VIDEO: A massive 2-alarm fire at a Northeast Side apartment complex looks to be intentionally set, according to San Antonio Fire Department officials. The fire started just after 4 a.m. Thursday at the Cottages at Terrell Hills apartments on Harry Wurzbach Road near Rittiman Road. Firefighters immediately went defensive due to the size of the fire, using ladder companies and fighting the fire from above, as flames were shooting through the roof of one of the buildings. Part of the roof collapsed during their battle. Fire Department Chief Charles Hood says that firefighters immediately began knocking on doors to get everyone out of the building, as the fire quickly spread. He said they were able to account for everyone in the building, and they are being housed inside the apartment clubhouse at this time. A total of 18 people are displaced.  

He's a mannequin that breathes, bleeds, sweats, and even cries and his name is Charlie, a life-size doll that helped paramedics and firefighters at the Annaville Fire Department understand what a patient is going through. Whether it's cardiac arrest, an allergic reaction, or a heart attack, Charlie simulates what is happening to a patient's body. Charlie resides in a sim-bulance, a simulated ambulance that is used for training firefighters and paramedics. Guadalupe Cordero, a firefighter and paramedic for the Annaville Fire Department, said the simulation helped him better understand what he will be facing on the field. "You get your hands-on training without actually being on a patient yet so it prepares you for the ever-changing field we're in," Cordero said.  

Members of the Beaver Creek Volunteer Fire Department say they've had no access to water for about two months until its well was repaired this past Saturday. That well is owned by the Beaver Creek Landowners Association Board, and the fire department says it should've been fixed sooner. The friction between the two groups has caused the BCVFD to become concerned future issues like this won't be addressed properly. The BCVFD says they lost water access on April 6 when a pipe burst. It not only made filling up their tanks after responding to fire calls more difficult, but it also meant there was no running water to their station. "We tried to get access to the well to repair it and was denied," BCVFD Chief Joseph Walden said.  

The future of the Weatherford College Fire Academy is up in the air after the property it was housed at — where the city of Weatherford is constructing it's new public safety building — will no longer be available. "The fire academy has to move because the city is reutilizing the area where the old power plant was, which was a combined training field," Weatherford College Public Safety Professions Director Stephen Malley said. "It's never really had the opportunity to put down roots." In it's 22-year history, the academy has never had a permanent home, college officials said, starting out in Mineral Wells, then moving to Weatherford Station No. 3, then Hudson Oaks before relocating to the current Weatherford property.  

College Station Fire Marshal's Office says a woman set fire to someone else's apartment Wednesday. Emergency crews were called out to the Harvey Road apartment around noon. Crews say there were flames in the bedroom but they put it out in a few minutes. Authorities arrested 33-year-old Laura Comstock for intentionally setting the fire. She's charged with arson.  

Fort Worth will be one of 19 cities to host the Honor 365 nationwide tour commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. An Honor Walk ceremony and a 9/11 art exhibit will be at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, 1600 Gendy St., at 10 a.m. June 18. During the ceremony, which is open to the public, the Fort Worth Fire Department and Fort Worth Police Department will join with the Mayor's Office to honor one fallen and one living firefighter, police officer and service member from the local community. "I am honored that Fort Worth has been chosen as one of the cities to host the Remembering the One. Remembering Them All traveling exhibit commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11," said Mayor Betsy Price.  

VIDEO: A massive 2-alarm fire at a Northeast Side apartment complex looks to be intentionally set, according to San Antonio Fire Department officials. The fire started just after 4 a.m. Thursday at the Cottages at Terrell Hills apartments on Harry Wurzbach Road near Rittiman Road. Firefighters immediately went defensive due to the size of the fire, using ladder companies and fighting the fire from above, as flames were shooting through the roof of one of the buildings. Part of the roof collapsed during their battle. Fire Department Chief Charles Hood says that firefighters immediately began knocking on doors to get everyone out of the building, as the fire quickly spread. He said they were able to account for everyone in the building, and they are being housed inside the apartment clubhouse at this time.  

VIDEO: When rioters set fire to parts of the Twin Cities last summer, the world was watching. So were investigators, who were about to take on one of the biggest tasks of their careers. More than 160 arson investigations are connected to the unrest last May, according to Jeffery Reed, assistant special agent in charge for the ATF's St. Paul Field division. "When I saw that from the air, it was likened to a battlefield scene, actual battlefield video footage that I'd seen before," Reed said. "That's the immediate analogy that I drew because it looked like missile strikes." Reed watched the unrest last May knowing his team would be called to step in. "It was daunting," Reed said. The FBI was also watching from Washington D.C., then the ATF's national response teams came in from across America.  

The Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in Leesburg killing four onboard was conducting a test flight with a newly installed piece of firefighting equipment when a piece came off and swung into the blades, the preliminary crash report from the National Transportation Safety Board shows. The Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training exercise May 25 near the Leesburg airport. Leesburg city officials said all four crew members died. Their bodies were recovered in the wreckage but officials have yet to release their names. The aircraft was registered to Brainerd Helicopters Inc./Firehawk Helicopters, which contracts with the federal government for firefighting and other services. The Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB are investigating the crash. On Wednesday, the NTSB released its aviation accident preliminary report.  

An internal audit of the city's fire department is raising alarms at city hall. It shows response times are too slow. And some fire stations have had to temporarily shut down. Chief Scott Wolverton went before the a city council committee to answer to the results. The audit showed that the department's overall response times have fallen below national standards. It looked at data from four straight years beginning in 2016. It showed that Shreveport's fire trucks are too slow getting out of the station about half the time, and too slow getting to the scene almost a third of the time. Wolverton blamed it on an aging fleet of trucks that are breaking down. Sometimes that means shutting down a fire station. He explained that after the engine at Fire Station 1 went down, he was forced to move the engine from Fire Station 2 to over to Station 1 "to best cover the city." But that meant the temporary closure of Station 2.  

Reforms for cutting, welding, and hot work that stem from the death of two Boston firefighters seven years ago were again at the forefront of a legislative hearing Monday with first responders saying legislation is needed to prevent further deaths and hold violating companies accountable. A Sen. Nick Collins bill (S 1554) would implement recommendations from a special commission created and named after Boston firefighters Edward Walsh and Michael Kennedy, who died in a 2014 fire reportedly caused by welders working on a building next door to a brownstone in the Back Bay. Walsh and Kennedy were trapped in the basement of the building as winds helped fan a nine-alarm fire at 298 Beacon Street. A Boston fire investigation found that an unpermitted and improper welding operation started the blaze, according to local media reports.