Alaska on Tuesday reported 10 COVID-19 deaths and a total of 726 new infections, marking the first time in a week that the state's daily counts fell below 1,000. Counts from the past week have included a mix of recently reported cases and ones that were backlogged to reporting and other delays, said Dr. Joe McLaughlin, Alaska's state epidemiologist. Tuesday's lower count "largely reflects the fact that our team was able to process through the bulk of backlogged cases last week and through the weekend," he said in an email Tuesday. "We will continue to process paper reports, smaller batches of electronic reports that are only about 5-7 days old, and daily reported cases," he said. Weekly averages are a better way to track trends, he added. Over the last week, Alaska's per capita case rate was the highest in the nation.  

A home was damaged by fire Tuesday night in North Whitehall Township, according to a Facebook post from the Slatington Volunteer Fire Department, which assisted at the scene. WFMZ reported the fire was in the 2000 block of Levans Road. The fire call was just afer 10:30 p.m., WFMZ said, and the second alarm was sounded at 10:38, the Slatington department's post said. Flames at one point were pouring from the front of the small home, according to photos from the scene. There were no reports of injuries and no announced cause of the fire. The Slatington firefighters were on the scene for about three hours, the post said.  

Capt. Karen Bureker didn't know whether she wanted to have children when she first became a firefighter paramedic nearly 20 years ago. But after getting married, Bureker and her husband decided to start a family. It was during her first pregnancy, after six years on the job, that Bureker realized just how difficult the transition from firefighter to mother would be while rising through the ranks of her male-dominated profession. "It's really a great job to be a mom, but it's a really hard job," she said. "My kids, as they get older, are starting to understand some of the risks that we take. But they love having their mom be a firefighter." Bureker, 44, is part of a rare sorority. Earlier this month, she became the first female fire captain at Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue near Portland, where she started her career some 19 years ago.  

The trio were just kids 20 years ago when their FDNY fathers died: Two during the 9/11 terrorist attack, and the third only a few days earlier while on the job. Sons Jonathan Otten, Gary Watson and Andrew Gorumba will proudly join the Class of 2021 in graduating Wednesday from the FDNY Fire Academy, with each inspired by their heroic dads and determined to follow in their footsteps as members of the department that embraced all three in the dark days after their fathers passed away. "Since I came into the academy, I've done this for him," said namesake son Gary Watson, 28. "He helped me push through on the tough days. For the rest of my career, I'll be doing this for him, to make him proud." Watson and Otten, also 28, are the 9/11 legacies joining the department, while Gorumba's dad died Aug. 28, 2001, from a heart attack while battling a three-alarm blaze at a Staten Island auto body shop.  

Some of our county's biggest wildfires started in October, but as we head into this potentially dangerous time, local fire departments are struggling to fill shifts. Exhausted firefighters are turning down overtime. This past weekend, an engine company at Fire Station 20 was shut down for 24 hours. The reason? A lack of staffing. And it's not just a problem here in the city of San Diego, they're experiencing this across the county and the rest of the state. "Shutting down an engine company is our absolute last resort," said San Diego Fire-Rescue Chief Colin Stowell. He added that he can't remember the last time an engine shut down because the department didn't have enough bodies. "It really is frustrating because there's no perfect solution here," Stowell said.  

With the steady rhythm of a nice long run, Robert Duval of Wauregan finds peace. "I just go out and it just allows me to, like, unravel a lot of things," he said. And in his four decades in the fire service, the chief of Atwood Hose Fire Company and president of the Connecticut Fire Chiefs Association has seen a lot of things. As an investigator for the National Fire Protection Association, Duval has personally responded to some the worst tragedies in the nation. "We see stuff that we wouldn't wish on anybody," he said. "Sometimes it's a one-off incident. And sometimes it's compounded over time, and you need to take care of your mental health, too." In 2003, Duval was called to the Station Nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a horrific fire that claimed 100 lives and injured hundreds more.