VIDEO: Multiple fire crews spent Saturday battling blazes that erupted from a derailed train that went off the tracks at 10 a.m. near Highway U.S. 287 and F.M.483 in Oklaunion. The Wichita Falls and Vernon Fire Departments as well as Sheppard Air Force Base were quick to respond to the scene where a Burlington Northern Sante Fe train derailed this morning. BNSF officials said the train had 98 cars that were carrying denatured alcohol also known as ethanol. There were 28 cars that derailed and out of those 25 caught on fire during the accident. The train was headed Eastbound on its way to Fort Worth. The Texas Department of Public Safety closed parts of Highway U.S. 287 and the overpass crossing F.M. 483 where some of those 98 cars sat and could have caused a possible explosion.  

VIDEO/PHOTO: Firefighters responded to a house fire in north Houston early Monday. This started around 3:30 a.m. in the 1600 block of Hartwick. Crews from Aldine, Westfield, Eastex and Little York fire departments responded to the blaze. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found heavy flames coming from the home which was spreading to nearby cars. The homeowner told KHOU 11 News that his family was able to get out safe. No injuries have been reported at this time. The fire took about 20 to 30 minutes to get under control. The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office is heading to the scene to investigate the cause of the fire.  

VIDEO: Firefighters put out a massive fire at a plastics factory in Wharton overnight. The fire started at about 8:50 p.m. Sunday at Nan Ya Plastics on U.S. 59 near FM 102, according to the Wharton Police Department. Video from the scene showed flames shooting out of the building. "There's going to be employees in the building still. They're evacuating now," an emergency responder could be heard reporting on a radio call. "On location Wharton, we do have flames showing." On Facebook, officials said all staff and personnel had been accounted for. No injuries were reported.  

On Monday, Lubbock Fire Rescue released an update concerning a mobile home fire that injured one person Sunday morning. The fire was reported around 10:00 a.m. in the 2300 block of Auburn Street in the Acadia Mobile Home Park. According to LFR, crews arrived on scene to find a single mobile home fully engulfed and heavy black smoke showing. Two occupants were able to escape the mobile home, while a third occupant was rescued by a neighbor who broke a window and pulled them out. The third occupant was transported to University Medical Center with minor injuries. LFR did not provide a cause of the fire.  

A woman driving in Texas is lucky to be alive after spending nearly eight hours trapped in her car — in freezing water. Fortunately, neighbors alerted first responders to the accident that sent her car off a bridge into the Medina River, near San Antonio. A firefighter dive team pulled the 29-year-old woman out of her overturned vehicle, after she crashed through a metal barrier. Bexar County sheriff's deputies say the woman is alive thanks to nearby neighbors who saw tire tracks and followed them to the end. Tony Luna talked about what he saw. "Yeah, she hit that," he said pointing to the crumpled metal. "The first thing that came to my mind I thought that she had drowned." The woman was saved thanks to Luna, his granddaughter and her fiancé.  

Four Temple residents along with their pets were displaced after an early morning fire that occurred at 1117 S. 11th Street, according to the City of Temple. The city says when fire crews arrived to the scene they found heavy smoke and flames coming from a shed next to the garage of the home. "As firefighters extinguished the flames, it was noted that fire had traveled through the eve of the house igniting the adjacent wall and attic. Crews quickly knocked down the fire, limiting structural damage to the home," said the City of Temple. The residents and pets were evacuated safety and without injury, per the city. The cause of the fire is still under investigation at this time.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: An electric space heater is being blamed for sparking the horrific high-rise Bronx apartment fire that killed at least 19 people, including nine children, city officials confirmed Sunday evening. The fire originated in a duplex on the second and third floors of the building but never extended past the unit and the hallway nearest the apartment, FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro revealed. Smoke generated from the duplex blaze was able to filter out through an open door and spread throughout the 19-story structure, he explained. "The door to that apartment unfortunately when the residents left was left open, it did not close by itself. The smoke spread throughout the building, thus the tremendous loss of life," Nigro said at an evening press briefing. The functionality of the building's fire alarms were under investigation, but Nigro said one did alert a neighbor to the rising smoke and prompted the initial 911 call.  

The National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), the National Fallen Fire Fighter Foundation (NFFF), International Association Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) are calling on Congress to immediately pass critical legislation to improve fire safety in public housing and older high-rise buildings. The call follows two tragic fires in the last 5 days that claimed the lives of at least 31 people and injured well over 60. The first fire occurred at a public housing rowhouse in Philadelphia on January 5, 2022, and claimed the lives of twelve people including eight children. The second blaze occurred on January 9th in the Bronx. This second fire is the worst incident in New York City in 30 years and claimed the lives of 19 individuals. Another 63 have been reported injured, some of them critically, and the death toll may increase further in the days ahead.  

PHOTOS: As he stood in the third-floor corner room that served as his office from 2000 to 2010, retired Hartford Fire Chief Charles Teale reflected on some of the more historic moments that had taken place at the Pearl Street headquarters during his tenure. He recalled firefighters coming into the room after the 9/11 attacks and dumping piles of money they had collected for the 343 firefighters who perished at Ground Zero out onto the long conference table that dominated the room. Teale also remembered the meetings held in the aftermath of the 2003 Greenwood Health Center fire that claimed the lives of 16 people. Investigators concluded the fire was started by a resident with a history of mental illness and substance abuse who had been playing with a lighter in her bed. A self-taught Hartford and fire department historian, Teale is very familiar with the history of the three-story brick building and speaks reverently of it.  

On the morning of January 6, 2021, Christopher Holmes was starting out his second day as a battalion chief for DC Fire and EMS. "I'd just recently been promoted," said Holmes, who's been with the department for more than 20 years. In his role as battalion chief, he was part of the team helping to lead the DC Fire and EMS response at the Capitol as a violent crowd began storming the building. "We noticed they were starting to get onto the grounds of the Capitol, and we repositioned to make sure our EMS resources wouldn't get blocked in," Holmes recalled. "We pretty much staged in a couple different areas so we could responsibly deploy our resources." In the hours that followed, D.C. firefighters and paramedics would treat hundreds of people for injuries, both police officers and rioters.  

In an ideal world, the U.S. would be awash in COVID tests. Anyone exposed to COVID-19 could self-test and/or go to a lab or clinic for a test if necessary. But right now, self-tests are in short supply in many parts of the country. The Biden administration is pledging to distribute 500 million rapid tests "within weeks," White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said Wednesday, but few other details have been announced. And test manufacturers are ramping up production, so the hope is that at some point, although no one can say exactly when, you won't be seeing those "no tests available" signs at the local pharmacy or have to wait a week or more for tests ordered online. What's more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed its testing guidelines in the wake of the omicron surge in the U.S. — and public health researchers are critical of some of the recommendations.