VIDEO: The Real Heroes Awards is an annual event celebrating ten people across Alaska. "Heroes in ten different categories. Those categories range from fire rescue, marine rescue. We also have adult good Samaritan, youth Good Samaritan. So we're really trying to showcase a broad network of heroes across the entire state of Alaska," Taylar Sausen with the American Red Cross of Alaska said. And being a hero can bring the community together. "The end of the day, even though here in Anchorage, we live in a big city, the elements still dominate. And we understand that the next time it might be us that needs the help," Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson said. One of the youngest heroes of the night, Madelyn Holland, saved her grandma after a medical emergency.  

A Mercer County neighborhood was evacuated Thursday morning after a warehouse fire. The fire broke out around 12:30 a.m. at the warehouse on Whitehead Road. Video from the scene showed flames were spilling out from windows. Smoke was billowing above the buildings after 6 a.m. Chuck Hector, who works at a building across the road, said the fire sparked explosions and jets of flame were shooting up into the air. "The flames went literally, 100 feet up in the air," Hector said. "There were large embers that were just going up and going on the roofs." Some embers landed on his business' roof, but he said the damage was minor. The warehouse belongs to a company that buys out liquidated items, then stores them and resells them. The building was "packed stem to stern with thousands of different items," Hector said.  

PHOTOS: The Paintsville Fire Department has welcomed the artistic contributions of local students and others to help bring some color into Station 1. According to PFD Firefighter Ryan Barker, the culmination of a three-year project has led to an exercise in community togetherness, celebrating the artistry of local students and others as they have, in turn, shown their support for local firefighters. Barker said ceiling tiles throughout Station 1 have been taken down and sent to both Johnson County and Paintsville Independent School Districts, where students have painted the tiles with fire-themed works. Barker's inspiration for starting the project came from a well-known and similar project that took place at Papa John's in Paintsville.  

"Before I begin, let me say one thing I said to the families of the two deceased officers. All of you who've lost someone know that no matter how much you take pride in recognition of what they did when they were lost, it still brings back everything like it happened that moment. And I just say to the families, as I said to them personally at the time when I met them and now, it takes a lot of courage to do what you're doing. And thank you. Thank you, thank you. Attorney General Garland, thank you for your leadership. And today it's my honor to award nine brave Americans the Medal of Valor, the highest award this country can bestow on a public safety officer. The award is given for actions above and beyond the call of duty and exhibiting exceptional courage, extraordinary decisiveness, presence of mind, and unusual swiftness in action, regardless of his or her personal safety, in an attempt to save or protect a human life."  

Chris King has been working towards his 2023 debut at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals for almost two years. The full-time Chicago firefighter will be back on track in his Howards Cams/Competition Products Dodge Charger Funny Car this weekend for the first time since his last race in 2021. King will be competing in six NHRA national events this season, but he is most excited about getting the season started in front of his hometown friends and family at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet. "Racing Funny Cars in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is something I think about every day," said King. "I love my job as a firefighter and running King Training Innovations LLC, a firefighter training company, but getting the chance to race at over 300 mph is a rush you can't explain to a lot of people."  

VIDEO: On May 17th, 1923, the deadliest fire in the history of South Carolina, the Cleveland School fire, shook the community. The fire was at a small school in Camden, and it led to the state rewriting the state's fire code laws to prevent such a tragedy from ever taking place again. "She was incoherent and kept repeating, 'I see Jesus, Jesus help me.'" Those are the words Linda Rodgers read from her aunt Clara Wooten's journal about the night of the Cleveland School Fire. "77 people lost their lives, much of which, if you can imagine in 1923 ... There was no fire service out here, so there were no firefighting efforts, so the fire essentially burned until it was done burning," Camden Fire Chief John Bowers said. Around 41 of the people who died were students.