VIDEO: A training center is enabling Polk County firefighters to prepare for emergencies while supporting the area’s rapid growth.

Fire Captain Jon Hall is part of 1,000 men and women who make up Polk County Fire Rescue. He said the department is one of the busiest in Florida, but did not have a dedicated training space.

“We’ve had to borrow places from different organizations to train. Even something as simple as finding a fire hydrant to hook up to, sometimes we just had to find a field on the side of the road in order to do that training,” Hall said.

A new $16 million, state-of-the-art Polk County Fire Rescue training center is officially open in Winter Haven. The 30,000-square-foot facility sits on 15 acres and gives firefighters the ability to train entirely in-house.

“We now have a place that we can all come together. We can train repeatedly until you don’t get it wrong, until you get it perfect. And then when you transfer that to the field for the real emergencies, that’s where the fruits of your labor really show,” Hall said.

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VIDEO: A massive three-alarm fire gutted a historic church in San Francisco’s lower Pacific Heights neighborhood Monday afternoon, prompting evacuations and leaving the 134-year-old structure in ruins.

Despite the extensive damage to the San Francisco Central Seventh-Day Adventist Church, located at the intersection of California and Broderick streets, the San Francisco Fire Department reported no injuries or permanent displacements.

The blaze is now contained.

All evacuation and shelter-in-place orders were lifted by Monday evening. However, the area remained an active scene.

Firefighters were expected to remain on “firewatch” through Tuesday to monitor hot spots and prevent the fire from rekindling.

The fire broke out around 1:15 p.m. Monday, sending thick plumes of smoke wafting into nearby homes and forcing some residents to wear masks outdoors.

Eventually, some 100 firefighters were assigned to knock down the flames. The church, built in 1892, was constructed with a significant amount of wood and featured extensive void spaces that allowed the fire to spread rapidly.

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VIDEO: What started as a Facebook Marketplace listing has turned into a years-long passion project for Yuma firefighter Raul Carlos.

Carlos, who has spent the last 10 years in the fire service, found the vintage 1978 Pierce fire engine online and knew he couldn’t pass it up.

“When I saw it, the listing was posted maybe a couple days, and it was one of those where I knew I had to do it,” Carlos said.

The fire engine has a long history.

Originally built for a fire department in Ohio, it later made its way to Arizona, where several owners began restoring it before Carlos took over the project.

Despite its new purpose, the truck still operates much like a traditional fire engine.

“You have a captain, you have a driver, or what we call engineers,” Carlos explained. “All these switches control how you get water to your nozzles and your hoses.”

But inside the truck’s compartments, the story changes.

Carlos is converting the fire engine into a mobile tap truck featuring eight taps capable of serving everything from nitro cold brew and lemonade to mocktails and other specialty drinks.

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VIDEO: One firefighter was injured after a second-alarm fire tore through a commercial building in Midtown early Tuesday morning.

The fire broke out just before 4 a.m. inside a building on West 30th Street.

Video from the scene showed heavy flames shooting from the building’s windows as firefighters worked to bring the blaze under control.

A large emergency response converged on the area, with thick smoke billowing into the air.

Officials said the commercial building was unoccupied when the fire started.

One firefighter was injured while battling the blaze. Officials have not released the firefighter’s condition.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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VIDEO: Three federal firefighters were killed and two were injured Saturday in a wildfire burning near the Colorado-Utah state line, the U.S. Wildland Fire Service reported Sunday.

The agency — created earlier this year to streamline firefighting and fire reduction across public lands — said the firefighters had been part of an interagency response to the Knowles and Gore fires on Saturday.

In a release, the agency said it occurred during a burnover incident, in which fire sweeps through an area or overtakes personnel or equipment, leaving no viable escape routes or safety zones.

The two injured firefighters are being treated for burn injuries, according to the department. The identities of the two firefighters are being withheld pending notifications.

Gov. Jared Polis also declared an emergency on Saturday, and authorized the use of the National Guard to tackle the fires.

According to his office, the Jones, Snyder Mesa, and Knowles Fires combined and are now the Snyder Mesa Fire, which has burned more than 28,000 acres.

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VIDEO/PHOTOS: Rescue crews are still working to find survivors of the earthquake in Venezuela and one local task force saved the life of a mother and child stuck in the rubble.

