VIDEO/PHOTO: Recruitment for the BLM Alaska Fire Service's Type 2 North Star Fire Crew is open until April 1. Located in Fairbanks, Alaska the North Star Fire Crew is an entry level wildland fire hand crew that provides a pathway to become an AFS hotshot, smokejumper or fire specialist. As a training crew, the program accepts applicants with little to no fire experience, provides red card certification in the first two weeks of critical training, and during a three-month season, teaches crew members the fundamental skills of wildfire suppression. The North Star Fire Crew in front of Venetie Lake near the village of Venetie in 2021. The crew spent two weeks in the village creating a fuel break to protect Venetie from a nearby wildfire. Although classified as a Type 2 hand crew, the North Star Fire Crew is trained and equipped to Interagency Hotshot Crew standards. Overhead positions on the crew are filled by current AFS hotshots with three to five years of wildfire experience.  

VIDEOS/PHOTOS: A massive fire early Monday morning in the Albany Park neighborhood destroyed two businesses and an apartment building, injuring one person and leaving several others homeless. More than 150 firefighters responded to the blaze at the corner of Montrose Avenue and Richmond Street. The fire started around 3:30 a.m. and swept through a three-story apartment building at 4337-39 N. Richmond St. It spread to the neighboring building at the southeast corner of Richmond Street and Montrose Avenue – which housed Twisted Hippo Taproom and Eatery, and Ultimate Ninjas gym. Late Monday, the Fire Department said the point of origin for the fire appeared to be in a gangway between the two buildings. The gangway had two sets of exterior stairs and the fire was believed to have started under one of them.  

VIDEO: "These are people that are really serving our community and if they're not safe what has it really come to?" A long-time Harrisburg resident and community advocate, Dr. Kevin Dolphin, asked that question as he reacted to another shooting this weekend in Harrisburg. Authorities said it happened on Saturday just before 3 p.m., when there was a shootout between two cars on N. 16 Street in front of Harrisburg Fire Station 2. Several stray bullets struck multiple fire trucks and the walls of the fire station's garage but no one was injured. Community leaders like Dr. Dolphin say it's fortunate that this was one of the times in Harrisburg where a shooting did not cause a fatal ending. "We need everyone to come to the table. Everyone from the city officials to these grassroots organizations," said Dr. Dolphin, Founder of Breaking the Chainz, Inc.  

VIDEO: One local fire station has its very own mental health therapy dog. It's the first therapy dog designated to firefighters in the Tampa Bay Area. At the North River Fire District, the new mental health dog named Drew, right here, is changing the whole morale of the station, and officials say he's helping firefighters after they respond to traumatic calls. "We see most everyone on their worst days so we try to do our best and be professionals. Drew kind of comes back and be a human again," said firefighter, Michael Davila. We all know the saying "A man's best friend…" but what about a first responder's best friend? "He'll come and run up to you, give a nice little lick and you can pet him, he's always happy to see you," said Davila. For the firefighters at the North River Fire District, this little golden retriever named Drew is their best friend.  

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has released video showing who they call a 'person of interest' in a vacant rowhouse fire that killed three Baltimore firefighters in January. The video shows a man wearing a hoodie walking near South Stricker Street around 11:35 p.m. on Jan. 23. Hours after the video was shot, Baltimore firefighters were called to 205 S. Stricker St. and entered an abandoned house to extinguish a heavy blaze. The vacant rowhouse collapsed minutes later, killing Lt. Paul Butrim, Lt. Kelsey Sadler and firefighter/paramedic Kenny Lacayo. City and state officials, as well as the ATF, are offering a $100,000 in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at 888-ATF-TIPS.  

Forty-nine states have announced plans to drop their indoor mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations steadily decline across the country. The only holdout remains Hawaii. The island state has taken strong precautions against the coronavirus from the beginning of the pandemic and is still requiring out-of-state American travelers to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to avoid a mandatory quarantine. Over 75% of Hawaii residents have received two doses of a COVID vaccine – 10% higher than the national rate – according to the Hawaii Department of Health, and coronavirus cases have dropped by a whopping 64% from Feb. 5 to Feb. 18. Hawaii's rapid drop in COVID cases mirrors nationwide statistics: Reported U.S. cases on Saturday barely exceeded 100,000, a sharp downturn from around 800,850 five weeks ago, according to Johns Hopkins University data.