One person has died and another injured in a house fire on the Kenai Peninsula. The local fire department found the home in Anchor Point fully engulfed in flames when they arrived Thursday evening. One person was found dead inside the house. Alaska State Troopers say a second resident was found at a nearby home, and was flown to Seattle for medical treatment. The Alaska State Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the cause of the fire.  

VIDEO: Fire engulfed the center building at Maid-Rite Steak Co. Inc. in Scott Township, sending flames high into the night sky. The fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Explosions rocked the ground as firefighters from 17 local departments tried to knock down the fire inside the meat processing facility. The company's human resources director says the building was evacuated after the fire broke out, and everyone is accounted for. Battling the blaze proved difficult. Scott Township Fire Chief Matt Pritchyk says a nearby pump did not work, so he called in tanker trucks to retrieve water from a nearby pond. PennDot crews salted the roads to keep them from freezing. "Very cold conditions, lots of ice on the ground. Commonwealth Health Ems set up a recovery station for the firefighters battling the blaze in the cold," said John Montes, Commonwealth Health Administrative Director of EMS.  

John H. Oates, former fire chief of the East Hartford Fire Department in Connecticut, has been named the new CEO of the International Public Safety Data Institute by the organization's board of directors. Oates replaces Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell, who was appointed to lead the U.S. Fire Administration by President Joe Biden in October. "Educating fire departments around the country on how to leverage technology and data to provide lifesaving insights is my mission," said Oates. "We can't keep using 1981 procedures, techniques and data to solve 2021 problems. The fire service needs to improve how it views and applies information in its decision making, and IPSDI has two products in NFORS and FireCARES that are uniquely positioned to help rethink the future of safety in communities across America."  

The holidays after losing a loved one can be a difficult time, which is why the Buchanan-based non-profit, Sirens and Salutes is honoring those who lost their lives this year in the line of duty. In front of the Buchanan Volunteer Fire Station, there is a white Christmas tree with a special meaning. Each ornament on the tree represents a service member who was killed in the line of duty this year. There are 278 ornaments on the tree. "Red for firefighters, blue for police officers and K-9s and tan for military. Anyone who has been killed in the line of duty in 2021 for this year has a star on the tree with their name on it, and where they were from and the date they lost their lives," said Sirens and Salutes President, Bill Price. Price has created a tree like this every year since 2017 when he lost his own father who served as a police officer.  

PHOTOS: Oftentimes first responders must physically get out and open unmanned security gates in neighborhoods when there's an emergency, but now technology is helping get them through much quicker. For all the unmanned gates protecting communities in Palm Beach County, for years now they've been required to have Knox Boxes. A key is required to turn in the box in order to get the gate to open for emergency personnel. It can take a minute to a minute and a half. Now more communities are getting what's called Click2Enter boxes, which allow the gates to open with a push of a button on a radio over a protected frequency. A fire truck or ambulance could get through in seconds. "It always matters, the faster we get there, the better we are and the better outcome," said Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Fire Marshal David DeRita.