Heavy smoke filled the air above Dillingham's Snag Point last Friday afternoon. Firefighters pointed water hoses at the charred remains of a house. Small bursts of flame flickered inside. At one point, remnants of the blaze flared up in the bed of an old pickup next to the house. According to a GoFundMe page organized by a Dillingham police officer, the resident is a police dispatcher and was inside with her dog when the fire started. Both she and the dog were able to get out safely. "We arrived on the scene and we had a family dwelling with smoke showing out of the eaves and smoke showing from the windows," said Dillingham Fire Department Coordinator Scott Runzo. "Got confirmation that people were out of the house and the animals, and we dispatched it out a couple times and got a full crew here."  

PHOTOS: A fire Wednesday evening that destroyed a vacant, historic building in downtown Shreveport is under investigation, Fire Chief Clarence Reece said Thursday morning. "Anytime a building catches on fire after it's been standing for a while, it's always going to be suspicious in nature. But again, we are doing our due diligence in investigating that," Reece said. Fire crews continued to put out hot spots through the night. All that's left of the building at 114 Texas Street – the former home of Sportspage and Humpfrees in The Square – are a pile of charred bricks. The fire call in the Red River District came in at 6:11 p.m. and firefighters were on the scene in 4 minutes, reporting heavy smoke and flames visible. More than three dozen fire units and 50 firefighters were fighting the intense blaze.  

VIDEO: Most kids can instantly recognize a firefighter by their uniform, but it's different for a child who is blind. That all changed for 6-year-old Junie during a recent trip to Plant City Fire Rescue's Station #3 with fellow homeschool students. The group got the chance to tour the station and explore the fire trucks. But for Junie, the most meaningful part of the visit was the opportunity to get some hands-on experience. "His favorite part was spending time with this patient firefighter who allowed Junie to feel all over his uniform and gear, touch whatever he wanted, hear the sounds his equipment made, and answered all of his questions," Junie's mother, Destiny Fiaschetti, wrote on her Facebook page, Adventures of a June Bug.  

VIDEO: Three Sonoma County fire stations are now equipped with a new emergency response tool: mobile generators powered by the sun. On Thursday, firefighters got a hands-on lesson on how they work. "What we're building here is a solar-powered generator," said Jim Kracke with the Sonoma Valley Fire Department "This is going to be in one of our stations. The station it is going to does not have a backup generator. So now it will." It could prove to be a life-saving tool in the field, but building it won't be easy. "It's a learning experience for a lot of us," Kracke said. "There are schematics, instructions. We have instructors that are overseeing the process." "These are higher voltage systems," explained Nate Heegard with the Footprint Project, an organization that helps communities build and maintain solar generators for power outages and disaster response.  

VIDEO: The death toll of firefighters felled by 9/11-related illnesses has surpassed 300, with one of the latest victims buried Thursday following a funeral Mass in Floral Park. Retired FDNY Battalion Chief Joseph McKie, 60, who died Sunday, was transported to Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church in an America-flag-draped casket atop a fire truck. Hundreds of firefighters lined the streets to pay their respects. At a news conference before the funeral, leaders of firefighter labor unions urged Congress to reauthorize funding for the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act before the money runs out in three years. "We are unfortunately here today with the proof that … the damages are ongoing," said Andrew Ansbro, president of the FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association.  

VIDEO: The area around Fire Station 1 in Albuquerque is looking a lot brighter. The mural on the side of the station has been repainted. Albuquerque Fire Rescue says they reached out to the artist who created it after someone vandalized one of the faces and asked him if he could fix it. Instead, he repainted the entire thing. "It really is cool and a lot of folks don't know that it's there. It's on the backside of our Fire Marshal's office building on what is the west face of Fire Station one. And it's part of the one percent of the arts for Albuquerque and it's a great piece. A lot of folks have commented, we had put it up on our social media and a lot of folks are commenting because of how great a piece it appears to be and its quite bright and it really does quite encapsulate what we do in the fire department," said Lt. Tom Ruiz, Albuquerque Fire Rescue.