A large overnight fire tore through part of a building in Cypress Hills, leaving behind burned bikes, scooters and heavy damage across the property.

FDNY says the fire broke out just after 1:20 a.m. Wednesday at 503 Ridgewood Ave., near Lincoln and Autumn avenues. Firefighters say flames were reported on the first floor of the three-story building.

Video from the Citizen app shows huge flames shooting from the back of the property as sirens echoed through the neighborhood.

FDNY says 21 units and 79 fire and EMS personnel responded to the scene. Hazmat crews were also called in because of the presence of lithium-ion batteries. The fire was brought under control around 2:13 a.m.

Officials say no injuries were reported. A full vacate order has now been posted on the property. Neighbor Jose Mena said the situation could have turned deadly.

“I came out and by the time I came out, the fire was spreading already,” Mena said. “One of the guys who lives there, he was trying to wake everybody up. This could’ve been worse — a lot worse. People were sleeping.”

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PHOTOS: A fast-moving fire forced dozens of residents from their homes at a North Attleboro condominium complex Monday afternoon.

North Attleboro Fire Chief Chris Coleman told 12 News a 911 call came in around 2 p.m. reporting a fire in an air conditioning unit at the Hawthorne Village Condominiums on Juniper Road.

Heavy flames and thick smoke were seen pouring from the top of the 34-unit building, which sustained significant damage and a collapsed roof.

At 3:30 p.m., officials upgraded the fire to seven alarms, prompting departments from surrounding communities, including some from as far as Norwood, to respond. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency also assisted.

According to Coleman, mutual aid was needed not only for additional manpower, but also because crews faced challenges with the water supply.

He said their primary concerns were ensuring all residents evacuated safely and preventing the fire from spreading to an adjacent 20-unit building.

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VIDEO: New research could soon change emergency medicine and make it easier for first responders to stop bleeding anywhere in the world. Researchers in Pittsburgh and Cleveland have developed the first-ever freeze dried artificial platelets.

“One of the most frustrating things are the patients that we don’t ever get a chance to take care of. The patients who don’t have access to the lifesaving resources that we have in the hospital,” said Matthew Neal, M.D., a trauma surgeon and professor at University of Pittsburgh.

Blood platelets help stop the bleeding when people get injured but in traumatic situations, the body doesn’t always have enough or they cannot work fast enough. Currently donated blood platelets can only be given to a patient inside a hospital setting or within close proximity.

But one little vial could soon change that and field medicine as first responders know it. Neal and Anirban Sen Gupta, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve University, spent nearly 10 years researching blood platelets and how to make artificial platelets.

The result is a small vial of powder — freeze-dried artificial platelets. One vial is the equivalent of one donated unit of platelets that would be given to a bleeding patient. They said the powder only has to be combined with 10 mL of sterile water which first responders already carry.

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VIDEO: The screams. The bodies lying across the freeway. The people trying to run away from a toxic cloud before collapsing to the ground. Fifty years later, retired Houston firefighters say they still remember every detail from one of the deadliest disasters in Houston history. “It looked like a war zone,” retired Houston firefighter Brad Rilay said.

On May 11, 1976, a tanker carrying more than 7,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia plunged off the 610 West Loop ramp and crashed onto the Southwest Freeway below. The impact ripped open the tanker, sending a massive cloud of toxic ammonia into the air during the middle of the morning rush.

Seven people died. Dozens more were injured. And the disaster changed the Houston Fire Department forever. Rilay was only 20 years old when he responded to the scene. That morning had started like any other shift.

Rilay said he and a district chief had just finished another call farther down the Southwest Freeway when dispatchers warned crews about a tanker crash involving ammonia near the West Loop interchange. As they drove toward the area, traffic completely locked up.

Rilay said he ended up driving against traffic on the freeway shoulder just to reach the scene. When they arrived, he said the destruction was overwhelming.

“Man, it looked like a war zone, you know, the parts of the truck scattered everywhere, and the truck driver’s body was lying in the middle of the road,” Rilay said.

The crash scene stretched across the freeway. Pieces of the tanker and destroyed vehicles were scattered throughout the interchange. Victims were already dying from exposure to the fumes.

Rilay remembers immediately finding several people on the ground struggling to breathe. “We immediately came across three people, one man who had already died, and there were two who were struggling to breathe,” he said.

At the time, Houston firefighters had little training on hazardous material incidents and almost no specialized equipment to handle a chemical release that large. Firefighters grabbed an air pack from the chief’s car and tried helping victims breathe through the mask.

