VIDEO: Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS responded to a three-alarm apartment fire early Friday morning. ATCEMS said six ambulances responded to the Ventura Apartments at 9133 Northgate Blvd. between West Rundberg Lane and U.S. Highway 183. Upon arrival, AFD said the top portion of the complex was engulfed in flames. More than 100 AFD firefighters responded to the scene, and AFD assistant chief Brandon Wade all 40 units were damaged by either fire or water, which most likely will displace everyone who lives there. As of ATCEMS' update via Twitter at 5:15 a.m., at least four people have been taken to hospitals for treatment. Two of the people have critical, life-threatening injuries and were taken to Dell Seton Medical Center, one with burns and another with smoke inhalation.  

A grandmother has died, and three other people – including two young girls – were taken to the hospital after a house fire in northwest Harris County, authorities say. The fire was reported around 5 a.m. Friday in the 2700 block of Trementina Drive. According to the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office, one woman died, and her son-in-law and his two daughters were taken to the hospital. The father and the two girls are being treated for smoke inhalation. The father also had lacerations from trying to get his family out of the house, the fire marshal's office says. Officials say the two girls, believed to be 8 and 10 years old, are in critical condition. The fire has been extinguished. When firefighters arrived, there was fire coming from a front room of the house. According to the fire marshal's office, the fire was contained in that one room.  

The Lewisville Fire Department is now one of two departments in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to have a liquid accelerant detection K-9 program. Celina, the fire department's new liquid accelerant detection K-9, was assigned through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms. She is a 20-month-old black lab and was raised in the prison system, receiving training from the Puppies Behind Bars program where inmates train service dogs for first responders and wounded veterans. She is trained to detect six chemical compounds, allowing her to detect over 200 accelerants. Each year, the fire department investigates around 250 fires. "Every fire is investigated, whether it's a fire started in a potted plant started by a cigarette butt, or it's a larger fire," Fire Captain Jason Martinson said at a Monday Council meeting.  

VIDEO: Investigators said they are working to find out what caused a massive fire that destroyed more than a dozen boats near Lake Conroe. The fire was reported just before 9 p.m. at the Lakeview Marina at 880 Beach Walk Blvd. just off of SH 105 West. Firefighters with the Lake Conroe Fire Department said they arrived and saw heavy fire from several enclosed boat stalls. Authorities said locks had to be cut to access the stalls. Once inside, officials saw over a dozen boats were either destroyed or suffered extensive damage. Firefighters said it took them a while to get the fire under control. At one point, officials said a fuel tank ruptured, igniting another blaze which required foam to douse it. The Conroe Fire Department Fire Marshal is on the scene and plans to spend most of the day investigating the cause of the blaze.  

San Antonio firefighters responded to an RV fire on the city's West Side early Friday morning. The fire was called in around 8 a.m. in the 200 block of South Eduardo Avenue, not far from South General McMullen Drive and Old Highway 90. Firefighters said when they arrived, they found an RV fully engulfed in flames. Fire officials said the RV was located in a fenced-off lot that likely belongs to people on the property adjacent to it. The fire was knocked down quickly and without incident. The fire did not spread beyond the RV. Firefighters did say, however, that the damage to the RV is too severe to immediately determine how the fire started. Fire investigators will still work to try to determine an exact cause. The SAFD said it appears someone was likely living inside the RV, but no one was home at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported.  

It's well known that when anybody calls on the ECCA Volunteer Fire Department, they all come running. Well, the ECCA Volunteer FD is needing us to return the favor. Fire Chief Gary Young says their newest fire trucks don't fit inside the old, outdated ECCA fire station, the stalls are too short and narrow. Young says "we need a new fire station to accommodate the updated equipment. The construction date of the new fire station was unknown. Is it a coincidence that construction began the minute Gary stopped into the studio to talk about their major fundraiser coming up? Chief Young had just gotten the words out of his mouth that the foundation needed to be laid out, formed and poured, but he didn't know when. Then, his phone went off alerting him to the good news: The concrete guys sharing photos of the forms being laid out.  

VIDEO: Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS responded to a three-alarm apartment fire early Friday morning. ATCEMS said six ambulances responded to the Ventura Apartments at 9133 Northgate Blvd. between West Rundberg Lane and U.S. Highway 183. Upon arrival, AFD said the top portion of the complex was engulfed in flames. More than 100 AFD firefighters responded to the scene, and AFD assistant chief Brandon Wade all 40 units were damaged by either fire or water, which most likely will displace everyone who lives there. As of ATCEMS' update via Twitter at 5:15 a.m., at least four people have been taken to hospitals for treatment. Two of the people have critical, life-threatening injuries and were taken to Dell Seton Medical Center, one with burns and another with smoke inhalation.  

VIDEO: Dozens of Chevrolet C8 Corvettes may have survived a tornado last month, but that doesn't mean they're out of danger. In fact, about 120 examples of the iconic sports car are now scheduled to be demolished, according to Jalopnik. The vehicles, which were damaged when a catastrophic tornado hit Kentucky and five other states last month, will reportedly be scrapped to ensure no defective cars end up on the road. The cars were damaged when a massive tornado struck the General Motors's plant where the C8 Corvette is built in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Although the toll of the deadly tornado was worse in other areas, the factory suffered major damage, including its roof and employee entrance catching on fire.  

Knowing there's a health care crisis in Maine, one man is answering the call to help. He's the "newest" firefighter and paramedic for the Augusta Fire Department. "It's like we never skipped a beat. That's why they call it brotherhood, you're always family," Augusta Firefighter and Paramedic Greg Coniff said. After eight years away from the station, Coniff has returned from "retirement." "The city of Augusta was having a hard time filling vacancies that they had with qualified candidates," Coniff said. So Coniff is back at the place he worked for 19 years, according to the department. Chief David Groder welcomes his experience. "For us that's a great opportunity," Groder said. "He's trained in our organization, he's trained in our system. It's been a little while since he's been gone but he's able to step right back in."  

VIDEO: A group of Chicago firefighters have come up with a unique fundraising campaign to keep you hot all year round! They are posing with their fire retardant pants, axes, hoses, hats… and nothing more. "We have to stay in physically fit condition anyway, why not use the calendar as a motivator," said Henry Mendez, a Chicago firefighter EMT. He's one of ten firefighters who posed in the 2022 "Ignite the Spirit" calendar. They are the few, but brave, who dared to pose in next to nothing for charity. "You get them to walk into a burning building, but you can't get them to put themselves out there for a charitable cause sometimes," said Joe Warnke, also a Chicago firefighter EMT. The money raised from the sale of the calendars will benefit a fund for firefighters in need. It was created by a Chicago firefighter who helped with 9-11 recovery efforts, at Ground Zero.  

An EMT and Cherokee Nation citizen who helped save a police officer's life in 2021 is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather to become a Tulsa firefighter. "Failure for me is not an option," said Christian Kaiser, 21, of Kansas, Okla. "The Tulsa Fire Department, to me, is critical. It's all I've ever wanted out of life. This is make or break." The family's firefighting legacy began on Kaiser's Cherokee side with his grandfather, who spent 20 years with the Tulsa Fire Department before retiring as a captain. "Then my dad (Kelly), he grew up just right there in my grandpa's fire boots," Kaiser said. "He's fulfilled all his goals, dreams and hopes with the fire department. Now it's become a family deal. It runs in the blood. It's really a surreal feeling for me because my entire life has been building up to this moment here when the academy starts."