An 85-year-old man died in a fire Friday at an apartment complex in Pullman on the South Side. The blaze also injured a 35-year-old man and left at least 30 people displaced, according to Chicago police. Firefighters responded about 12:30 a.m. to a building with more than 100 units in the 900 block of East 104th Street, according to the Chicago Fire Department. The 85-year-old died at the scene and the 35-year-old, found in a separate apartment, was taken to Trinity Hospital in fair-to-serious condition, fire officials said. Police said the younger man suffered smoke inhalation. The fire was out by about 1:40 a.m., according to the fire department. The cause was still undetermined, police said.  

VIDEO: A reckless driver nearly crashed into a Decatur fire engine as it responded to an emergency call. Engine 5 was coming of the new fire station located just north of Mound Road. The driver, with siren and lights on, spotted a pick-up truck just in time to come to a complete stop. The pick-up truck driving at a high rate of speed slammed on its brakes and swerved to get around the fire apparatus. Battalion Chief Jim Ohl tells WAND News incidents like these happen all of the time. He says many times they are caused by distracted drivers on their cell phones.  

To ensure uninterrupted service during the coronavirus pandemic, 18 fire departments in San Bernardino County have joined under a regional management team, an action usually reserved for fighting large wildfires. "COVID-19 has the possibility of affecting a significant portion of the fire and EMS workforce," the San Bernardino County Fire Chiefs Association said Thursday, March 26, in announcing formation of the agencies that will cooperate with the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District Incident Management Team. The team was formed on March 6 "to manage exposed and/or sick members of its agency, to ensure responders have necessary personal protective equipment, and to maintain consistent communication with its cooperators." The 18 fire departments united under the incident management team.  

VIDEO: The staff at the Tybee Island Fire Department have been hard at work since Wednesday making masks for those that need them most. The dedicated team is one of several groups working to fill the nationwide mask shortage triggered by frightened Americans concerned about their respiratory health amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "For people that aren't in the medical industry, they don't really need to run out and buy all the N95 masks up, those really need to be for our medical workers, for our hospitals, for our first responders," Capt. Matt Harrell, the fire department's interim fire chief, told WSAV.com NOW. "We're able to get the proper masks we need to run calls, but I know for a lot of people, they're really worried about this, so we just wanted to give them something to give them some kind of respiratory protection during this time," Harrell said.  

With 16% of its workers in self-isolation due to exposure to the coronavirus, New Orleans Emergency Medical Services will run ambulances to situations that are not life-threatening staffed solely with emergency medical technicians and not the more highly trained paramedics who are now required to be on board. The city will also receive an "ambulance surge" from the state to assist with medical services while it grapples with the COVID-19 epidemic, and officials are calling for volunteers to help with staffing, EMS said. At least 94 of the city's 170 EMS workers have been exposed to the virus, authorities said. But because federal Centers for Disease Control guidelines allow medical professionals to keep working until they show symptoms, as long as they wear masks and are monitored for fever and other symptoms, only 28 have been put in isolation at home.  

The Senate approved more than $163 billion designated to assist local fire and EMS departments as part of an economic stimulus package to safeguard the U.S. economy and help the nation respond effectively to the 2019 novel coronavirus and its resulting illness, COVID-19. The House is expected to pass the $2 trillion stimulus bill on Friday. This bill includes multiple funding streams to reimburse fire and EMS departments for the costs of their operations: $100 billion for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund to reimburse eligible healthcare providers for healthcare expenses or lost revenue directly attributable to the coronavirus. Funding could go to public entities; providers enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid, and other for-profit and nonprofit entities that provide diagnoses, testing, or care for individuals with COVID-19. The IAFC will follow up with the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to ensure fire departments can apply for these funds.  

Calls to New York City's 911 medical services hit their highest levels since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to emergency workers' unions, stretching staffs that have already seen their own ranks thinned by coronavirus infections. Medical emergency calls are up 40% to about 6,500 a day, according to Oren Barzilay, president of Local 2507, a union that represents emergency medical technicians, paramedics, fire inspectors and dispatchers. "Our busiest day of the year, we usually do 5,000 calls. That's usually New Years Day. We have shattered a record last night," Barzilay said, attributing the surge to respiratory cases consistent with Covid-19 symptoms. "Due to the spike, we have some calls that are waiting three, four hours to get an ambulance." Emergency medical service, or EMS, employees expect this record will be shattered many times over in the coming weeks.