Dave Bronson, mayor elect of Anchorage, named Doug Schrage as the new fire chief for Anchorage. Schrage is a former chief operating officer of the Anchorage Fire Department and has been serving as the fire chief of the University of Alaska Fire Department in Fairbanks, where he has overseen the education of firefighters across the state. When serving in Anchorage for over 25 years, he held every rank through deputy chief at the fire department. He began his career in 1981 as a student fire fighter in the University Fire Department. Current Fire Chief Jodie Hettrick said in March that she plans to retire and the end of June. Bronson also named Patrick Bergt as the incoming municipal attorney. Burgt is a lifelong Alaskan and served as a district attorney in Anchorage, prosecuting violent, drug, and property crime. He also served in private practice and as an attorney for public lands. Raised in Anchorage, he is a graduate of Service High School.  

VIDEO: A massive 2-alarm fire at a Northeast Side apartment complex looks to be intentionally set, according to San Antonio Fire Department officials. The fire started just after 4 a.m. Thursday at the Cottages at Terrell Hills apartments on Harry Wurzbach Road near Rittiman Road. Firefighters immediately went defensive due to the size of the fire, using ladder companies and fighting the fire from above, as flames were shooting through the roof of one of the buildings. Part of the roof collapsed during their battle. Fire Department Chief Charles Hood says that firefighters immediately began knocking on doors to get everyone out of the building, as the fire quickly spread. He said they were able to account for everyone in the building, and they are being housed inside the apartment clubhouse at this time.  

VIDEO: When rioters set fire to parts of the Twin Cities last summer, the world was watching. So were investigators, who were about to take on one of the biggest tasks of their careers. More than 160 arson investigations are connected to the unrest last May, according to Jeffery Reed, assistant special agent in charge for the ATF's St. Paul Field division. "When I saw that from the air, it was likened to a battlefield scene, actual battlefield video footage that I'd seen before," Reed said. "That's the immediate analogy that I drew because it looked like missile strikes." Reed watched the unrest last May knowing his team would be called to step in. "It was daunting," Reed said. The FBI was also watching from Washington D.C., then the ATF's national response teams came in from across America.  

The Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in Leesburg killing four onboard was conducting a test flight with a newly installed piece of firefighting equipment when a piece came off and swung into the blades, the preliminary crash report from the National Transportation Safety Board shows. The Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training exercise May 25 near the Leesburg airport. Leesburg city officials said all four crew members died. Their bodies were recovered in the wreckage but officials have yet to release their names. The aircraft was registered to Brainerd Helicopters Inc./Firehawk Helicopters, which contracts with the federal government for firefighting and other services. The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB are investigating the crash. On Wednesday, the NTSB released its aviation accident preliminary report.  

An internal audit of the city's fire department is raising alarms at city hall. It shows response times are too slow. And some fire stations have had to temporarily shut down. Chief Scott Wolverton went before the a city council committee to answer to the results. The audit showed that the department's overall response times have fallen below national standards. It looked at data from four straight years beginning in 2016. It showed that Shreveport's fire trucks are too slow getting out of the station about half the time, and too slow getting to the scene almost a third of the time. Wolverton blamed it on an aging fleet of trucks that are breaking down. Sometimes that means shutting down a fire station. He explained that after the engine at Fire Station 1 went down, he was forced to move the engine from Fire Station 2 to over to Station 1 "to best cover the city." But that meant the temporary closure of Station 2.  

Reforms for cutting, welding, and hot work that stem from the death of two Boston firefighters seven years ago were again at the forefront of a legislative hearing Monday with first responders saying legislation is needed to prevent further deaths and hold violating companies accountable. A Sen. Nick Collins bill (S 1554) would implement recommendations from a special commission created and named after Boston firefighters Edward Walsh and Michael Kennedy, who died in a 2014 fire reportedly caused by welders working on a building next door to a brownstone in the Back Bay. Walsh and Kennedy were trapped in the basement of the building as winds helped fan a nine-alarm fire at 298 Beacon Street. A Boston fire investigation found that an unpermitted and improper welding operation started the blaze, according to local media reports.