The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services reported 85 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, only two of which were among nonresidents. The state reported no additional deaths. Two nonresident cases were also reported — one in Homer and Prudhoe Bay. Cases are reported each weekday by DHSS, and reflect the number of cases reported to the state the day before. More than 60,000 Alaska residents have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, according to state data. The state has reported a total of 309 Alaska resident deaths related to the virus. The state continues to have one of the lowest death rates in the country when it comes to COVID-19. A cumulative total of 1,378 Alaska residents have been hospitalized for COVID-19 so far. That includes people who have since recovered or since died. As of Tuesday, there were 37 people being actively hospitalized for COVID-19 across the state, along with one person being hospitalized for a suspected case.  

VIDEO: An eight-alarm fire tore through an apartment building in Queens Tuesday afternoon, leaving 21 injured, including 16 firefighters, and displacing more than 200 residents. The fire broke out as four-alarm blaze on the top floor of the six-story building on 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights around 1 p.m. and quickly spread into the cockloft. Approximately 400 FDNY members responded and continue to fight the ferocious fire. Officials say the FDNY will be at the scene through the night and the next few days. "When the units arrived, the door of apartment was open, there was an advanced fire," FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. "The first units in were trying to make their advance, three of the members were burned. Thankfully the burns were not serious, although they have been taken to the hospital."  

Six firefighters lost their lives responding to a fire in a century-old, abandoned warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts, in December 1999. Worried that civilians were trapped inside, rescue teams initiated a rapid intervention; but, unfamiliar with the layout of the building, the smoke-filled warehouse became a labyrinth for those that entered. Unfortunately, the brave individuals that answered this call were unable to locate any exits before they ran out of air. We still remember them more than two decades later, and this incident—along with hundreds in the years since—served as the catalyst for groundbreaking new Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) tracking and location technology. Precision Outdoor and Indoor Navigation and Tracking for Emergency Responders (POINTER) will soon allow agencies to pinpoint their firefighters to within centimeters, helping to navigate them quickly and safely out of potentially disorienting emergency scenarios.  

VIDEO: There are big changes coming to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, which include recruiting more women and minorities at Pittsburgh Westinghouse High School. When Mark Black puts on firefighting gear and trains to one day become a firefighter after completing the Career and Technical Education program at Pittsburgh Westinghouse High School, he hopes more female firefighters will be by his side. Black said, "I feel great about them recruiting more women." The city of Pittsburgh is reaching out to high school students, as part of a plan to bring more minorities and women into the Pittsburgh bureau of fire. Matthew Patrick teaches the class to help train future firefighters. He said there will be a female focus firefighting youth camp and young girls make up almost half of his class. Patrick said, "It just excites me beyond belief, seeing them have this opportunity now. I wish I had it when I was in high school."  

North Carolina firefighters remain cautiously optimistic as two Senate Republicans introduced bill to provide financial assistance for cancer treatment. For the past several years, firefighters across the state have been fighting to get presumptive cancer coverage expanded for themselves and their colleagues. While other states in the U.S. have some sort of cancer coverage, North Carolina does not. In fact, it is the only state in the country to not have some sort of presumptive cancer coverage for these first responders. "First in flight, last in helping firefighters," is how Greensboro Firefighters Union President Dave Coker describes the fight. Senate Bill 472 was introduced on April 1, by Senator Todd Johnson and Senate Majority Whip Jim Perry. The bill, as written, would see that a trust worth $25,000 would be set aside for North Carolina firefighters.  

Just five states have accounted for about 43% of new coronavirus cases over the last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey had for more than 196,400 of the country's 453,360 cases reported in the last week, according to data available Wednesday morning. Those states are home to just 22% of the US population, according to estimates from the US Census Bureau. Case rates have risen especially in Michigan lately, averaging more than 6,600 cases a day over a week now against 1,350 daily cases five weeks ago. And elected officials and health experts have said highly contagious variants such as B.1.1.7 have helped spur increases there and in other parts of the country. Though vaccination rates have increased nationally, not enough people have been inoculated to outpace the spread. And with more-transmissible variants spreading, surges like Michigan's may soon be seen more widely, epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm said.