VIDEO/PHOTOS: A family is safe after their Northeast Side home caught fire early Thursday morning. The fire started around 12:30 a.m. at a home off Rock River Street near Bulverde Road. The homeowner told firefighters that he woke up to a loud pop. When he went to check it out, he saw fire. He was able to get his wife and dog out and call for help. Nobody was hurt, but the home is a total loss. Firefighters believe the fire started in the garage area and spread to the rest of the home, even destroying the family's two cars. Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire.  

VIDEO: After waiting 10 years for an upgrade, the Mercedes Fire Department debuted its new state-of-the-art firetruck. Fire officials said it is fully equipped with everything needed to battle any future flames. Mercedes Fire Department Chief Javier Campos Jr. added that this firetruck is fully equipped to maintain fire reporting, fire inspections, and hydrant mapping. Chief Campos told ValleyCentral this firetruck is "long overdue for the city of Mercedes." The firetruck not only brings flashing lights and loud sirens but a boost in morale for Mercedes firefighters, according to Chief Campos. "It builds up the morale and it makes the department a lot more friendly and turns around and provides a service to the community."  

Firefighters knocked down a high-rise fire in downtown Austin early Thursday morning. The Austin Fire Department says it started around 3 a.m. from improperly discarded smoking material in an apartment at 901 West 9th Street, just a few blocks north of Whole Foods Market. Austin Fire reports the sprinkler system kept it under control until they got there. ATCEMS transported one person to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. In total, three people are displaced. One apartment has fire and water damage; another has water damage.  

VIDEO: The call came in and in 24 hours two firefighters from Spring had to pick up and go. It was seven nights away from home, fighting the biggest fire they've seen in Texas. "You have 6, 8, 10-foot flames, you can't get ahead of it, so the best thing you can do is save the houses it's running towards," said Firefighter Jason Adams, with the Spring Fire Department. His strike team's assignment was protecting 14 homes threatened by a spin-off fire. "The hardest part is seeing people lose everything. Up there, it's a big farm and ranch community so you've got people's houses, but also their livelihoods," he said. The 14 homes he was protecting were saved, but Adams says there were other areas that weren't as lucky.  

A new art installation in Denton will honor firefighters of the past, present and future. The city of Denton will officially unveil Shields of Tradition, a new public art piece at Fire Station 3, located at 1401 Underwood St, on April 1. The unveiling and dedication will take place at 11 a.m. Read more top stories on CW33.com! "Please join us to experience this sculpture and help us recognize those who contributed to its creation, as well as those who have served and will serve the City of Denton at Station 3," City of Denton officials said on the city's website.  

Crews have made progress on some of the wildfires burning in Texas, but others continue to break out. There are about a dozen active fires reported on Thursday morning. Officials say a new fire started in Kleberg County on Wednesday. It has since burned 45,000 acres and is only 20% contained. Voluntary evacuations have been announced for Ricardo and Riviera. There's also a new wildfire in La Salle County. It has scorched about 3,000 acres. The latest update on the Canadian River Bottom Fire in the Texas Panhandle shows it has burned about 30,000 acres and is about 40% contained. The Eastland Complex fire is now 100% contained two weeks after it started. The Crittenberg Complex fire in Coryell County near Fort Hood is 80% contained.  

VIDEO: Two firefighters were hurt battling a raging fire that started Wednesday night in Queens and took hours to get under control. It started around 7 p.m. at a plumbing and electrical supply store on 101st Avenue near the Van Wyck Expressway in Jamaica. Intense flames were shooting out of the building. The FDNY arrived about three minutes after getting the call. Parts of the interior collapsed due to the intense flames. Crews were forced to undertake a "defensive attack," which meant they had to handle the flames from the outside of the building due to the threat of it collapsing entirely, CBS2's Elijah Westbrook reported. FDNY Acting Chief of Department John Hodgens said preventing the fire from spreading to other buildings and homes was a main concern, and they faced obstacles like not having enough water pressure to douse the flames.  

The Decatur Fire Department touts itself as a bastion of progressiveness, pushing boundaries in an arena of public safety that tends to be entrenched in tradition. It was the first, and remains the only fire department in the United States with an all-female command team, according to city officials. Chief Toni Washington leads the ranks and is supported by Deputy Chief Vera Morrison, her second in command, and Assistant Chief Ninetta Violante. The three women head up an agency with 55 firefighters, providing steady leadership in one of the most male-dominated lines of work. "I think that women as a whole bring something unique, something different to organizations that makes us even better as a group," Washington said.  

VIDEO: The Seminole County Fire Department is speeding up response times deep in the woods. Seminole County— which bills itself as "Florida's Natural Choice" — is known for its vast amount of parks and trails, and over the past couple of years, the trails have gotten busier, which means first responders are busier trying to rescue hikers, bikers and even horseback riders. But deep in the woods, miles away from a trailhead, that's a challenge. So now the Seminole County Fire Department has figured out how to find the lost and the hurt faster and better. Rescue crews are shortening response times on the toughest, most extreme biking trails from hours down to just minutes. There is only a firetruck and even a rescue-equipped ATV so far that can go into the woods so quite often, firefighters will have to walk, sometimes for miles, down narrow heavily-wooded root-lined trails.  

A symbol of Southport's pride and heritage is celebrating a special birthday this year. Dropped off by rail car in 1922, Brunswick County's first fire truck – the red Ford Model T that is turning 100 years old this year – became more than just another piece of equipment at the Southport Fire Department. After decades of servicing Southport citizens in times of need, the truck found new life in retirement appearing in parades and at special events. It has also served as the transport for former Southport firefighters on their way to their final resting place. "It's an integral part of our department," Southport Fire Chief Charles Drew said. "The fire service has a lot of tradition and history. With it being the first fire truck for Brunswick County, this truck means the world to this department and this city." Turning 100 is a momentous achievement, and the department is planning an event worthy of the occasion with a 100th anniversary celebration scheduled for Saturday, April 2, along the Southport waterfront.  

The Omicron coronavirus variant may be reaching around the world, but different places are seeing significantly different effects. In the United States, COVID-19 case numbers have been falling since January. They may have hit a plateau as a subvariant of Omicron, BA.2, becomes the main cause of infections. But in China, an area of the world that has had few spikes during the pandemic, there has been a dramatic increase in cases as BA.2 rips through the country. The difference, experts say, is part policy and part population-level immunity. What's happening in China doesn't necessarily mean the US is in for another huge spike in cases. "Public health is very much a local thing," said Andy Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. With the first Covid-19 cases in 2020, he said, trends were similar around the globe because most people's bodies had no experience with the coronavirus, and there were no vaccines. They had no protection against it.