PHOTOS: Five vehicles were damaged by fire in the parking lot of a Walmart on Wednesday in west suburban Addison. Addison police shared a photo of firefighters tending to the vehicles around 10 a.m. at the Walmart at 1050 N. Rohlwing Road. Fire officials say they think a mechanical issue - not foul play - caused the first car to catch on fire and then it spread. The owners had no idea what was happening until they came outside. "Most of the other people who had vehicles involved in this were completely unaware until they came out and were like, ‘oh the fire department's here,' and, ‘oh look it's actually my car that's damaged from the fire,'" said Addison Fire Chief Chris Mansfield. He added that if you ever come across your car on fire, do not approach it and do not try to get any of your belongings.  

The Rockford Fire Department is urging the importance of fire safety, after the 2023 fire death toll has already gone up compared to recent years. On April 26th, they will be doing neighborhood safety walk throughs just over a month after a recent fatal house fire. "I want to make sure that people know that when the fire department comes to their houses, we're not coming to get anyone in trouble," Arson Investigator for Rockford Fire, Michael Schnaper said. "If you don't have a smoke detector, we want to provide one for you. As a firefighter, we've unfortunately been to houses where people have passed away in fires. So we want to make sure that that doesn't happen." Rockford Fire will go door-to-door near the 600 block of Central Ave., where the most recent fatal fire took place.  

The Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad (GVFRS) says crews responded to a large fire in an effort that spanned three hours. Personnel responded to the working structure fire at 11:12 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26. The scene was located off Lord Carrington Drive. When crews arrived, they found heavy flames on the second floor and attic area. The response effort included five engines, a tanker, a rescue truck and a medic unit. The Mathews Volunteer Fire Department (MVFD) also aided in the response and brought a tanker and an engine to help. The response effort included 29 personnel in total. GVFRS Assistant Chief Jon Williams said they requested aid from MVFD because they maxed out their sources. He added that they're currently understaffed.  

The FDNY on Wednesday announced a new effort to prevent fires caused by lithium-ion batteries. The department received a $100,000 donation from Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber. The FDNY says it will use the money to help promote fire safety outreach and support the public education campaign to prevent fires caused by e-bike batteries. FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh says those batteries have been blamed for 67 fires and five deaths so far this year. "We know that we need to work together to help in our safety messaging to ensure that the public is informed of best practices when it comes to using micro-mobility devices. We will continue to work with federal, state and local partners to look for solutions and spread awareness until this is no longer a danger to the city," Kavanagh said. The FDNY says they've been aggressively educating the public on the dangers of these batteries and on how to safely own and operate e-bikes.  

VIDEOS/PHOTOS: The size of a football field, the mammoth theater erected in front of Union Station for this week's NFL Draft is the biggest the league has ever built. But the NFL actually wanted to build an even larger, more elaborate stage. Months ago, the league planned a structure complete with a second story that could house as many as 1,000 people. But fire department officials say those plans were scaled back during conversations with the NFL. Such a grandiose NFL Draft Theater would have faced more scrutiny from city inspectors and driven up the cost substantially because of the need to install a sprinkler system in the temporary structure. "The building process would have taken significantly longer, the inspection process would have been significantly more involved," said Joseph Ragsdale, the city's assistant fire marshal who has worked on the draft preparations.  

PHOTOS: Portland Fire & Rescue is hosting a group of firefighters from Tokyo that is here to learn about how to respond in the event of a volcanic eruption. Mount Fuji is still an active volcano and is located just two hours southwest of Tokyo – similar to the distance between Mt. St. Helens and Portland. Local firefighters shared their experiences with ash mitigation. They also visited Cowlitz County Disaster Management and spoke with first responders about their experiences responding to the 1980 eruption. "With a city of 14 million and a very specific, tight infrastructure, it could be devastating to them," said Rick Graves, a spokesperson with Portland Fire & Rescue. "They wanted to come over here to Portland and learn from our experiences from 1980 along with the changes we've made to allow us to respond to a large-scale natural disaster emergency."  

A 13-year-old is facing charges for allegedly attacking two Gastonia firefighters Tuesday night, police said. The Gastonia Police Department responded to the reported assault of a firefighter around 9 p.m. on Pikes Peak Drive. Gastonia fire officials said one of their firefighters was attacked by a teen who was armed with a knife. The teen then allegedly assaulted a second firefighter. When officers arrived, they saw firefighters were holding the teen, who then assaulted officers who attempted to take her into custody. The 13-year-old was charged with assault and aggravated assault. She is being held at a juvenile detention facility in Concord.