VIDEO: The lightning overnight didn't just wake most of us up, it also sparked two different apartment fires. More than 1,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the Houston area during Tuesday night's storms. Lightning struck above the second floor in the attic at an apartment complex on Blackhawk Boulevard near FM-528 in Friendswood. Video from the scene shows immense damage to the roof where the lightning struck. The fire started around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Multiple residents called 911 abut the lightning strike. The fire and smoke damaged four units, and another four units had water damage, Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department officials said. Officials from the Forest Bend Fire Department, League City Volunteer Fire Department and the Pearland Fire Department also responded to the scene.  

A man who had been staying at the Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin is accused of setting a fire in his room and then getting on a flight to Houston, according to the Austin Fire Department. He was arrested once he landed. The "small" fire happened Monday morning in a closet on the 10th floor and had been put out by the fire sprinkler. It caused about $5,100 in damage, according to an arrest affidavit. AFD arson investigators and the Austin Police Department investigated, and found a blue bottle of lighter fluid in the room. AFD identified William Oliver Nichols, 77, as a suspect. They say he had been at the hotel for 16 days and left around 7:06 a.m., shortly after the time investigators believe the fire was set. Nichols does not yet have an attorney listed who could provide comment.  

Fort Worth firefighters are training to join the 60-member dive team which performs swift-water rescues during flash flooding. The class on Tuesday was in the swimming pool at the fire training center learning how to scuba dive. "They're out here getting certified," said Fort Worth fire department spokesman Mike Drivdahl. "They will eventually be part of our swift water rescue team. They would be the divers being staffed right now for the severe weather." Fort Worth has two full-time dive teams, ready to respond city-wide to a water emergency. The department assembled a third team because of the threat of flash flooding the next few days. Swift water rescues are often the dive team's riskiest calls, Drivdahl said. "Those are a little challenging because they're time-sensitive," Drivdahl said.  

Fire investigators are investigating a fire that started in an apartment at the Twelve Cowboys Way Luxury Apartments. The fire was contained in the apartment due to the activation of the fire sprinkler system. Dispatch was alerted by the alarm company of a "water flow" alarm at 12:13 p.m. Sunday. The first unit arrived four minutes later. Frisco Fire responded with one engine, one ladder truck, and one battalion chief on the initial assignment due to it being an alarm investigation. During the investigation by the first arriving unit, smoke was found in the building. Additional units were requested as a working fire was declared. The fire was found in an apartment on the 12th floor, was kept small, and was not allowed to grow as rapidly due to the fire sprinklers that had activated when the fire began. A total of 19 units and 43 personnel were used to help extinguish the fire.  

A North Texas family is picking up the pieces after their home was damaged in a fire caused by a possible lightning strike, according to fire officials. Around 11 a.m. Tuesday, Saginaw firefighters responded to a home on the 500 block of Acorn Court in Saginaw for a fire. Units from the Fort Worth Fire Department also assisted. While not a total loss, there was damage inside the home. Saginaw fire officials say they suspect the fire was caused by a lightning strike during the rainfall Tuesday, though the exact cause has not been confirmed. The home belongs to Misty St. Clair and her family. "I just got a phone call from work that my house was on fire. So, I left immediately. My husband called me, and he was at work so, we met here almost the same time. There were fire trucks," St. Clair said.  

A tiny black kitten affectionately named after the queen of Tejano music is lucky to be alive after she was found in the middle of the road. Firefighters from the San Antonio Fire Department found her on Tuesday morning and acted quickly to save her. The San Antonio Humane Society thanked the crew from SAFD's Station 51 in a post on Facebook – saying they stopped busy traffic on Wurzbach Road and I-10 to rescue the kitten. The firefighters said they witnessed the cat dodge two cars, but they were able to get her picked up safely. They took her to the San Antonio Humane Society and named her Selena. The San Antonio Humane Society said she will need some "extra love and care" from their medical staff before she can be placed for adoption.  

VIDEO: Sacramento area firefighters are facing some new challenges on emergency calls. A man is going up to crews with a camera while they're on calls, often peppering them with foul language and intimidation. Video shows the man behind the camera verbally confronting fire crews and coming right up to firefighters with taunting language. "It's extremely concerning to us," said Roberto Padilla, a spokesperson with Sacramento Area Firefighters 522. The firefighters union spokesman says run-ins with this man have happened on multiple occasions. "He's antagonizing people, he's insulting them, he's trying to get a rise out of them," Padilla said. "That's not acceptable behavior." "I would like to know what his motive is," said Walt White, a Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District board member. White, who is also a former Sacramento Fire chief, says the confrontations appear unprovoked.  

For the first time in its history, Albuquerque Fire Rescue now has a behavioral health director. AFR Behavioral Health Director Maia Dalton-Theodore will be tasked with supporting the mental health needs of the department's firefighters, paramedics, and EMTs. "I really look forward to continuing the ongoing mission of normalizing the ability for people to ask for help and reducing the stigma, and also to continue the work around behavioral health for this department," she said. AFR Deputy Chief Sean Frazier said being in this line of work can take a big toll on a firefighter's mental health. "If you can just picture the absolute worse of humanity, or imagine the absolute worse of humanity that what our men and women are exposed to on a daily basis. So you have the one time trauma from going and seeing a horrific scene, but you also have the chronic cumulative trauma that just builds up after seeing that over and over and over again," he said.  

Sixty-six emergency communications districts in Tennessee experienced service interruptions, lasting more than 97 hours, as a result of the Christmas morning suicide bombing on Second Avenue in downtown Nashville, according to a report released earlier this month by the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board. Working in tandem with AT&T, the contractor for the state's emergency communications system, the board made contact with each 911 district impacted by the bombing and unveiled its report at a board meeting on May 5. The AT&T hub was among the buildings blasted when, according to police, a suicide bomber detonated a device inside an RV parked just 20 feet from the building. The goal of the report was to identify the impact of the Christmas morning bombing on 911 systems, what went wrong that the impact on the 66 districts and what can be done to avoid similar situations should disaster strike an emergency communications system again.  

Atlanta is set to build its first "micro station" for emergency medical services in southwest Atlanta to shorten response times to 911 calls. The City Council on Monday voted to approve up to $4 million in bonds that the city will borrow to fund the new station. It will be located at 4532 Campbellton Road on property that is owned by the city, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a press release. The Atlanta Fire Rescue Foundation will also consider additional funding from the private sector. Construction for a new, full-sized fire station can normally cost up to $15 million, Bottoms' office said. The micro station will allow the city to save money by stationing ambulances and other EMS vehicles at a small location.  

Tuesday was a "landmark day," as the United States reached a new COVID-19 vaccine milestone: 60% of adults have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the US Centers and Disease Control and Prevention. But vaccination rates across the United States are uneven -- a worrisome trend that could obstruct efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Rates range from more than 78% of adults in Vermont with at least one vaccine to less than 45% of adults in Mississippi. And over the past week, states with higher vaccination rates have generally had lower COVID-19 case rates, a CNN analysis of data from the CDC and Johns Hopkins University found. Seven states have already reached the Biden administration's goal of vaccinating at least 70% of adults with at least one shot by July 4, data from CDC shows: Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Vermont.