emergency services

If you call 911, you expect someone to answer quickly and send help. But that system is strained these days by a shortage of dispatchers. The problem has grown worse during the COVID pandemic. In Washington, some State Patrol dispatch centers have a vacancy rate over 50 percent. And one office got so short-staffed it had to close.

The days are quickly ticking down to next Monday's deadline when most Oregon and Washington teachers, health care workers and public employees need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.Elected officials especially in more conservative swaths of the Pacific Northwest remain fearful of a "mass exodus" of firefighters and health care professionals. They're trying different avenues to get Governors Brown and Inslee to back off the vaccination deadline. But there are no signs the governors are open to delays.

The overcrowded hospitals we've been telling you about for weeks are having ripple effects out into the community -- some you could predict and some which are a little more startling. Take for example a fire that gutted a house in Ocean Shores or expensive airlifts from Leavenworth, Washington.

A text message alert that caused widespread confusion in the Marion County area on Tuesday marked the first time Oregon emergency planners had tried to…

When you call 911 from a mobile phone, software at the carrier and dispatch center triangulates your location. But in places where cell towers are widely…

The Washington State Department of Transportation will activate its emergency operations center on Monday morning in case solar eclipse traffic turns…

Oregon's capital city and the surrounding countryside are expected to be among the top destinations for eclipse watchers in Oregon. The expected influx of…