VIDEO/PHOTOS: A man is recovering after he was injured while trying to escape a fire at a west Houston apartment complex Wednesday, officials with the Houston Fire Department said. Firefighters received multiple calls about a fire at an apartment complex located at 5907 Inwood around 10:15 p.m. Crews reportedly arrived within five minutes and located one unit with heavy flames. According to HFD, a man appeared to have jumped from a second-floor window while trying to escape the blaze. The man possibly broke his legs and was transported to an area hospital, officials said. Officials said one firefighter sustained minor injuries. Firefighters said at least three other units have smoke and water damage. Officials are trying to get ahold of the Red Cross to help care for those displaced.  

VIDEO: Twenty years ago, NASA's Columbia space shuttle crashed to the Earth, killing all seven astronauts on board and sending debris scattered across 200 miles. San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood was deployed to search for that crucial debris. "It's just a time to reflect. It's a time to look at the work that we did as far as finding those black boxes so the space program could move on," Hood said. Hood was working in Phoenix at the time and was deployed two days after the disaster to lead an elite search team through dangerous terrain on the Texas-Louisiana border, looking for shuttle debris. "I had a team of about 60 that were wildland firefighters that they had brought in," Hood said. The cockpit and the boxes were somewhere in Hemphill, Texas, around and in the Sabine National Forest.  

VIDEO/PHOTO: One person was killed and two more were injured after a pipeline explosion in Pearsall, southwest of San Antonio. The OSHA San Antonio area office is investigating the explosion in Pearsall that killed one employee and sent two more to the hospital. County Commissioner Raul Carrizales III says that he got an alert saying it happened Tuesday around 1 p.m. on East HWY 85 near FM 1582. Officials will release their findings once they complete their investigation. They released a statement saying, "Our thoughts are with the workers' family and friends during this difficult time." More will be available once the investigation is complete within about six months, according to OSHA.  

Fort Worth police are trying to determine who crashed a fire engine. Firefighters were working a medical call at a hotel on the South Freeway Wednesday night. When they came out, the engine was gone. They found it about a block away uphill near Interstate 35W and Seminary Drive. Tire tracks in the ice showed where the driver lost control and crashed into a pole and a street sign. No one was inside by the time firefighters made the discovery. The engine did have some minor damage.  

One person was sent to an area hospital following a house fire on the city's South Side early Wednesday morning, according to the San Antonio Fire Department. The fire was called in just before 10 a.m. at a home in the 200 block of East Dickson Avenue, not far from Southwest Military Drive and South Flores Street. Firefighters said when they arrived, they found flames showing from the single-family home. The San Antonio Police Department rescued a woman from the house, who was treated by emergency crews at the scene and then taken by ambulance to Brooke Army Medical Center. Batallion Chief Wesley West said the woman was transported to the hospital with flash burns. Police said she had suffered second degree burns to both the forehead and scalp. The fire was knocked down quickly and without incident.  

It seems no one is immune from possible power outages. On Wednesday, Baylor Scott and White in Taylor and Ascension Seton Northwest told KXAN they're running on backup generators. St. David's North Austin Medical Center said its power is back, but out of an abundance of caution, it has re-scheduled elective procedures. Austin Fire said it has had 15 stations fluctuating in and out of power. "We do have some that are on generator power, and we have some with no power," said Peter Teliha, AFD chief of logistics. Teliha said some buildings have been renovated since the 2021 winter storm, which is keeping crews more insulated. But he also said firefighters are used to staying at stations overnight. "When we hear the weather's going to be bad, we bring extra clothes and an extra blanket and maybe an extra sleeping bag," he said.  

Newly-released bodycam video shows the dramatic rescue of a trapped driver moments before his car burst into flames on the Las Vegas Strip. The sudden crash happened just outside the Venetian resort last week. A good Samaritan and police officer quickly jumped into action to pull the man from the smoking car. Footage shows flames exploding from beneath the vehicle just as they pulled the man free. A nearby security camera also captured the amazing rescue with only seconds to spare. As more helped arrived, the driver was pulled even further from the fiery wreck. "If we weren't there, I think he would've been burned in the vehicle," said Officer Derek Stebbins. "Would he have died? I don't know, but I think he would have suffered severe burns just from how fast the vehicle caught fire."  

As we enter Black History Month, a local fire company makes history here on Delmarva. The Carlisle Fire Company recently appointed Shawn Hinton as chief. He is the first African American chief in the department's 221 year history. Chief Hinton has 15 years of experience under his belt and said he is honored to be the new voice of the department. He said fellow firefighters pushed him to take on the role they believe he was destined to fill. "I've always got questioned by membership or other friends in other departments about running," said Chief Hinton. "I was always like 'next year I'll run' and they were like 'man you just have to do it.'" Milford Mayor, Archie Campbell, who made his own mark as the first black mayor in 2018, said he is glad to see times changing.  

A machete attack and a fire captain punched in the face — it's what Sacramento Metro Fire is facing with a growing homeless crisis. They say their jobs are getting more and more dangerous. Squatters in vacant buildings are responsible for fires causing millions in damage. Metro Fire Capt. Parker Wilbourn said his agency responded to more than 2,500 fire incidents last year directly related to homeless encampments or people experiencing homelessness. Of those fires, 27 were at commercial structures or homes. Wilbourn said they have had an issue with the homeless tampering with fire suppression systems to wash clothes. This has caused false alarms or rendered those systems useless. And even if the homeless are keeping to themselves at campsites, what's left behind is not only a danger to the public but the environment.  

VIDEO: Marion County Fire Chief James Banta is promising to make changes to better respond to mental health struggles in the department after two firefighters died in less than a month. The chief released a video message to the department and residents of Marion County following the deaths of MCFR firefighter paramedics Allen Singleton and Tripp Wooten. Singleton died on Jan. 28 and Wooten died on Jan. 9. Both left behind wives and children. In the video, Banta acknowledges the concerns people in the department and the community have raised regarding how low pay and mandatory overtime impacts the mental health of firefighters. "If the answer was as simple as eliminating mandatory overtime, I would shut trucks down immediately, but I can tell you it goes way deeper than that," Banta said.  

PHOTOS: The city of Opelika just added a new fire engine to its fleet. The new truck, which cost $1.2 million, is called an aerial. It's the first of four new firetrucks that will arrive this year. The total price for all four firetrucks will be close to $3 million. Opelika Fire Chief Shane Boyd said the new aerial is a multi-purpose truck with a pump, a water tank, a water hose, an aerial device, and ground ladders. Boyd said the truck was customized to the Opelika Fire Department's specifications. "We'd never done this before, but we put together a committee of our own officers and firefighters that wanted to be part of building the truck and said let's try to maximize the uses," Boyd said. "Firemen are notoriously hard to please. We second guess everything we do. We're probably our own worst critics, but they've been really happy with the way they laid it out. I don't think we would change anything if we ordered another one."