PHOTO: A trawler is estimated to have sustained around $100,000 in damage after it caught fire in Sitka's Eliason Harbor on Sunday afternoon. In a separate incident, another fishing boat near Yakutat burned to the waterline over the weekend. Around 3 p.m. on Sunday (8-6-23), the Sitka Fire Department responded to reports that the 40-foot fishing vessel Hunter Bay was burning in its slip in Eliason Harbor. Department engineer Craig Hackett told KCAW that around 10 firefighters responded and used a hydropump to extinguish the blaze within 20 minutes. No one was aboard the boat when it caught fire and no injuries were reported. Only the Hunter Bay's interior was damaged. Hackett says the department believes the fire was electrical in origin. In Yakutat over the weekend, firefighters spent the better part of a day trying to extinguish a blaze aboard a fishing vessel burning in a nearby bay.  

The Biden administration on Wednesday launched a new information system to map emergency medical services (EMS) responses to heat-related illness across the country. The online dashboard is run by the Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The agencies said the system is meant to help public health officials ensure that outreach and medical aid reach the people who need it most during heat emergencies. "Heat is no longer a silent killer. From coast-to-coast, communities are battling to keep people cool, safe and alive due to the growing impacts of the climate crisis," Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "The EMS HeatTracker is a powerful tool from the Biden-Harris Administration that brings actionable information to prioritize outreach and interventions, helping prevent heat-related illnesses and death and build resilience across the nation," Becerra added.  

VIDEO: A Hazelwood school is one of the first elementary schools in the country to install a color-coded security measure designed to guide first responders in times of crisis. "If, unfortunately, something were to happen, having that system, people will know where to go quickly," said Hazelwood Assistant Superintendent Christopher Norman. "It's going to reduce response time for those officers once they get on scene," Ann Vastmans of St. Louis County Emergency Management said. "It doesn't require any technology. It is not something that relies on the internet. It is within the building. It's on the building. It's something that's going to be in their line of sight. Brown Elementary serves as a pilot school that has implemented colorful arrows in addition to colors on walls and room numbers as a guide through the building.  

VIDEO: Rockaway Beach reopened for swimming and surfing Wednesday after officials spent the morning scanning for sharks. "Drone and harbor unit surveillance this morning did not observe any shark sightings, and Rockaway Beach has reopened for swimming as of 10 a.m. NYC Parks, NYPD, and FDNY will continue land, drone, and boat surveillance on Rockaway Beach throughout the day and into the evening," the Parks Department tweeted. The waters off the beach were closed Tuesday after officials said a 65-year-old woman was bitten by a shark the evening before. She was taken to the hospital, where she remains in serious condition. This was the sixth reported shark bite in the state this summer, compared to eight last year.  

VIDEO: Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue workers went beyond the call of duty to help a woman with special needs get to her 31st-floor apartment. Floodwaters recently shut down her building's elevator, and that's when the first responders stepped in to help. The three firefighters will say they were just doing their jobs, but their job was not easy. In a typical commercial building, each floor is about 10-to-15-feet high. The firefighters went up 13 floors to get the woman where she needed to go, and they did it carrying her on their back, with her wheelchair and her belongings. "I was literally stuck on floor 31," said Haleigh Rosa. With the dilemma came a very important decision. "To either bring her down 20-plus stories to the next crossway to the other tower, or go up 13 and get across to a working elevator bank so she can get out of the building," said Fort Lauderdale Fire Battalion Chief Garrett Pingol.