• Okeechobee City Fire Department responded to 24 medical/EMS, one fire related, one motor vehicle and two canceled calls between Jan. 25 and Jan. 31.
• Okeechobee County Fire Rescue responded to 140 medical/EMS, nine fire related, seven motor vehicle, six aircraft standby, four dispatch and cancel and ten miscellaneous calls last week. Of 108 possible transports, five were refused.
• On January 31, OCFR responded to a call regarding smoke in the 3900 block of U.S. 441 Southeast at approximately 6 p.m. When they arrived, the owner told them she had been working on her camper earlier, and smoke came out of the water heater exhaust ports, but there were no flames. The camper was unplugged prior to the crew’s arrival, and they advised it remain unplugged until a qualified electrician or plumber could check it out.

• On Feb. 1 at approximately 9:30 a.m., OCFR responded to a call regarding a cooking fire in the 4000 block of Southeast 40th Trail. When they arrived, they observed no smoke or fire. The origin of the earlier smoke was determined to be toast in a toaster which had been unplugged and removed from the house prior to their arrival.
• On Feb. 1 at approximately 10 p.m., OCFR responded to a call regarding a building fire in the 4900 block of U.S. 441 South. When they arrived at the BP Station, they found the building evacuated. The manager on duty reported no flames but a lot of smoke inside the building. Thick white smoke was coming from the roof along the eaves. OCFD was called in as backup. They were unable to locate any smoke or fire or heat signature with the thermal imager from the roof of the building, and the crews inside the building were unable to locate a heat source. The power was left off while smoke was evacuated from the building and then was restored without air handlers turned on.The crew stayed on the scene to monitor the situation, but no additional smoke or heat was detected. The manager was advised to have an electrician and an air conditioning person check it out in the morning.