A Naknek resident died in a house fire Monday morning, according to the Bristol Bay Borough police. Firefighters were called to Mile 4.5 of the Alaska Peninsula Highway around 9 a.m. as flames were consuming a single-story home, said Chief John Rhyshek. First responders talked to neighbors and learned the homeowner was unaccounted for. Rhyshek said human remains were found around noon when the fire had been extinguished. The body has been sent to the state medical examiner's office for positive identification. It's unclear what caused the fire, Rhyshek said, but foul play is not suspected. The home was a complete loss. Two deputy fire marshals flew to Naknek in a state aircraft to help with the investigation, troopers said in an online statement.  

VIDEO: As first responders take precautions against COVID-19 contamination, those efforts include extensive measures to sterilize fire stations and equipment. Crew members from Express 911 Board Up spent several hours Wednesday using different methods to sterilize the White River Township Department headquarters in Greenwood. Express Restoration President Robert Turner explained how ozone gas is used to disinfect fire and ambulance equipment inside an enclosed trailer parked outside. "We've got an EPA registered device that produces ozone gas that we're going to enclose all of the equipment in this trailer," Turner explained. "We'll let it run for 15 minutes, which will then disinfect all of the contents inside." Chief Jeremy Pell said sterilizing gear and equipment is a vital step every time firefighters return from an emergency call.  

As the coronavirus crisis intensifies, first responders continue making changes to protect both patients and themselves. Emergency medical service crews in the cities of Roanoke and Salem, as well as Botetourt County, are now using protective tents on patients who need oxygen. The mini-isolettes help contain respiratory droplets that could carry the coronavirus within the plastic. This is not a new procedure, but it's not typical. "We've had to figure out how can we continue doing these treatments that people need that are less invasive and more beneficial to a patient but keep our providers safe, keep the environment cleaner," said Jason Crouch, EMS operations captain for Roanoke Fire-EMS. First responders are also using masks, limiting the number of providers interacting with patients, doing health screenings before coming into work and increasing cleaning.  

A new app from Stanford Medicine built with Apple's help will help connect firefighters, police officers and paramedics in California to drive-through COVID-19 testing if they are showing symptoms of the coronavirus. Here's how it works: Users take a survey with questions about their symptoms. If they have symptoms suggesting COVID-19 infection, the app recommends testing. First responders can take that result to the contact at their workplace in charge of health, referred to as a "department infection control officer" inside the app, and get scheduled for priority testing at a Stanford Health Care site. The First Responder COVID-19 Guide app is one of several new technology initiatives to connect people at high-risk for COVID-19 infection with testing.  

VIDEO: As confirmed coronavirus cases within DC Fire and EMS continue to climb, the department is taking new steps to protect its firefighters and paramedics on the front lines. That means ambulances and crews must undergo a three hour decontamination every time they respond to a call involving a patient with symptoms of the virus. "We've had some units come here twice in 24 hours," said EMS Captain Charles Steptoe. Steptoe showed ABC7 around the new decontamination facility on Wednesday afternoon. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the department used the building to store extra vehicles and apparatus. Now, it's home to a 24/7 operation made possible by a $30,000 machine that DC Fire and EMS purchased not long after the pandemic began.  

Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, residents of hard-hit New York City have been talking about ambulance sirens and how the wailing never seems to stop. They're not imagining things — but the reality is even grimmer than some may have guessed. A huge number of those ambulances are responding to fatal or near-fatal heart attacks suffered by New Yorkers whose true health issue may be COVID-19, the disease associated with the coronavirus. Emergency Medical Services, the part of the fire department that runs the city's paramedic response, is responding to three or four times its average daily number of cardiac calls, with each call almost twice as likely to involve a death. According to the Fire Department of New York, or FDNY, it means more patients are calling 911 closer to death, and many more of them are dying despite the best efforts of EMTs and paramedics before they ever reach a hospital.