Alaska's quiet fire season has taken a roaring turn for the worse. Over 30,000 lightning strikes have occurred since Monday, according to the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, triggering red flag warnings and leading to very high fire danger in Interior Alaska. "It's been a very interesting past couple of days," Beth Ispen, the spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management's Alaska Fire Service, said. "We've had a major increase of fire activity in the last three days. We had a lightning event, some thunderstorms moved through the state." In the last three days, the bureau has reported 79 new fires in the state and has seen a boost of 12,000 additional acres burned. "So we went from looking like we would have probably the least amount of acres burned in one fire season in history since 1940 to — well let's just say we bumped up in the rankings," Ispen said.  

Oil and gas being drained from cars caused a large fire Thursday at a salvage yard in southwest Houston, firefighters said. This happened just before 11 a.m. The Houston Fire Department said oil and gas were being drained from at least four cars that were getting scrapped. During that process, a fire ignited that set off a chain reaction to smaller gas tanks, tires, batteries and other car parts. One firefighter at the scene injured their back from falling. No other people were injured.  

VIDEO: A fire engine rolled over in a crash Thursday morning in far northwest suburban Hampshire. Around 9:40 a.m., a Hampshire Fire Protection fire engine rolled over on French Road, about a mile south of Illinois Route 72, while returning to the firehouse from a call. Three firefighters and a firefighter intern were injured in the crash. They were taken to Sherman Hospital in Elgin to be treated for minor injuries, according to Hampshire Fire Chief Trevor Herrmann. The crash caused diesel fuel to leak from the badly damaged fire engine, and hazardous materials crews were able to clean up the spill. The Kane County Sheriff's Office is investigating the cause of the crash.  

VIDEO: FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh appeared before the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington D.C. on Thursday to testify about the dangers of lithium-ion batteries. Just last month, the FDNY announced measures to step up inspections and enforcement efforts of bike shops and bike repair shops citywide after a shop in the Lower East Side was engulfed in flames and killed four people. That incident was caused by a lithium-ion battery. The ubiquity of these batteries, along with e-bikes and scooters, has spurred major concern - prompting Kavanagh to raise the alarm by urging the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish mandatory safety standards to help put an end to these devices from endangering homes.  

VIDEO: Maybe you can hear them blaring in your childhood memories. At fire departments across America, the fascination with emergency vehicles starts early. "What sound does the fire truck make?" Katherine Mathis asked her 2-year-old James, while they took a closer look at the trucks at Station No. 4 in Uptown Charlotte. "Woo-woo!" James replied, mimicking the sound of a fire engine. Once a kid gets hooked to hook and ladders and such, firefighter David Budd says you never know how their enthusiasm will grow. "It's always an informal ‘Can we see the trucks' kind of thing," Budd told Queen City News. Adam Rutland of Fort Mill, S.C., was once that boy and is now in his 20s. We met him at Station 4 on the same day little James took a tour.  

VIDEO: Active railways are littered throughout south-central Pennsylvania, making the likelihood of an accident almost inevitable. To stay proactive, Norfolk Southern Railway is traveling the east coast to educate first responders on proper response strategies using its own safety train. "We take them out of the classroom and put them on the train itself," said Connor Spielmaker, the communications manager with Norfolk Southern Railway. The three-day training event is part of the company's Awareness and Response program. Several response teams from across the Commonwealth met at Norfolk Southern Railway where they began the event with an hour-long safety lesson. First responders were later given hands-on training on the commercial locomotive designed to carry hazardous material.