The Wichita Falls Fire Department fought a house fire in 2900 block of McGaha Avenue on Wednesday. Firefighters arrived on scene around 7:30 p.m. and saw a fire coming from the front of the house. The fire reportedly started in the kitchen due to unattended cooking and was quickly extinguished. One person was checked out by AMR on scene but they refused treatment and refused to go to the hospital. The Red Cross was called to assist the residents. No other injuries were reported. The fire caused an estimated $25,000 in damage.  

PHOTOS: One person is dead after they were ejected from their vehicle during a crash on I-35 in Salado early Wednesday morning. Around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, April 21, firefighters with the Salado Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched to a crash on I-35 at 282 Southbound. Command 1, Rescue 2 and Brush 1 arrived to the scene and discovered a two-vehicle crash involving a passenger vehicle and a dump truck. According to Salado VFD, the driver of the passenger vehicle was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene. Authorities shut down the southbound lanes of I-35 and traffic was diverted at Exit 283. I-35 was reopened at 8:10 a.m.  

It didn't take long for reports to spread online that a Tesla Model S crash in a gated subdivision in The Woodlands, near Houston, Texas, this past weekend outwitted firefighters for four hours. The reality, according to the local fire chief, turned out to be much less exciting (though still tragic for those involved, including two people inside the car who died). There's a lesson here about how continuous advancements in the auto industry force first responders into an endless arms race for information. "We are always challenged in the fire service to keep up with the latest trends," fire chief Palmer Buck of The Woodlands Township in Texas told Car and Driver. "Several years ago it was compressed natural gas and before that it was propane-powered vehicles and biodiesel."  

The Northeast Midland County Volunteer Fire Department has launched a capital campaign to raise money for a new fire station. The volunteer fire department says after 37 years in its current location, it has outgrown the existing station and the land it sits on. A website for the capital campaign says space in the current station is limited and fire trucks are being parked outside, exposed to weather deterioration. And much needed equipment is also being stored outside the facility and is at risk of being damaged or stolen. In addition, the current facility has limited space to maintain and repair equipment. A new station would give the volunteer department the necessary space to host functions to educate the community about fire prevention and safety as well as provide a space to safely store important equipment and trucks.  

VIDEO: The southbound lanes of Interstate 35W were treated with a brine solution before a deadly 135-car pileup during February's winter storm, according to a preliminary investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the crash Wednesday. The massive pileup happened on the morning of Feb. 11 on the southbound side of I-35W near Northside Drive, north of downtown. Drivers who were reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed ventured onto slick roads coated with a thin sheet of ice from freezing rain that had fallen overnight and into the early morning hours. Cars, trucks and 18-wheelers collided one after another for a crash scene that stretched for nearly a mile. Six people lost their lives and dozens were injured.  

Fire crews rescued a man after he was "partially buried" in a grain solo in Chilton Wednesday, according to the Waco Fire Department. The department tweeted about the incident a little before 3 p.m., saying the man was inside a silo near CR-4002. An hour later, Waco Fire said the man was successfully rescued. "Having the right training and specialized equipment pays off again," the Waco Fire Department tweeted. He was transported to the hospital to be evaluated.  

VIDEO: Two people had to jump from the top floor to escape a massive condo fire early Thursday morning in Norfolk. Dispatchers say they were notified around 3 a.m. of the fire in the 4600 block of Mayflower Road, at the Lafayette Cove Condominiums in the Colonial Place neighborhood. Assistant Fire Chief Garry Windley said that two people were rushed to the hospital after they jumped from the top floor of the building. The extent of their injuries is unknown at this time. A entire section of the building was fully engulfed in flames, blocking the exit for multiple units. The building eventually collapsed, and a neighbor said he felt vibrations. "Just after a few minutes you could see a skeleton of it already," said Tristan. He said three other people were evaluated at the scene.  

Lawmakers have introduced a bill to add vascular rupture to the list of injuries covered under the Volunteer Firefighters' Benefit Law in honor of a Whitehall firefighter who died in September after suffering a line-of-duty injury last May. James Brooks was second assistant chief of the Whitehall Volunteer Fire Company and was responding to a fire call in Dresden on May 2. He was reaching for his radio when he suffered an aortic rupture. He initially thought he had pulled a muscle and had intense pain when responding to the scene. Brooks spent months at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont. He had three strokes, which confined him to a wheelchair and left him with the use of only his right arm. Brooks died from his injuries on Sept. 17. Brooks had served in the department for 27 years. He had accumulated about a million dollars in medical expenses during his hospital stay.  

A group of off-duty EMTs and an off-duty police officer who all happened to be eating at the same Rahway restaurant sprung into action to save a man choking on his food Monday night. The six medics and the officer were dining at The Waiting Room in Rahway, when the man began choking on a piece of steak around 9:30 p.m. Elizabeth EMT Amber Henderson, 27, was the first to notice. "I happened to look over and saw a woman standing up and hitting a man on the back," she told Daily Voice. Henderson stood up slowly to see if the man was able to get the food out, but noticed very quickly that wasn't the case, she said. "I ran over and started doing the Heimlich, and a small chuck of food came out, but he was still choking -- and there was much more [food] left inside," the EMT said. Just as Henderson began wondering how she was going to save the man all on her own, off-duty Rahway officer Eddie O'Donnell realized what was happening.  

VIDEO: The southbound lanes of Interstate 35W were treated with a brine solution before a deadly 135-car pileup during February's winter storm, according to a preliminary investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the crash Wednesday. The massive pileup happened on the morning of Feb. 11 on the southbound side of I-35W near Northside Drive, north of downtown. Drivers who were reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed ventured onto slick roads coated with a thin sheet of ice from freezing rain that had fallen overnight and into the early morning hours. Cars, trucks and 18-wheelers collided one after another for a crash scene that stretched for nearly a mile. Six people lost their lives and dozens were injured.  

President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Americans to do their patriotic duty and get a COVID shot. He urged businesses (with the enticement of a tax credit) to give their employees the paid time-off to do so. The President's renewed appeals come as the country is fast-approaching an arguably more difficult stage of its vaccine roll-out—one where demand for the vaccine no longer outstrips supply. As of April 21, 133.4 million Americans—including 80.6% of seniors, 51.5% of adults, and 40.5% of the total population—had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's up from 123.9 million people a week ago. Roughly 87.6 million Americans, or 26.4% of the population, have been fully vaccinated. In total, since the rollout began in December, the U.S. has administered 216 million vaccines of the 277.9 million distributed across the country.