“But I don’t know how much good that did,” Rilay said quietly. What stayed with him most was the helplessness. “You know, have a brown mucus coming out of their mouth and their nose, and the feeling of not being able to help them,” Rilay said.

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A firefighter was hurt Sunday morning while responding to a quick-moving fire at an office supply store in downtown Los Angeles.

The blaze was reported at about 4:40 a.m. near the intersection of Hope Street and Pico Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Upon arrival, firefighters were met with heavy smoke and flames coming from the roof of the building. Due to the fire, a shelter-in-place was issued for surrounding residents and businesses.

No one was inside the building at the time of the fire, LAFD said. One firefighter reported minor injuries and was treated for those wounds. He is expected to be OK. Arson investigators are investigating what could have caused the fire.

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PHOTOS: Alan “Gus” Gustafson was on a mission.

The energetic 80-year-old strode through Kalispell’s Public Safety Building on a damp April morning, looking for the 2,200-pound bell that once hung from the Fire Department’s hose tower, ready to summon firefighters in an emergency.

The retired firefighter’s first stop was the first floor offices of the Kalispell Police Department. When that proved fruitless, he headed across the lobby, where he said the bell was once put on display, to question the staff at Kalispell Municipal Court. They couldn’t remember a bell either.

A few minutes and one flight of stairs later, Gustafson was in Fire Chief Jay Hagen’s office, asking if he knew of the bell’s whereabouts. Hagan shook his head. He did not.

“OK, I’m going to find it,” Gustafson replied. Hagen agreed that he would. “When he sets his mind to it, it’s going to happen,” Hagen said from behind his desk.

Gustafson, who still serves as the department’s historian, more than 20 years into his retirement, had a personal connection to the bell (he later located it around the corner at the Northwest Montana History Museum). Firefighters were still ringing it when he joined the department in 1971, just not for its original purpose.

“After I started, the bell was used to call curfew,” he said. “Every night at a certain time we would ring the bell.” The bell isn’t the only piece of the department’s history that Gustafson enjoys a personal connection with. The crown jewel of its historical collection, a 1925 American LaFrance fire engine, was still in service when he first donned turnout gear.

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PHOTOS: An apartment fire at a student housing complex in East Lansing has left nearly 50 people without homes. On May 9, around 8:20 p.m., a building at The Village at Chandler Crossings caught fire and quickly spread across the entire roof.

When 6 news arrived on scene, over one hundred people were standing in the parking lot watching firefighters work to put out the flames. Will Dryer, the project manager for the Choice Group, says the fire started from a grill on the third floor.

“Received a phone call from our fire alarm system at about 8:24. Fire department responded probably about 10-15 minutes later,” he says. “I showed up for the fire department along with our maintenance tech or our maintenance supervisor to clear out the building, get crews on site.”

While firefighters worked to clear flames and smoke, staff set up a table to help displaced residents find temporary housing.

“I have a crew over by building 8 here at the village making sure that these kids have a home to go to tonight, or hotels, whatever the situation might be, or what we need to do, just trying to resolve anybody that needs a house, their apartment to get into. We’re here for them. We’ll be here all night until we find everybody an apartment.”

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Two firefighters were injured — one critically — after a fire truck crashed in Muskingum County on Thursday. It happened near 910 Dresden-Adamsville Road on State Route 208.

One firefighter was flown by helicopter to Grant Medical Center in Columbus in critical condition. The second firefighter was rushed to Genesis Hospital in Zanesville and was said to be stable.

The crash involved a lengthy extraction to get the driver out, a spokesman for Muskingum County said. He added that the fire truck dropped off the edge of the road while coming down a hill, and when the driver tried to correct, the tanker “flipped over before striking a tree and ending up back on its wheels.”

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VIDEO/PHOTOS: What some might see as rust, dust and worn out machinery, Lincoln County’s own Dylan McCool sees as opportunity.

With a YouTube following of more than 640,000 subscribers, McCool has built a national reputation for rescuing forgotten cars, trucks and what he jokingly calls “plenty of junk.” But to him, every abandoned machine carries a story worth saving.

Through nearly 400 videos, McCool has documented the process of finding vehicles tucked away in fields, barns and overgrown lots, then methodically bringing them back to life.

Now, that passion has found its way to Fayetteville. Through a partnership with the Fayetteville-Lincoln County Museum and the Fayetteville Fire Department, McCool has taken on one of the community’s most recognizable historic artifacts: a 1953 Mack fire truck affectionately known as “Maude.”

