The board this morning

A blocker rig struck at a highway scene — the day's reminder that the work zone is the hazard

By The FirstResponders Desk

Good morning. A Mesquite fire truck was struck while crews worked a non-injury crash just outside the city early Friday, and two people were transported to hospital, the Mesquite Fire Department said, as reported by Firefighter Close Calls. Crews were working the crash around 4 a.m. using the rig as a blocker when the second crash happened. If you run blocker on a highway today, this is the day's argument for it — and for staging the apparatus between you and traffic, not beside it.

For emergency management and anyone working the water: the National Weather Service in Seattle has Storm Warnings out for the coastal waters from Cape Flattery to Cape Shoalwater, both the inshore and 10-to-60-nautical-mile zones. The NWS in Portland has Storm Warnings for the Columbia River Bar and the waters from Cape Shoalwater, Washington, to Cape Falcon, Oregon. The NWS office at Ruskin has a Flood Warning for DeSoto County, Florida. ABC News reports the National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Pena has formed in the Pacific south of Hawaii.

A large block of satellite fire detections was reported Friday but is not confirmed by any agency: 424 over Texas, 234 over Louisiana, 110 each over Mississippi and Alabama, 49 over Tennessee, 32 over Florida and 29 over South Carolina. Treat these as unverified heat signatures, not as working incidents, until a local agency puts eyes on them.

For rescue and fire: STATter911 reports body-camera footage of two Fredericksburg, Virginia, officers leading a couple out of a smoke-filled home on Tuesday.

For law enforcement and EMS: NJ.com reports police were called to a Mount Holly, New Jersey, home after a mail carrier found a note reading "Call 911," and people were found dead inside. The Oregonian reports the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office arrested a driver who fled at 100 mph and hid in a tree. The Los Angeles Times reports the L.A. County Sheriff has announced a new policy aimed at eliminating prohibited deputy cliques and gangs. The Tampa Bay Times reports a new charge against a former Pinellas deputy accused of abusing a license plate reader database. The Guardian and the Houston Chronicle report the Houston mayor said the city will limit police cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

What to watch: the Pacific Northwest marine warnings and the DeSoto flood threat through the weekend, and whether any Southern agency confirms fire activity behind the satellite detections.