Five Italian tourists were rescued Saturday from Stampede Trail as they made their way back from visiting the bus made famous by the book and film "Into the Wild." Alaska State Troopers and volunteers from the Tri-Valley Fire Department were called to an area about 2 miles from the bus Saturday around 8 a.m., said Tri-Valley Fire Chief Brad Randall. First responders reached the group by snowmachine. One of the hikers was treated for non-life-threatening cold exposure, Randall said. It's unclear how long the hikers had been outside, but Randall said he believed the group had been in the area at least overnight. Temperatures in the area were about 5 to 10 degrees Saturday morning, Randall said. Troopers could not be immediately reached Sunday afternoon. Several people have been rescued along the Stampede Trail in recent years and two have died. The 20-mile trail leads to an abandoned bus where Christopher McCandless died in 1992. McCandless's story was made famous by the 1996 Jon Krakauer book "Into the Wild," which became the basis of a movie of the same name in 2007.  

A new bill has been introduced in the South Carolina legislature that would create new a supplemental insurance policy for some firefighters diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is the leading cause of deaths in career firefighters, according to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. While most fire departments – including the Aiken Department of Public Safety – provide cancer health care benefits to their employees, some firefighters believe the Firefighter Cancer Health Care Benefit Plan currently being discussed in the S.C. legislature would be a big step forward in improving their coverage. "The benefits to this one are a lot better than what the locals can offer," said Capt. Brian Brazier, who works in the ADPS fire division. "With as many firefighters as (the state) is looking to cover, the cost of this is going to be pretty high, but the money is there to do it. I feel like we need to support the fire services in the state."  

What seemed like an eternity was actually 19 seconds. After Ryan Newman's battered race car came to rest last Monday at the end of the tri-oval in a brutal wreck at the finish of the Daytona 500, it took only 19 seconds for the first emergency vehicle to arrive, according to a chronology provided by NASCAR officials during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "The tool truck arrived at the vehicle 19 seconds after it came to rest," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. "The fireman that you saw with the extinguisher was in that vehicle. One of the three trauma doctors assigned to the safety team for the race arrived at the car at the 33-second mark, and a paramedic entered the vehicle at the 35-second mark.  

The first responders' biggest fear was realized one night in December when someone called 911 for help in rural Erie County and nobody came. The first dispatch went to Union City Fire Co. When Union City couldn't crew its ambulance, the call rolled over to neighboring Waterford Volunteer Fire Department. Waterford couldn't raise an ambulance crew either, so the call went to nearby Mill Village Volunteer Fire Department. Again, no answer. Fifty-one minutes later, the county 911 center canceled the alarm, saying the caller was going to the hospital in a private vehicle. "It's here," a somber Union City Fire Chief Isaiah Edwards told his firefighters a week later at a station meeting. "We're dropping a ton of calls. It's going to be a mess. I don't have answers."  

A retired firefighter who pulled his brother's body from the rubble at Ground Zero died Saturday of 9/11-related pancreatic cancer, officials said. Daniel Foley watched his firefighter brother respond to 9/11 and not come back, FDNY Lt. Mickey Conboy said. Foley promised his parents he wouldn't come home until he found his brother. He found his brother's body on day 11 after the attack, but still went back to Ground Zero each day. "He didn't stop until we all were done on that last day in May in 2002," Conboy said. During his career as a firefighter, Foley was award three department medals for rescues he'd made, officials said. He rescued four children trapped in a back room during one blaze. Foley retired just over a year ago. "Danny Foley was the epitome of a great fireman," Conboy said. "Danny's left an indelible mark on all of us."  

On North Main Street stands a historic little two-story brick building that once was Aberdeen Fire Station No. 2. It was built in 1930 to provide protection to the city's north side, expanding coverage of the downtown Fire Station No. 1. It still looks much like it did back then, but No. 2 now is privately owned. The city sold it in 2008 after it built a new No. 2 at 1825 Eighth Ave. N.W. near the U.S. Highway 281 bypass. The city added a third station in 1973. It's west of Aberdeen Regional Airport on the east side of Aberdeen. It was remodeled in 2008. Fire stations and firefighters have a history as long as Aberdeen itself. In the late 1880s, two years after the city was settled, a livery stable caught fire, making town leaders realize that they needed firefighters.