemed to be all the rage, being repeatedly featured on national TV. "I got a lot of attention. I had people calling me from all over the country, all over the world," Tannatta said. "At the time, I thought my product was working and the message is getting out there and people should be buying it. I had a company buy it but they never put it on the market." Thirty years after its initial flash in the pan, the device is finally for sale. Tannatta is now marketing it himself online. "It should be out there, it will save lives," he said. "We lose 2,000 to 3,000 people every year in fires." A former Schenectady firefighter for more than two decades, Tannatta invented the device after a local man died from smoke inhalation before help could arrive.  

First responder sirens were wailing nearly non-stop as Hurricane Isaias churned above eastern Pennsylvania. Listening to dispatches about people trapped by flood waters, motor vehicle accidents, and a commercial structure fire, I was concerned and praying for the first responders during this storm. As Isaias swept northward, a cascade of agencies responded. And with this incident, the shoulders of chiefs, deputy chiefs, commissioners, supervisors, and other command personnel grew heavier with disaster responsibilities. I wonder how agency leaders are keeping it together. The wellbeing of department personnel ultimately falls on the shoulders of chiefs and supervisors, regardless of workload, critical incident, or personal stress. As the saying goes, the buck stops here. Already exhausted from the plight of COVID-19 victims, chiefs especially are experiencing the daunting task of leading their departments.  

Salt Lake City firefighters were warned not to expect police officers as often as they have before because of a regular backlog of calls, according to a leaked department memo. The note, penned by Assistant Fire Chief Mike Fox, begins by saying the police department has changed some of their responses "due to COVID" and that they are experiencing "regular days when they have a backlog of calls." Fire department officials turned down a 2News request for an on-camera interview and advised we talk to the police about the call backlog and changes to department policies. A spokesperson for Salt Lake City police on Friday denied the department has a staffing issue because of COVID-19 or any other reason. He referred 2News back to the fire department to discuss the content of the memo. In paragraph two, Fox says "you may not get police on low acuity medical calls, accidents... or on other calls that you would normally see them on."  

A new drone technology program launched Monday at Great Oaks Career Campuses, and it's the first of its kind in the world. Through the program, first responders can become drone certified as an emergency services drone operator. "It's opening up doors to programs beyond your traditional law enforcement and firefighter basic training academy. The idea is to add programs and bring them back to continue their education over the course of their 25-30-year careers," fire safety services supervisor Johnny Mason said. The course teaches first responders how to fly the drone and how to view and interpret emergency scenes from above. "The drone can do anything from locate a fire, and give us hot spots in a burning building, telling where a fire may still be, missing people. It can go out and find a heat signature and tell us and help us locate," program coordinator Dan Runyan said. Monday was the first day for the course.