Capital City Fire Rescue may set a record for the number of calls in 2021. That's according to Fire Chief Rich Etheridge on Action Line. It's been kind of a banner year for calls. We're projecting if hitting fifty-two hundred calls without the cruise ship season that we normally do so this is going back to the 2017 numbers when they were really starting to spike." The chief said 70 to 80 percent of the calls are medical calls. He outlined the causes for the increased calls. "There's a lot more people calling because of flu like symptoms and then slips and falls are probably one of our top call reasons. The record of 55-hundred calls a few years ago could be surpassed, the chief said, especially with the addition of the Mobile integrated Healthcare Program, they could end up recording over 6,000 calls.  

PHOTOS/VIDEOS: Two firefighters were injured Tuesday afternoon while fighting a 3-alarm fire that burned through a building in Southeast Portland. Crews were called out at about noon Tuesday on reports of black smoke coming from a building near the intersection of Southeast 13th Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard. Flames quickly broke through windows and the building's roof, and fire officials called out a second and third alarm to bring in more resources. A smoke explosion injured two firefighters who were battling flames from outside the building. The blast blew out the windows of a business, Portland Fire spokesperson Rob Garrison said. Both firefighters are expected to be released from the hospital later Tuesday. Garrison added that there were no other confirmed injuries from the fire.  

A New Jersey woman who police said drove her jeep through an emergency area on I-76 in Montgomery County over the summer and struck and killed a firefighter while injuring three other first responders is now charged with third-degree murder. Her initial DUI charge was dropped. Jacqueline Walker, 63, of Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, is charged with third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle, aggravated assault by vehicle, recklessly endangering another person, reckless driving and other related offenses. The crash occurred on July 24 at 3:23 a.m. on I-76 westbound at mile marker 335 between the Gladwyne exit and PA 23 (Conshohocken exit). Pennsylvania State Police and Belmont Hills Fire Company had been called to the area earlier that morning at 3:06 a.m. for another crash involving a Chevrolet Malibu and a Nissan Altima.  

VIDEO: A fire station in the Oakland hills would seem to be an unlikely spot for a confrontation over guns, let alone one in which firefighters were threatened. "It's unfortunate when violence or threats come home to us in the firehouse," said Zac Unger, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 55. It all began Thursday afternoon when a firefighter, who was driving his personal truck, saw two men dumping something in a spot off Skyline Boulevard near Grass Valley Road. The men spotted the firefighter, got into a car, and started chasing him. They tailgated the man's vehicle and pulled alongside him. The firefighter slammed on his brakes, and the car drove off. He went back to the dumpsite and found a backpack with two loaded guns inside. Both were 9mm semiautomatic Glock handguns with extended magazines. The firefighter took the guns back to the fire station. But the same men from before pulled up to the station and began threatening him and other firefighters.  

PHOTO/VIDEOS: Jerald Allison wanted one more ride in a fire engine. The retired Muskogee fire department captain was overheard by residents and workers at Azalea Gardens Memory Care say that he wanted to take one more ride. One of the workers who heard him was Hope Hardesty, who also serves with the Okay Fire Department. She contacted her fellow firefighters to try to work it out. "Jerald talks non-stop to his wife about being on the fire department," Hardesty said. "I'm part of Okay Fire and we had our monthly meeting Tuesday. I asked the guys and they showed up — it was no problem. "It makes me proud that all these guys showed up to honor someone that for 26 years did what we do." Once the Okay firefighters were on board, Payden Metzger of Okay thought about contacting Muskogee to see if they were willing to help. He said there was no hesitation.  

When Orange County Fire rescue veteran Erik Siena lost his five-month battle with brain cancer this past May, his wife Christy filed for the line-of-duty death benefit provided under Florida Senate Bill 426. Christy, who served as a paramedic with the department for 16 years, never received out-of-pocket medical expenses, the $7,500 designated for funeral expenses or the $75,000 death benefit promised under the existing law. The county twice denied claims for line-of-duty death, finding that the brain cancer was a "personal medical condition," not a result of his job. "It's not fair," she told News 6. "He always worried about exposure to one warehouse chemical fire." The 46-year-old firefighter was convinced exposure to hazardous chemicals at an Orlando warehouse chemical fire his unit responded to in April 2006 exposed his team to carcinogens that would eventually catch up to them.