A mobile crisis team to de-escalate mental health emergencies is coming together in Fairbanks. The City of Fairbanks, re-entry organization "The Bridge" and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority have partnered together to form the program, called "Crisis Now." Linda Setterberg, Operations Director for The Bridge described what happens now when someone is having a crisis like an overdose, or a psychotic break, for example. "Someone calls 911, ambulance or the fire department or the police respond to a person in a mental health crisis. They end up in the Emergency Department. They could end up in jail." Setterberg is a retired nurse, and has family experience with behavioral health crises. She says what the Fairbanks area has now is not a good response. Doug Schrage, the Fire Chief of the University of Alaska Fire Department agrees.  

VIDEO: A fire ripped through row houses in Yonkers on one of the hottest days of the year so far, displacing nearly 100 people and injuring more than a dozen firefighters as well as one resident. The blaze appeared to have started Sunday afternoon in the backyard of one home on Maple Street but it quickly spread to four nearby houses, according to fire officials and witnesses. Flames could be seen shooting from the roof and thick, black smoke blanketed the entire neighborhood. At one point, every firefighter in Yonkers was on the scene to put out the fast-moving fire. "I felt the heat. It was sizzling and popping. I ran back inside to make sure everybody was out the door," said Carlos Bonilla. Firefighters say they received a call just after 4 p.m. about furniture that had caught fire at one of the homes. "It was so terrible. Everything was pitch black. You couldn't breathe, eyes started getting watery," Marcos Archindia recalled. He said his brother saw the flames started.  

A 26-year veteran of Polk County Fire Rescue became the first woman to be promoted to the rank of deputy chief, the county announced this week. Jennifer Huff will serve in the planning division, according to a release. "Deputy Chief Huff's promotion is a huge milestone for Polk County Fire Rescue," Fire Chief Robert Weech said in a statement. "In a profession dominated by men, Huff has stood out, broken her own ground and deserves this position – not because of her gender, but by her skill." Huff began her career in 1995 as a volunteer firefighter, the county said. Over the years she "climbed the ranks as an emergency medical technician and paramedic, to firefighter, engineer, lieutenant, battalion chief and now deputy chief," the county said in its release. Also promoted to the rank of deputy chief is Eugene Gorokhov. He will serve in the training division, the county said.  

Honoring EMS workers during the month of May, FOX23 learned how the Tulsa fire chief helped launch the first paramedic firetrucks in Tulsa more than 20 years ago. Tulsa Fire Chief Michael Baker has had a career full of helping people. He worked in the military, then as a paramedic, and then a firefighter, before taking on the role of chief about a year ago. Baker has responded to thousands of emergency calls throughout his career and while those haven't stopped, he says the care available when you call 911 in Tulsa has changed a lot over time. In 2000, he helped launch the first two paramedic fire trucks equipped with almost the same level of supplies you would find on a traditional ambulance and the firefighters trained to use them. "We started with just a handful of paramedics and then now we're to about 120 paramedics on the fire department with 16 fire apparatus that are providing that level of care," Baker says.  

A fire authority allows communities to share resources to provide emergency services and react nimbly to areas that have little or no emergency response capabilities on their own, fire authority leaders around Michigan say. One authority — essentially a new government entity created to manage a service in multiple communities — already exists in Northeast Michigan, in the Rogers City area. And Northeast Michigan could see other partnerships. Alpena and Alpena Township are discussing forming an authority to oversee water and sewer services in those two communities to put an end to a years-long court battle. And those two communities briefly discussed forming a fire authority as the township explores a way to preserve firefighting services in the face of staffing shortages and financial issues.  

VIDEO: In March 2019, a massive chemical fire broke out after a leak at a chemical tank farm in Deer Park spread to almost a dozen other tanks. A plume of smoke soon loomed over the Houston skyline and lingered there for three days. Residents of Deer Park were forced to shelter in place due to air pollution hazards, the Houston Ship Channel closed for three days, and millions of gallons of hazardous waste spilled on the ground and leaked into the water. That chemical fire at Intercontinental Terminals Company's facility also rekindled a debate at the Legislature about the state's rapidly growing petrochemical industry, much of it in communities along the Texas Gulf Coast. Thousands of such tanks, typically made of steel plates, are in the Houston area alone, and state lawmakers had already become concerned after at least 15 tanks holding crude oil, gasoline and other hydrocarbons ruptured or malfunctioned during Hurricane Harvey in 2017.