In wildland firefighting parlance, it's simply called "bucket work." That's the term used to describe one of the jobs helicopters perform while fighting wildfires – dropping super-sized buckets of water on fires to douse flames and hot spots. The three helicopters assigned to the Munson Creek Fire 50 miles east of Fairbanks near Chena Hot Springs are being used for multiple tasks – ferrying crews of firefighters to the fireline, delivering supplies to the field, performing reconnaissance flights – but bucket work has been one of the primary missions the past two days. With the spike in fire activity due to warmer, drier, sunnier weather, water drops are being used to keep parts of the fire in check so it doesn't gain momentum and make a run toward dozens of cabins 2-3 miles away along Chena Hot Springs Road between mileposts 52-55.  

VIDEO: Firefighters responded to a fire at a business in Concord at Willow Pass Road and Waterworld Parkway. According to the Contra Costa Fire Protection District, they got a call regarding the fire around 2:40 a.m. Monday morning. When crews arrived on scene, they found fire shooting through the roof of the building. Video shared with ABC7 shows the site of a closed restaurant up in flames. As of 4 a.m., crews were still on scene of the 1-alarm fire. The fire is just down the street from Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. It's unclear if anyone was injured in the fire.  

On the corner of East Duval and North Fifth Street, city leaders and members of the Richmond Fire Department gathered for a ceremony celebrating the 71st hiring anniversary of the first Black career firefighters in the city. Out of 500 applicants, ten men were chosen to serve for the fire department under Engine Company No. 9 on July 1, 1950. They would go on to be the first Black career firefighters in Richmond and Virginia. Friends and family of these ten men, including Pat Whitfield, came up to the podium to share their memories about their impact. "I was three years old when my dad got inducted into the fire department," Whitfield said. Pat Whitfield's father, Arthur L. Page, was one of the ten men hired for the job. "He earned positions, but I remember him getting turned away," she said. "Not because of the content of his character, but because of the color of his skin."  

PHOTOS: Dedicated in 1975 and opened the following year, the New York City Fire Academy is a world-class training facility. Also known as "The Rock," the fire academy is the hub of training for the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). Indeed, every FDNY firefighter begins their career here in our probationary firefighter school. However, probationary firefighter school is only the beginning of a career-long learning experience. Most members typically attend one or more of our various classroom training programs at the fire academy each year. This is in addition to the daily training in our subway simulator, tactical live fire training, chauffeur training school, and a host of other hands-on scenarios that take place daily on our 27-acre campus.  

Three feet of water was in the basement of the Monongahela Fire Department after Thursday's rainstorm. Images posted to the fire department's Facebook page showed how bad the flooding was. Crews are now in clean-up mode and searching for answers. On Friday, restoration crews tore down drywall and pulled out soaked insulation. "It was just so quick and fast. We did lose some stuff but nothing too major," said Monongahela Fire Chief Aaron Leezer. "Absorbent, we use for fire calls, a couple of pumps we lost for pumping water in these situations to help out residents." The city said the fire department has been dealing with flooding for years and it's slowly getting worse. City officials are pointing to a collapsed storm drain as the cause. The problem is that the drain sits under a nearby Norfolk Southern rail line.  

A North Carolina firefighter is sharing his brutal battle with COVID-19, warning others to take the virus seriously and get vaccinated. 26-year-old Corey Spencer, a firefighter with the Pinecroft Sedgefield Fire Department, is now regaining strength in a rehabilitation center after spending 41 days hospitalized with 33 days in the ICU, on a ventilator, and in and out of a coma. "I was one of those that didn't wear a mask. I kind of took it as a joke. I thought it wasn't going to happen to me because I'm young," Spencer told WFMY News 2 from his room at the rehabilitation center. "I'm not in shape, but I'm healthy. I didn't think it would happen to me, but when it hit me, it hit me hard." Spencer said his nightmare began in mid-May when he began feeling sick and then tested positive for COVID-19 while at the fire station.