The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (BLM AFS) awarded three contracts for additional Type 2 wildland firefighting hand crews based in Western Alaska villages. The contractors selected will base crews in the Galena Fire Management Zone that covers most of Western Alaska. This brings the total number of Type 2 contact crews in Alaska to six for quick response to fires throughout the BLM AFS protection area that covers about 191.5 million acres in the northern half of the state. Last year, the BLM AFS awarded three contracts for Type 2 crews based in the Upper Yukon and Tanana Fire Management Zones. These crews were mobilized an average of 61 days in 2020 for fires in Alaska and the Lower 48. All three crews are currently in the Western U.S. helping with a busy fire season. After a successful inaugural year, BLM AFS looked to expand the program into the Galena Zone.  

An Oxford Battalion Chief's quick action saved a man's life Saturday afternoon after the lift the man was on caught fire. Oxford firefighters said at 2:50 they responded to a call at Hooligans Harley Davidson on Davis Loop to a man on a lift that had caught fire. The lift had made contact with the power lines and the man was trapped approximately 25 feet off the ground. Fire crews said when they arrived there was no way to get the man from the lift until the power was cut off. OFD personnel made the decision to create a makeshift life safety net out of a tent. As the fire grew the man decided to jump, and that jump saved his life. The man was flown to UAB with a leg injury and smoke inhalation.  

You would think rushing into a burning building to save the lives of people trapped inside would merit a living wage - at a minimum. While firefighters can hit salaries of anywhere from $12 to $50 an hour, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national average is about $27 an hour. In the Lowcountry, that average falls to $19.77 an hour or about $41,130 a year. However, those hourly rates can be extremely misleading. The unique nature of the firefighting profession and those who opt into it is underscored by an even more unique schedule. Generally speaking, firefighters work 24-hour shifts, three days a week with overtime built into their 28-day pay periods. The typical office employee is scheduled about 2,080 hours a year, while firefighters working this 24-48 (24 hours on, 48 hours off) shift will end up working nearly 900 hours more a year.  

VIDEO: A home being renovated in New Castle, Lawrence County caught fire Sunday morning. The fire broke out at the N. Mercer Street home around 5:30 a.m. Pittsburgh's Action News 4 was told a family living a few blocks away saw the glow in the sky. They woke up the next-door neighbors of the home that caught fire and got them out of their house. Fire departments sprayed water on the neighbor's home as well to keep it from catching fire. No one was hurt but firefighters say the house is a total loss. City of New Castle Fire Chief Mike Kobbe says the home being renovated did not have its utilities turned on. The cause is now being investigated.  

Vaccine makers are preparing for a next possible phase of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout: booster doses. The US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday authorized third doses of both the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna coronavirus vaccines for certain immunocompromised people: solid organ transplant recipients or "those who are diagnosed with conditions that are considered to have an equivalent level of immunocompromise." The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has signed off on the authorization and now recommends an additional dose of vaccine for these certain people. But these doses will be considered part of the initial vaccination series for people who have not mounted an adequate immune response. A booster dose is something different. It helps refresh a waning immune response, or helps the body fight an evolving pathogen. And many Americans who aren't now eligible for an additional shot are wondering when it will be their turn.