According to Virginia Task Force 1 on Facebook, the crew worked alongside local firefighters and rescued a mother and her nine-month-old baby from a collapsed structure. Both were found alive with only minor injuries.

“This is our why: the delivery of hope,” VATF1 wrote in the Facebook post.

On Thursday, June 25, Virginia Task Force 1, an elite urban search and rescue team based in Fairfax County, deployed to Venezuela following two earthquakes that have killed 1,430 people as of Saturday, June 27 according to Associated Press.

More than 68,900 people are still missing due to the devastation.

The task force is operated by Fairfax County Fire and Rescue in partnership with the U.S. government and is widely regarded as one of the world’s premier urban search and rescue teams.

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VIDEO: Along Route 209 in Middle Smithfield Township sits a stark reminder of history.

Friday marked 62 years since the Marshall’s Creek explosion.

In June 1964, just after 4 a.m., firefighters responded to a burning tractor-trailer on Route 209.

The truck was carrying explosives with no warning.

“When the firemen had come to put the flames out, it detonated, killing three of the firemen who were here and three other remaining victims,” said James Brechbiel, economic development manager for Middle Smithfield Township.

Thirteen others were injured.

The tragedy prompted change across the country.

“So, this event was the catalyst for the Transportation Safety Act of 1974, where vehicles have to be marked if they are carrying explosives, because likely, if that vehicle had been marked, the lives of those six individuals would have been spared that day,” Brechbiel explained.

Those lives lost are still commemorated to this day.

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Approximately 700 pounds of fireworks detonated on Whidbey Island in Greenbank on Wednesday afternoon, destroying two homes and damaging a third.

Five people, including three firefighters and two residents, were injured in the incident, though all are expected to recover.

Chief Jerry Helm with Central Whidbey Island Fire and Rescue said, “I believe it was a significant amount…probably in the 700 pound range…enough to fill a pallet.”

Fire officials reported multiple explosions, one of which caused injuries to the firefighters.

Of the five injured individuals, two firefighters have been released from the hospital. A third firefighter is undergoing hand surgery.

The two residents of the home where the fire started drove themselves to the hospital.

All five people are expected to recover from their injuries. Investigators believe smoking materials were around the fireworks in question. Helm also stated, “I believe this person was buying fireworks for an event they were doing.”

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PHOTOS: Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District officials on Thursday unveiled a new training academy in Rancho Cordova, marking the completion of a project more than two decades in the making.

The Zinfandel First Responder Training Facility, at 3801 Zinfandel Drive, will serve as the district’s permanent training academy, preparing recruits and other first responders who protect more than 750,000 residents in Sacramento and Placer counties. The inaugural class includes 19 recruits.

“This facility represents an investment in our most important asset, our people, but also serves as an investment in regional preparedness, statewide resilience and the future of public safety,” Metro Fire Chief Adam House said during Thursday’s open house.

The facility features classrooms, a gym, locker rooms and office space, as well as outdoor training buildings.

“The challenges facing first responders today are increasingly complex and require training that is realistic, collaborative, and adaptable,” House said. “This facility represents the next steps toward supporting those needs. It strengthens our ability to train safely, consistently, and effectively. “

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VIDEO: An 87-year-old fire captain is being honored at this weekend’s Celebrate Poland festival. He’s being recognized for over 50 years of service.

James Deemer has been a firefighter since his early 20s and started volunteering with Poland shortly after.

On Wednesday, he told us his whole story and explained why he’s still with the department decades later.

“It’s in your blood. I don’t know why, but it’s in your blood,” Deemer said.

In 1961, he was living in a house trailer with his wife and newborn son when they caught a glance of flames outside and his life changed forever.

“A trailer next door caught fire. Coitsville Fire arrived. I took the son of my wife and we walked out and hard out of the way, and I asked one of the firemen how to become a fireman. He said, ‘You come to the station on Monday night. We have drill every Monday,’” Deemer said.

He showed up at the Coitsville Fire Department the following Monday and joined the team.

Years later in 1967, he moved to Poland and was quickly recruited by the village’s volunteer fire department.

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A former furniture factory is now a shell after a massive 6-alarm blaze burned through the commercial building in Allentown on Wednesday night.

Several homes across the street were also damaged by the fire.