For decades, Maude served the citizens of Fayetteville, responding to emergencies from the old fire station on what many locals still remember as Fire Hall Hill.

Photographs from the 1950s show the truck sitting proudly in front of the station alongside the firefighters who operated it which you can see in McCool’s YouTube video.

After being retired from service in the mid-1990s, the truck sat largely untouched. In recent years, it rested behind the museum in a chain-link enclosure, weathered, faded and uncertain if it would ever run again.

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PHOTOS: The occupants of a home that caught fire in South Haven were evacuated, South Haven Area Emergency Services (SHAES) says.

SHAES was dispatched to a structure fire at 849 Phillips Street around 8:45 a.m. Thursday. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found the home fully engulfed in flames.

Neighbors of the home said they heard a series of explosions. Michigan Gas Utilities was needed to turn off the gas supply to the home. All of the six occupants of the home were evacuated safely, SHAES said.

One person was taken to the hospital for burns and smoke inhalation. SHAES said mutual aid was requested from the Bangor Community and Covert Township fire departments. The Hartford and Watervliet fire departments was also dispatched to the scene later.

Firefighters remained on the scene until after 12:00 p.m., SHAES said. The nearby St. Paul Lutheran Church and School was placed in a soft lockdown, which has since been lifted, as first responders addressed the structure fire.

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PHOTOS: A former firehouse in Aurora, Illinois hides a remarkable slice of history behind its brick walls. Built in 1894, this Victorian-era station still stands along North Broadway, now serving a very different purpose.

Inside, visitors step into more than a century of firefighting history, where vintage engines, detailed artifacts, and interactive exhibits bring the past to life. One moment you’re looking at hand-powered equipment, the next you’re exploring how early crews responded to emergencies long before modern tools existed.

The building itself adds to the experience, with its restored architectural details offering a glimpse into the city’s past. It’s an unexpectedly engaging stop that blends local heritage with hands-on discovery, making it just as appealing for curious adults as it is for younger visitors.

For 86 consecutive years, this building was not a museum or a landmark. It was a fully operational fire station, housing the Aurora Fire Department and sending crews out to protect the city from 1894 all the way through 1980.

That kind of longevity in a single structure is genuinely rare, and it gives the building a lived-in energy that no amount of decorating could manufacture.

Generations of Aurora firefighters reported to duty here, trained within these walls, and answered calls from this very address at 53 N Broadway, Aurora, IL 60505.

The rhythms of shift work, the clang of alarm bells, and the rumble of engines rolling out through those garage doors were part of daily life in this neighborhood for nearly a century.

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Fort Worth firefighters launched a rescue Wednesday night after a man became trapped atop a construction crane just south of downtown.

Crews were called around 7:30 p.m. to the 1300 block of South Main Street, directly across from JPS Hospital, where the crane operator could be seen stranded high above the ground.

Fire units arrived and began setting up a technical rescue operation, using specialized equipment to reach the worker.

Fort Worth Fire Capt. Jason Bryant told CBS News Texas that one patient was involved – the crane operator.

According to Bryant, two rescuers were sent up the crane to assess and treat the man. Based on his condition, they decided to perform a controlled lowering of the crane’s counterweight side.

Two rescue teams were positioned on the crane, and another was staged on top of a nearby parking garage, Bryant said. Crews then rotated the crane so the patient only needed to be lowered to the top of the garage, rather than all the way to the ground.

The cause of the medical issue or entrapment wasn’t immediately known.

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VIDEO: A major investment in water safety is now in service for the Virginia Beach Fire Department as officials prepare for a busy summer boating season.

The department recently added a new, state-of-the-art fire boat that will be stationed at Rudee Inlet.

Officials say the vessel will significantly reduce response times to emergencies on the water and improve life-saving capabilities.

Fire Capt. Alexander Wazlak III said the department has been seeking an upgrade to its water response fleet for years. Until now, crews had been using a 1974 patrol boat provided by the U.S. Coast Guard.

“We’ve been operating on that for the past 15 years or so,” Wazlak said.

The new vessel, a 38-foot Metal Shark Defiant, is valued at more than $1.5 million. Wazlak noted that rising costs mean the same boat could now approach $2 million.

The upgrade brings a significant boost in speed. The new boat can reach up to 46 knots, or about 53 mph, compared with the previous vessel’s top speed of about 34 mph.

