The U.S. Department of the Interior says it is reopening trails in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge after they were damaged in the 2019 Swan Lake Fire. In an announcement made Friday, Refuge Manager Andy Loranger said the trails required extensive work before they were safe to reopen. "The Refuge trail crew has done outstanding work over the last two months, and we are thrilled that these popular trails are again open," Loranger said in a prepared statement. Skyline trail, Hideout trail and a portion of the Fuller Lakes trail are now accessible to hikers. The department says Surprise Creek trail and parts of the Kenai River and Seven Lakes trail have not been reopened as more repair work is being conducted this summer.  

Virginia Beach Fire and EMS employees were "pushed and kicked" Monday night while trying to save the life of a motorcyclist, officials say. When firefighters arrived in the 900 block of Atlantis Drive in the Seatack community shortly before 9 p.m. "an unruly crowd gathered and rapidly grew in size and out of control, surrounding the scene," according to a Virginia Beach Fire Department daily briefing report obtained by WAVY-TV 10. As firefighters tried to treat the man involved in the crash, several were "pushed and kicked" the briefing said. The victim ultimately died from his injuries on the way to the hospital, according to Virginia Beach Police. However, the report goes on to say that some from the crash scene followed an ambulance to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital and began to "jump on, kick and hit multiple EMS vehicles causing damage."  

VIDEO: The state's final report about the Farmington explosion, obtained by the CBS 13 I-Team, reveals what firefighters experienced in moments just before and after the blast. They've never spoken about it publicly, but their interviews with investigators detail the terrifying ordeal and their brave actions that day. The explosion happened while firefighters investigated the report of a possible gas leak, but according to transcripts of interviews with responding firefighters, they didn't smell gas when they arrived. Firefighter Joe Hastings told investigators: "We couldn't smell any propane, we smelled nothing. I was getting no reads whatsoever." Until they got to the basement, when Hastings said: "When I got to the basement, finally on the ground level the alarm went into full alarm at 100 PPM which our max is at." Hastings said they were going to cut the main "in hopes to not have any electricity spark."  

The Kern County Board of Supervisors took a series of steps Tuesday to address a looming budget crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. One of those steps included passing a $3 billion preliminary budget for fiscal year 2020-21, but the most prominent may have been the reduction of firefighter overtime benefits that the County Administrative Office said exceeds federal labor standards. The reduction came as part of a contract supervisors voted to impose on the local firefighters' union after impasse negotiations between the two parties failed. County officials said the move was necessary to help eliminate a structural deficit within the Fire Fund that's grown over the years to $9 million. The issue has been a sore spot for many years, with the county paying overtime for sick leave and vacation, beyond standards set by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under the new deal, firefighters would only receive overtime if they worked beyond a 40-hour workweek.  

EaseAlert is a pre-alert system designed to alert firefighters of an emergency before the alarm sounds in their station. It was created by young entrepreneurs Blake Richardson and Elezar Tonev with the goal to reduce stress and improve efficiency for firefighters. "My dad has been a firefighter most of my life. For years I would see him come home from work every third day just stressed and exhausted. I was seeing the toll that firefighting was taking on him first hand," Richardson said. After doing some research, Richardson learned that the toll had a bigger impact on firefighters than he thought -- with heart attacks and an alarming number of suicides being leading causes of death. "Of course, firefighting is a very stressful job. We can't change the inherent nature of the job," Richardson said, "but what we can change is the alerting process and that's where EaseAlert comes in."  

For the first time in 73 years, the town's fire and EMS departments will operate as one unified department beginning Wednesday. The unified department, the result of merging the Coventry Volunteer Fire Association and the North Coventry Volunteer Fire Department, will be known as the Town of Coventry Fire/EMS Department. It will be made up of volunteers. Ahead of that milestone, town officials Monday held a swearing-in ceremony in Patriots Park for the new interim fire and EMS officers. Bud Meyers, who serves as fire marshal and had been chief of the North Coventry Volunteer Department, was approved by the Town Council on April 20 to become the new unified department's interim fire chief. He was sworn into that role Monday. "I am looking forward to working with these officers and members of the unified department," Meyers said today. "We have three core values — dedication, teamwork, and respect."