Less than 24 hours after a fire suspected to be arson destroyed a vacant commercial building near 10-mile of Chena Hot Springs Road, a second building was burned. Firefighters from the North Star Volunteer Fire Department responded to a residential building burning near 12-mile of Chena Hot Springs Road just after midnight on Thursday morning. The building was unoccupied and destroyed in the fire. According to Captain Eric Spitzer of the ‘D' Detachment of Alaska State Troopers, "This fire was also classified as incendiary in nature and is being investigated as an arson." He said the investigation is ongoing. Chena Hot Springs Road has seen numerous fires over the past few months as a serial arsonist has destroyed homes, abandoned buildings and commercial buildings on Chena Hot Springs Road near the communities of Two Rivers and Pleasant Valley. Alaska State Troopers, State Fire Marshals and the FBI are investigating the crimes.  

Alicia Welch knew she wanted a career that would challenge her mentally and physically, leading her to become a firefighter three decades ago. "I just wanted to help people and have a job where I would have to think and act," the Lompoc Fire Department's new chief told Noozhawk. A badge-pinning ceremony for Welch occurred Tuesday night during the Lompoc City Council meeting, a week after she started her new job. "I am really happy to be here serving you and this community," Welch said during the meeting. She came to Lompoc from a stint starting in 2018 with the Golden Fire Department in Colorado. Before that, she spent 27 years in various capacities with the Los Angeles City Fire Department from 1990 to 2017, rising in the ranks from firefighter to battalion chief. She is the first woman to serve as fire chief in Santa Barbara County or any of its cities.  

The Edina Fire Department, in partnership with the University of Minnesota, will soon help operate a first-of-its-kind truck specializing in treating cardiac arrests. The fire-truck-sized vehicle, which will use a heart-lung bypass machine to treat patients who are experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest, will be stored and staffed by the Edina Fire Department. At its meeting Aug. 4, the Edina City Council approved an agreement to partner with the university's Center for Resuscitation Medicine, which officially launched the vehicle earlier this year. "We're able to take part in a program that's advancing neurologically intact survival from a sudden cardiac arrest," Edina EMS Chief Ryan Quinn told the Sun Current. "If we can be a part of latest and greatest evidence-based medicine, then it's a unique place to be and great opportunity for us to play a role."  

PHOTOS: The dark streets, the shuttered buildings, the nightmare sci-fi future — St. Louis had it all when director John Carpenter featured the city's downtown as the main setting for his 1981 action masterpiece Escape from New York. The mix of devastation and grime wasn't a product of the city itself, but rather the aftermath of a firestorm that had consumed six buildings and left the area near Locust Street and North 21st Street looking like it had been carpet-bombed in 1976. For local filmmaker Mike Gualdoni — who this week released a tightly produced documentary video exploring the St. Louis settings in the legendary film — the choice to replicate a dystopian "New York" in a section of downtown St. Louis was nothing short of genius.  

PHOTOS: In a true blast from the past, an antique, 1938 hook and ladder truck that once served the Rome Fire Department for more than 30 years has been returned to the city from a collector in Canada. The bright red fire truck is in "fantastic condition" after years of maintenance and "drives like a charm," said Deputy Fire Chief Timothy W. Reilly, who helped organize the donation. The city's firefighters hope to use the truck in future parades and other events after a little restoration. "There was no way we were going to pass this up," Reilly stated. "We are never going to have this opportunity again." According to Reilly, the truck was purchased by the City of Rome in 1938 as the city's first motorized ladder truck.  

AstraZeneca scored a win on Friday as data showed its antibody cocktail is 77 percent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 in high-risk populations. The research found no one who took AstraZeneca's combination, called AZD7442, developed severe COVID-19 or died due to the virus. In comparison, three participants who received the placebo endured serious illness, with two fatalities. AstraZencea called the treatment, involving the antibodies ixagevimab and cilgavimab, the first "long-acting antibody combination to prevent COVID-19" in a release. Overall, 25 positive coronavirus infections were confirmed in the Provent study involving more than 5,100 patients across sites in the U.S., U.K., Belgium, France and Spain. The participants were unvaccinated at the time and had a negative test.