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VIDEO: The Springfield Fire Department collaborated with students from Putnam Vocational Technical Academy on Wednesday for a training demonstration.

The students constructed essential props for firefighter training, including window escape props and structures to aid crews trapped in burning homes. These props were built in just three weeks by a small group of students.

The students utilized wood, screws and sheet metal to build multiple structures for the department. Firefighters showcased the critical nature of this carpentry work during the demonstration.

Springfield Fire Commissioner B.J. Calvi emphasized the importance of the student-built equipment for enhancing safety. “It’s important to utilize these props to enhance firefighter safety and survivability. We’ve been using them pretty heavily and wanted to say thank you and show them how we’re using the equipment,” Calvi said.

The demonstration event was attended by various officials, including Mayor Domenic Sarno, Superintendent of Springfield Schools, Putnam staff, and members of the fire department. During the event, the group also highlighted Putnam alumni who now work at the fire department.

Carpentry students at Putnam Vocational Technical Academy have a history of building for the city, having previously completed projects for the Springfield Police Department and elementary schools.

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PHOTOS: Los Angeles Fire Department crews responded to a fire burning inside an access portal beneath the 110 Freeway in Wilmington on the evening of May 4, 2026, triggering a freeway closure and a multi-agency response that stretched into the following days.

The incident was reported at approximately 8:50 p.m., with crews arriving to find fire burning inside a confined space beneath the freeway. Given the complexity of the location, Incident Command prioritized firefighter safety from the outset, calling in Heavy Rescue and USAR companies to assist with access and suppression.

A Caltrans highway engineer was also brought to the scene to support tactical planning. LAFD’s firefighting robot, RS3, was staged at the scene, though conditions inside the access portal prevented its deployment.

While firefighters removed a significant amount of debris from the access portal, burning construction timber and other unmovable materials required sustained suppression efforts. Incident Command prepared for an extended operation, rotating in fresh crews from across the city to maintain an unbroken firefighting effort and give relief to firefighters working in the demanding conditions.

As part of that extended operational coordination, Unified Command was established with the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans. Unified Command declared a knockdown of all fire in the access portal at 3:27 p.m. on May 5. Crews worked through the night utilizing vacuum trucks to remove water that accumulated during firefighting operations.

Unified Command oversaw a comprehensive search of the confined space and a structural stability assessment of the freeway. Drones, robots, hazardous materials teams, and Urban Search and Rescue teams were all employed as part of that effort.

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PHOTOS: Six buildings caught fire in Lowell, Massachusetts, after embers from one home were blown to others amid high winds on Tuesday, the city’s fire chief said. Two firefighters were taken to the hospital.

They were being treated for for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion, Lowell Fire Chief Phil Charron said. Firefighters from around the region came to help, from Burlington, Massachusetts, to Salem, New Hampshire.

The fire was first reported at a Bridge Street home about 2:51 p.m., and crews who arrived saw heavy flames. And the strong wind “carried fire up over the three-story building and two adjacent streets, Wachusett Street and also May Street,” Charron said, prompting some of the first crews to split up and battle new fires in Lowell’s Centralville neighborhood.

Charron called it “a very bad day, a dry day with the wind moving up the hill.” But he also noted that the wind could have carried more burning embers onto more homes.

“We’re very lucky,” Charron said. “It could have been 12, 15 buildings.” “I didn’t even have time to think, and I just ran out the back door, jumped over the fence,” said Ritaj Fadil, a resident of one of the homes.

“It’s a lot to process, because everything we own is in there,” said Shantell Nganga. Carmen Ortiz left the Bridge Street home where she has lived for 15 years minutes before the flames started.

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VIDEO: This week, Aurora Fire Rescue launched a new program that places naloxone kits directly in the hands of overdose survivors and their loved ones.

It’s a move department officials say could mean the difference between life and death in a city where opioid overdoses have become an almost daily emergency.

The Narcan Leave-Behind Program equips every fire truck with an initial supply of five naloxone kits, funded through a state grant that provided the department with 950 kits in total.

Narcan is the brand name of naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug. First responders will distribute the kits to individuals who have experienced or witnessed an opioid-related overdose, along with instructions and QR codes linking to treatment resources and guidance on how to use the medication.

Dr. Eric Hill, medical director for Aurora Fire Rescue, said the program was born out of a sobering reality. In 2025, the department administered naloxone more than 500 times and responded to more than 300 suspected opioid-related overdoses.

