The Cordova Volunteer Fire Department received over $200,000 in grant funding during 2019. This money brought the department updated training programs and new equipment, including a pair of tsunami sirens. The department has also requested a grant to fund an active shooter response training event. This event, which would take place in 2021, would include 20 participants from across Alaska. The department has provided active shooter training for Cordova schools for six years. The grant request was announced by Fire and Police Chief Mike Hicks at the Saturday, Feb. 8 Cordova Volunteer Fire Department Annual Banquet hosted at the Powder House bar and grill. The department has diversified members' skills with workshops addressing everything from bomb disposal to containing ammonia leaks, Hicks said. "In today's world, we do more than just put out fires," Hicks said.  

Two 13-year-olds have been arrested and booked on suspicion of arson and manslaughter charges in a deadly fire on Tuesday that claimed the lives of two firefighters and destroyed the Porterville Library. Tuesday's blaze started shortly after 4 p.m. The man killed has been identified as Fire Capt. Raymond Figueroa, 35. He started with the department in 2007. Additionally, firefighter Patrick Jones, 25, is still missing. He's been with the department since 2017. The teens have been booked in the Tulare County Juvenile Detention Center. Tulare County Fire Capt. Joe Rosa is leading the arson investigation. Fresno City Fire is also lending its K9 to help with the investigation and recovery.  

Representatives from the city's firefighters union say a new public administration software system designed to streamline payroll for the department has instead burdened the force with extra duties. The union has filed a grievance on behalf of its 911 dispatchers claiming the software has not only created more work, but shifted payroll responsibilities to their supervisors who they say haven't properly been trained to administer it. "This has placed unfair expectations and an unfair burden on the members of the unit," according to the grievance signed by four members of IAFF Local 740, the Portland Firefighters union. It violates the union's agreement with the city, they say, because it alters pay and working conditions, which is protected under their collective-bargaining contract.  

Any first responder knows in an emergency, time is of the essence. Bruce Bechtold is a former Stearns County deputy. He says cutting minutes or even seconds off response time can make all the difference. That was the case when his cousin Mark suffered a heart attack nearly a decade ago. "Firefighter just happened to be nearby with an AED and shocked him and he's alive today," said Bechtold. "If that wouldn't have been there, he wouldn't have survived." There are more than 500 AED's scattered throughout Stearns County according to the nonprofit Advocates for Health. St. Cloud based mapping firm GeoComm mapped all of them. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office now has that information in their system. "Shows up on our screen here so we know where it's located," said dispatcher Megan Kampa.  

The Fire Department's Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) responded to more than 1.5 million medical emergencies last year, saving countless lives in the process. But many of these first responders — who endure high stress in a job where mere seconds may mean the difference between life and death — barely have anything left to save once they get their paychecks, according to unions representing them. City Hall and the EMT unions — including FDNY EMS Local 2507, EMS Superior Officers Association of the FDNY and DC 37 Local 3621 — began negotiations Tuesday on a new collective bargaining agreement. The unions hope the de Blasio Administration will give a significant boost to the entry-level salary for an EMT, which is just above the minimum wage — $33,320 annually, or about $16 per hour. New York City's hourly minimum wage is $15.  

Just because you call an ambulance in Montgomery County, Maryland, that doesn't mean you'll skip the lobby wait in the emergency room. Maryland's ER wait times — the time spent in the emergency room before being admitted to the hospital or being sent home — are the longest in the country: an average of 376 minutes, in the latest data, from 2017. The national average was 281. The only hospital in the county that scored above the national average for how long it took to see a health care professional once a patient arrived at the emergency department was Adventist. However, it was still below average on most other emergency department-related metrics. Walk-ins aren't the only people waiting — ambulances are waiting, too. That means emergency responders can't get back to work answering other calls.