VIDEO: El Paso firefighters responded to a fire at a commercial building in the northeast Tuesday morning. Thick black smoke was coming from a building along Dyer and Moonlight, near Moye Elementary School. Officials said the fire started around 6:28 a.m. Employees at Los Rancheritos Restaurant were inside the restaurant when the fire started. A fire official said the employees were able to get out. No injuries were reported. By 7: 05 a.m. the fire had been knocked down. A total of three businesses were damaged in the fire; Los Rancheritos Restaurant , Marin's Upholstery and Carpet Town. Fire crews are looking for hotspots this morning and fire investigators are expected shortly at the scene to determine the cause of the blaze. A total of 10 fire units and 27 firefighters responded the fire.  

Since the start of 2022, there has been an increase of fires. The Amarillo Fire Department says there is an average of four fires a day, which is above the norm. The department has reported 527 fires in the Amarillo area so far. Almost half of these fires have been caused by a juvenile or other individuals. Most are ruled to be accidents or "reckless arson" caused by space heaters, improper disposal of smoking material, and cooking in abandoned buildings among other various reasons. The Amarillo Fire Department wants the public to know about safety measures. "We try to find anywhere and everywhere an avenue to communicate fire safety to anyone in the public that will hear us," said Jeff Justus, Community Liaison.  

VIDEO: A Coastal Bend veteran and history-making Corpus Christi firefighter was laid to rest Thursday at the Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery. Luis Valls was a 29-year veteran of the Corpus Christi Fire Department, and a World War II veteran, having enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1945 at 17, according to his son, John. "He served in the Pacific theatre, and then he served again during the Korean War," he said. "He didn't really share a whole lot of stories about his military service." Luis Valls lost his older brother fighting in the European theatre during World War II. Robert, who was in the U.S. Army, was 19. "Mainly, when he would talk about the military — typically in the Second World War — he would talk about his brother," John Valls said. "He had an older brother by two years, my uncle Robert."  

VIDEO: A fatal crash shut down FM 1960 near Atascocita early Monday morning. Traffic in the area has since been cleared. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says three vehicles were involved in the major crash that happened just after 8 a.m. Monday at the intersection of FM 1960 and Belleau Wood Drive. The Atascocita Fire Department says one person was confirmed dead on scene. A passenger in the same vehicle was trapped and had to be extricated. At least two people were transported to the hospital after the crash. Their condition is not known at this time. HCSO's Vehicular Crimes Division is investigating the incident.  

A historic church that has been part of the Whitney community for over a century has gone up in flames. "They say this church has been around for about 150 years," Pastor Shane Metcalf of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church. "It's a historical landmark and the first African American church in Hill County." It happened Sunday night around 10:30 p.m. Pastor Metcalf says he was watching the eclipse Sunday night. "Looking at that moon and it going pitch black," he said. "I had just told my wife it's about to get crazy, and I got a phone call about two minutes after I walked into my house they said the church was on fire." Pastor Metcalf says it started at the front of the church and began to spread. Officials say the origin of the fire is suspicious. While officials begin their investigation, members of the church spent the entire day Monday in the parking lot. They are coming together during a challenging time.  

An Amazon semi-trailer fully engulfed in flames along westbound Interstate 80 affected traffic near Greenwood for several hours Sunday night. Nebraska State Patrol said troopers were called to mile marker 422, near Greenwood, just after 9 p.m. Sunday. Ashland Fire and Rescue said its crews, Greenwood Fire and Rescue, and Murdock Fire all assisted with the incident. NSP also reported that the Cass County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene as well. There were no injuries, and the cause of the fire was not yet known, though authorities said it wasn't the result of a crash.  

A Los Angeles firefighter who was badly burned in a massive downtown L.A. explosion and fire two years ago is continuing his road to recovery. On May 16, 2020, explosions rocked a burning downtown vape shop. L.A. Fire Capt. Victor Aguirre rushed in to save lives and was the last firefighter to escape down a ladder when it was engulfed by a fireball. "I thought, this is how I die," Aguirre said. In total, 11 firefighters were hurt in the explosion. Aguirre's burns were catastrophic. "I went from fourth-degree burns, which is your bones being burned, to second- and first-degree burns throughout my body," Aguirre said. "I had...metal on the back of my head. I've had 31 surgeries." Aguirre's continuing physical recovery has been harrowing and inspirational. He returned first to his family, and then to work at the LAFD emergency dispatch center. Now he's focused on another type of healing, through fishing.  

President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Valor to 15 public safety officers Monday at the White House, including two officers who died in the line of duty. The Medal of Valor is the highest award a president can bestow on a public safety officer. In an East Room ceremony, Biden called the honorees "the heart and soul and very spine of this country," saying they were "the ones who ran in to help when everyone else ran away." Biden also paid tribute to Aaron Salter, the security officer who lost his life when a gunman opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, Saturday, killing ten people. Salter "gave his life trying to save others," Biden said. The Medals of Valor were awarded to nine police officers and six firefighters for acts of bravery in eight different incidents from 2019 to 2021.  

PHOTOS: Crewmen doused a mattress fire on the steamboat White Cloud, moored on the north end of the city's landing. They aired the bedding on deck, then dragged it back into a cabin. They must have missed an ember. About 10 p.m., flames burst from the passenger deck. Watchmen along the crowded landing clanged bells of alarm. Volunteers of Missouri Fire Co. No. 5, first to the scene, saw fire leaping from the White Cloud onto the adjoining steamboat, the Edward Bates. A hard wind blew from the northeast across the Mississippi River. It would serve as a bellows for the long, destructive night of May 17-18, 1849 - St. Louis' Great Fire. The firestorm added misery to the city's worst single disaster, a cholera epidemic that would kill at least 4,317 people. The May 17 newspapers were filled with news of death. The White Cloud was just another steamboat from New Orleans. The Bates burned free of its mooring on what is today's Laclede's Landing and drifted downriver, spreading fire.  

New Jersey will use $10 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to help provide fire departments with more safety and sanitary equipment, officials announced Monday. The state's Firefighter Grant Program will allow local and regional fire departments to apply for the taxpayer money from the American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed to provide stimulus funds in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Phil Murphy said the money could be used not just for helmets, gloves, and boots but chemical-free protective clothing and cleaning equipment and products to help prevent the spread of illness, noting that firefighters faced many health and safety risks during the pandemic. Departments can apply for up to $75,000 in grants administered by the state Department of Community Affairs.