“When you look at the, you know, the number one cause of death, certainly the preventable causes of death that we have really in our city, it’s really tied to the opioid epidemic,” Hill said. “Every single month, almost every single day, we run on these types of calls and we administer Narcan.”

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PHOTOS: A fire destroyed a Dayton convenience store early Wednesday morning. As reported on News Center 7 Daybreak, smoke could be seen throughout Montgomery County.

Dayton firefighters responded around 4:40 a.m. to a structure at the 900 block of West Third Street.

Part of Third Street remained closed due to the fire investigation. When firefighters arrived, flames were ripping through the Tasty Bird Market on West Third Street.

News Center 7’s Xavier Hershovitz said the smoke could be seen from as far away as Kettering and Oakwood. The fire caused part of the building to collapse.

Dayton fire officials said the fire was so significant that they had to battle it from the outside. They said that the owner has been notified and is on the scene.

Fire officials believe no one was inside at the time of the fire. They told Hershovitz that firefighters were battling hotspots.

Hershovitz said that smoke has been blowing into Dayton neighborhoods. Fire officials said that an emergency demolition has been ordered.

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Three people have died after an apartment fire in Inwood. The FDNY says flames broke out on the first floor of an apartment on Dyckman Street after 12:35 a.m. on Monday.

Fourteen people were hurt, and five of them are in critical condition, including several children. A firefighter was also hurt.

“Three people have passed away due to this tragic fire,” said New York City Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa. “And there are five people who are in critical condition. Hopefully that number does not go up.”

More than 100 people are displaced and are getting help from the Red Cross. The FDNY is reminding people of the importance of shutting the door behind you in a fire to prevent major damage.

Juan Carlos Murraya Ceveda was visibly traumatized after hearing children trapped inside his burning building, crying for help.

A young woman was standing outside of his window on the fire escape, burning. He says he covered her with his jacket and she begged him to save her father. He ran back inside but couldn’t find him.

The fire started on the first floor then consumed the stairwells and hallways and rocketed up through the roof of the six-story building.

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It was during a shift change at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, May 3, 1991, when employees of Central Storage Warehouse on Cottage Grove Road discussed mechanical problems with a battery-powered forklift.

The forklift operator changed the batteries in an attempt to fix the lift, but the machine still wouldn’t operate. They set aside the repairs for the moment and proceeded to load semi trailers with butter using a different forklift.

About an hour later, that same operator heard a sound “similar to a torch being lit, only much louder.” He saw blue flames coming off the floor around the cab area of the forklift he’d just attempted to repair. So began what would become known as “The Butter Fire.”

First Madison Fire Department units were dispatched at 3:32 p.m. Within 10 minutes, multiple 911 callers were reporting a huge fire with 300-foot flames and a wall blown out of the warehouse. A second alarm was declared at 3:35 p.m., but that still would not be enough to manage the fast-growing blaze fueled by butter, lard, and other food products.

By 6:00 p.m., the fire spread from Building 1 to Building 2, and a third-alarm was raised. Firefighters were ordered off the roof of Building 3 due to the potential for Building 2 collapsing into it. Building 2 did collapse around 11:00 p.m. All fire personnel were accounted for within seconds of the collapse.

Other Dane County fire departments provided mutual aid to Madison Fire on scene, assisting with defensive fire attacks overnight. They also staffed Madison fire stations and responded to other routine emergencies still occurring around the city.

Around midnight, the Central Storage fire began to threaten the facility’s anhydrous ammonia tanks, prompting a half-mile evacuation of approximately 3,000 residents. Central Storage personnel worked to remove as many hazardous materials from the site as they could.

Fire reached the mechanical refrigeration equipment corridor around 1:30 a.m. Saturday, May 4, but the fire was stopped about an hour later thanks to an aggressive fire attack and flowing sprinkler heads.

A fire this size presents a multitude of challenges for responding firefighters, but in this case, efforts were severely impaired by melted butter, cheese, and lard.

The heat of the fire turned millions of pounds of butter into flowing liquid. Holding hand lines, climbing ladders, climbing stairs, and even walking became dangerous. In some locations, the greasy solids were waist deep.

The cold water being applied to the molten dairy products turned the liquid back into a solid. Melted butter oozed from every building opening, filled the street, overflowed nearby ditches and gutters, and threatened local waterways.

With initial property damage estimated at $7.5 million, content loss at $70 million, and $1 million in cleanup costs, there’s no argument this dairy fire in the Dairy State was the largest and most difficult the Madison Fire Department has ever confronted.

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