Officials in Skagway are asking residents to hunker down following the community's first confirmed case of COVID-19, reported on Wednesday. The town of fewer than 1,000 people has been vigilant in keeping the coronavirus out, in anticipation of the return of cruise ships next year. With more than 10,000 cases of COVID-19 among Alaska residents, Skagway was one of the last boroughs without any cases. Now state public health nurses are conducting contact tracing after a resident tested positive at the Dahl Memorial Clinic. Borough Manager Brad Ryan said Skagway's Emergency Operations Center takes the development very seriously. Residents are asked to shelter in place until contract tracing is complete. "The obvious concern is we're a very small, tight knit community, so we have a lot of contact with each other," Ryan said.  

The United States Geological Survey says a 4.0 earthquake hit near Eagle River Thursday morning. Information from the USGS says the earthquake was felt around 8: 05 a.m. about 11 miles from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The National Tsunami Warning Center says there was no tsunami created by the earthquake. According to the Alaska Earthquake Center, people in Eagle River, Girdwood, Anchorage, Chugiak, Wasilla, and Moose Pass felt the quake.  

VIDEO: Seven people were taken to the hospital after a boat explosion and fire on the south fork of the New River early Thursday afternoon. One of those patients had to be airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial's burn unit with burns to over 40 percent of the body. Chopper 4 over the burning boat spotted firefighters shooting a stream of water at it from shore as it drifted near a sea wall at 2001 SW 20th Street. The burning boat was just north of the Lauderdale Marine Center. Thick black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky. Those flames shocked people who live nearby. "They were just shooting up into the air with a lot of black smoke. It would go then it would stop then it would just go again," said Antoinette Coffer. Another neighbor, who did not want to show his face, captured video of the boat on fire. He said he heard explosions while he was inside his home.  

VIDEO: One first responder in North Sioux City, South Dakota is using his creative skills to give back to his brothers and sisters in the department. Firefighter and emergency medical crew member Joe Pham got inspired to create his own Thin Red Line flag to hang inside the North Sioux City Fire Department. It's made out of old fire hoses, which he said he painted by hand and strung together, to create the black and white American flag with one red stripe. Pham says the red line represents many of his brothers and sisters. "It represents injured firefighters and line of duty deaths as well. I just wanted to make something, I had that gut feeling that I wanted to make something for the station, something more decorative for around here that shows respect," said Pham. Pham says the flag took about four days and around eight hours each day to make. But he said he did get some help from his fellow first responders with some of the flag-making process.  

When you think about how technology is enabling remote government work, what comes to mind? Online city council meetings, or enhanced portals for renewing your driver's license or paying taxes? What about firefighting? While most emergency responders cannot work fully remote due to the nature of their job, they can access the same benefits of unified collaboration tools to quickly connect with stations and seamlessly communicate with other first responders. Implementing this technology not only slows the spread of COVID-19 and decreases the amount of time required to hold meetings across teams, stations and departments, it also provides real-time situational awareness for intelligent and efficient fire management and fighting – all through a safe and secure platform. We've all been relying on technology to conduct various forms of remote working.  

An 11-year-old girl from Morris Township is showing just how far one small act of kindness can go. It all started as a service project through Callie Danysh's Cub Scouts, a project to honor a local hero. But with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the assignment was put on hold. That's when "Flags of Gratitude" was born. "I though to myself why honor one hero when I can honor all of them," Callie said. Flags of Gratitude was a way to say thank you to all of the health care workers and first responders working to keep the community safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "It makes me feel really good, because I enjoy spreading kindness to people, and it makes me feel like I really appreciate them," Callie said. Callie has designed, decorated and hand-delivered nearly 2,000 flags to people in the community since March. The flags, all unique, include pictures and handwritten notes signed by Callie.  

The National Transportation Safety Board says the U.S. is woefully unprepared to deal with EV fires, which require different strategies than gasoline vehicle fires. 31 percent of fire departments don't train for EV fires, and half say they don't have special protocols in place to deal with EVs after a crash, the agency's report found. Note the caveats, though. There are more than 29,000 fire departments in the U.S. This survey only asked for information from 32 of them. If you have been reading Car and Driver for a while, there's a decent chance you remember the news when a Tesla Model S caught fire in 2013. Or that the NTSB was investigating Tesla fires in 2019. Or when a Porsche Taycan went up in flames earlier this year. You might remember those things, because electric-vehicle fires make headlines.