Every day, people die when their heart stops pumping because of heart disease and other causes. In the Fairbanks area alone, more than 50 people die annually from cardiac arrest. Many times, there are people nearby that are trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. CPR can sustain a life in the crucial first few minutes following a cardiac arrest. The problem is that the people trained in CPR often aren't aware that somebody nearby needs their help. We are fortunate that in Fairbanks we have ambulances staffed with highly trained, well-equipped emergency medical technicians and paramedics, a first-class 911 system to dispatch them, and a superb emergency department at our community hospital. Even in the very best system, though, it takes several minutes for someone to dial 911 and for emergency medical personnel to arrive at the scene of the emergency.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: A Jellico, Tennessee motel was destroyed after a large fire early Wednesday morning. Fire crews were called to Parkway Inn just after 10 p.m. last night. Officials said the motel had been closed for remodeling and had just reopened a few days ago. A handful of people were staying there but everyone was able to get out before firefighters arrived. No injuries have been reported. "We got called out on this to assist Jellico and when we got here there was probably two rooms engulfed," Jellico Fire & Rescue's Mitchell Long said, "And it just contained inside and there's not a whole you can do with it." "It stayed in the attic and it just basically just destroyed the whole building from one end to the other," Mitchell said. Firefighters worked into the early morning hours to keep the fire from spreading to nearby homes. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

VIDEO: Being a firefighter means running into the burning building when everyone else is running out. It's dangerous and requires courage, but for the brave men and women who train for it, it's just another day on the job. But even that can change quickly. By all accounts, January 30, 2014, started as a typical day. "Everything about that day, everything that lead up to that day, was normal," said Sterling Sudderth, a battalion chief with the Greensboro Fire Department. "I had no idea that it was a life-changer." The initial call came in just after lunch as a car fire at 811 S. Elm St. on the outskirts of downtown Greensboro. Responding units quickly learned that the car on fire was actually inside of an auto repair business. "As soon as we got off the truck, I saw the fire — heavy fire — coming out of the auto repair shop," said Sudderth, who was a captain at the time. "At that point, between the amount of fire and the amount of smoke, I think everybody knew that this had gotten beyond that single car fire."  

In just over a week, two incidents of drunken driving while on duty have occurred within the Detroit Fire Department, causing city leaders to reflect on the department's policies and resources for firefighters amid higher levels of pressure and stress caused by the pandemic. Mayor Mike Duggan announced a partnership with national firefighter leaders to help guide Detroit in finding a solution, including launching an independent environmental audit and a review of the department's policies and employee assistance program. "The men and women of the Detroit Fire Department are heroes. We depend on them every day to save our lives, and they've done a terrific job, but the people of the city of Detroit are entitled to know that the men and women they are counting on to come save them are free of the influence of alcohol or any other restricted substances," Duggan said during a news conference Tuesday.  

Under the fluorescent lights of a vacant Sears department store near the state Capitol, officers from across the east Twin Cities metro area have been preparing for six weeks for potentially dangerous situations that could occur at a mass demonstration. St. Paul police Cmdr. Tim Flynn has led 550 St. Paul officers and 250 others from agencies in Dakota, Washington and Ramsey counties through the training. "When the civil unrest was happening, we needed people from all those counties and agencies within those counties to come help us with what was going on in the city," Flynn said. The St. Paul Police Department added the training to deal with a specific problem encountered last year. Firefighters had trouble responding to buildings on fire because of the volatile situation around them. During the exercises, members of law enforcement, carrying wooden batons, practice moving back crowds, getting to injured or dangerous people within the crowd, and creating a small perimeter within which fire crews can safely work.  

Health officials are urging Americans to not let their guards down against COVID-19 as researchers discover new variants that may already be more transmissible and could also be somewhat resistant to the vaccine. "At this level of cases, with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing Monday. "These variants are a very real threat to our people and our progress." While experts have been following variants first identified in the United Kingdom and South Africa, they're also seeing red flags in other variants discovered closer to home in Brazil, New York and California. In Monday's briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci said a recent study found some COVID-19 treatments may not be as effective against the new variant discovered in New York.