VIDEO/PHOTOS: Former Loves Park fire chief Phil Foley died Thursday at the age of 79. According to Foley's obituary, he was born November 2, 1944, in Fairfield, Wyoming. He joined joined the Loves Park Fire Department in 1965, serving the department for 53 years, including 37 years as its chief. He retired from the department in August 2018. A visitation is planned for 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Sunday, June 2, at Sunset Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens, 8800 North Alpine Road in Machesney Park. The visitation will continue 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. Monday, June 3, at the funeral home, with a funeral service to immediately follow. The Loves Park Fire Department expressed its condolences to Foley's family and loved ones and remembered him for his service on social media.  

VIDEO: From May 19th to May 25th in 2024, National EMS Week is celebrated to honor the countless EMT and Paramedics who respond to emergencies and perform life saving measure to members of the community. This is the 50th year that the U.S. is recognizing EMS Week. "We hope to continue to grow and bring new things that can help the community out," said Mike Lowe, a Firefighter Engineer & EMT for Boone County Fire Protection District #2. Boone County Dist. #2 officially launched their ambulance service in August of 2023 after a referendum tax was passed, allowing them to bring on two ambulance units. To service their ambulance units, they expanded and remodeled their EMS side of the building. "The four of us are here for 24 hours, eating with each other and talking," said Jeremy Adams, the EMS Coordinator for Boone County Dist. #2.  

Fire crews spent hours Thursday night fighting massive flames at a business in Pottsville. It started at a commercial building near the 600 block of East Market Street around 7 p.m. As fire crews were tackling this fire the Wire Tele-View corporation building collapsed, just missing the firefighters below. Wire Tele-View is a cable and internet provider. This building is just across the street from Lehigh Valley Hospital Schuylkill Campus on East Norwegian Street. A spokesperson from the health network tells Newswatch 16 that hospital operations have not been impacted by the fire. At least two nearby homes were damaged, and 10 people were displaced. There is no word on injuries or the cause of the fire.  

VIDEO: Firefighters shifts range but they often go into the night, some can be as long as 48 hours in a row. According to Deputy Fire Chief Chris Mortensen, sleep studies have helped fire departments adjust the way firefighters sleep to make the night shift more bearable. "It used to be the alarms would blare and you were waking up and lights were flashing everywhere and we found out that was really bad for your system," said Mortensen. He said researchers found lack of sleep and even just the way firefighters wake up has a big impact on health. "We tried to work with scientific agencies and educational institutions across the country and figure out how we can best modify that or reduce the risk to firefighters," he said.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: If you spot a rattlesnake in your yard what would you do? In this Zevely Zone story, 'The Snake Wranglers' offer a training session to firefighters and me. The best way to save a snake is to learn how to handle the real thing. "I truly feel they are the underdog in nature," said Bruce Ireland. For years, Bruce has been on a one-man crusade saving snakes. "You don't have to kill them. You may not know that much about snakes because you may not understand them and yes some of them are dangerous, but that doesn't mean we should go out and indiscriminately kill them," said Bruce. Shedding that outdated belief led Bruce to create The Snake Wranglers. "To get to the point where we are finally, actually training firefighters, I can't even sleep at night building up to this if I'm being really honest with you," said Bruce.  

Drowning deaths in the U.S. were on the decline for decades, but a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that fatalities have been increasing since 2020. While it's not exactly clear what's causing the spike, public health experts believe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could be at least in part to blame. Adam Katchmarchi, CEO of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA), said there were signs recently that fatal drownings were increasing, but the national figures were stark. "Shocking, to say the least, that we have seen these dramatic increases," Katchmarchi said. According to the CDC report, there were around 4,000 accidental drowning deaths in the U.S. in 2019. That jumped to more than 4,500 fatalities annually in 2020, 2021 and 2022 — roughly a 10% increase.