The blaze broke out around 8:45 p.m. in the 300 block of North Front Street.

Chopper 6 video showed heavy flames engulfing the structure, which sustained significant damage. Portions of the roof and interior floors have collapsed.

Authorities urged residents on the 300 block of North Front Street to evacuate through the rear of their homes, since it was too dangerous out front. Residents in surrounding areas were advised to shelter in place until further notice.

No injuries have been reported.

“The biggest fire I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It was insane. It was hot — smoke everywhere,” said Shawn Sell. “I got text messages from friends 30 miles away, asking me if I was ok. And they saw the big plumes of smoke.”

The building was the former American Atelier furniture factory, which has since moved to another location.

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VIDEO: The Vincennes Fire Department has received a new set of wheels, or rather a restored set of wheels, as the department temporarily has a fully restored 1926 fire truck that the department used to own at their headquarters for people to see.

For one member of the fire department, Larry Howerton, a retired firefighter and the current chaplain for the department, seeing this restored truck means more as he used to see this same truck when he was on the department back in the 1960s.

“I slept in the same building with it for a few years and have operated it before,” Howerton said. “Not on a working fire, only to test the pump or test the hose in that capacity.”

Howerton was blown away when he saw the same truck he saw every day restored to its former glory.

“It’s a beautiful piece of equipment,” Howerton said. “It looks a whole lot different than it had when it left here many years ago.”

The wheels were set in motion on this project last year when Jeff Latta, training division chief for the Vincennes Fire Department, did some research on the history of the department and found this 100-year-old truck sitting in California.

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VIDEO: Inside the hangar at the Mission Fire Department’s headquarters sits a bright red gleaming unit that’s the newest — and smallest — addition to its fleet.

It’s a utility remote terrain vehicle, or UTV, that was paid for by a special grant from the governor’s office just for fire departments that are on or near the Texas-Mexico border.

Mission Fire Chief Michael Silva says it will come in handy fighting fires and for searches and rescues in the rugged South Texas border terrain.

“They’re all 4-wheel drive but it allows us to go on uneven terrain where our fire trucks and our ambulances cannot go,” Silva told Border Report on Tuesday as he showed off the unit.

It’s similar to an ATV, but UTVs have regular vehicle transmission, not motorcycle handles, and can hold multiple people.

This one seats four and has a special canopy rack that can be pulled down to keep victims and firefighters cool in the blazing South Texas heat. It also has souped up flood and scene lights, and a massive suspension system.

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A historic Russell County church was destroyed by a massive fire early Tuesday morning, leaving church leaders and members devastated but determined to rebuild.

Multiple fire agencies responded to St. Paul C.M.E. Church on Bleecker Road after a structure fire was reported around 5:05 a.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.

The Crawford, Ladonia, Uchee Creek, Dixie, Fort Mitchell and Seale volunteer fire departments, along with Smiths Station Fire and Rescue, the Russell County Sheriff’s Office, and CARE Ambulance, responded to the scene.

Heavy smoke and flames engulfed the church as the fire spread through the fellowship hall before extending into the remainder of the structure.

The church’s beacon collapsed along with portions of the roof as firefighters battled the blaze.

CNAW2News.com spoke with St. Paul C.M.E. Church Pastor Rev. Dr. Raynetta Prevo-Williams, who said she was awakened by a phone call informing her that the church was on fire.

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VIDEO: A retired firefighter is riding across country to honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

John Martin, who was an engineer with the San Bernadino County Fire Department in California, is riding to honor victims every mile of his route leaving a dog tag with victims’ names on them.

He stopped by the Columbiana Fire Department Monday morning as part of his route.

He rides 9.11 miles a day, with his route ending at ground zero on the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

“That’s something that this world, especially this country, since it happened on our soil, should never forget,” Martin said. “It’s not just words that should be taken to heart. Never forget means never forgetting.”

Martin said he is looking forward to arriving at ground zero. He expects it to be an emotional day.

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VIDEO: Orange County firefighters were busy battling a large fire at a commercial building in Santa Ana on Tuesday night.

The blaze was first reported at around 6:10 p.m. at a building in the 3200 block of MacArthur Boulevard, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.

Crews arrived to find the single-story industrial building engulfed in large flames with a massive cloud of black smoke coming from the fire.

They said that approximately 80 firefighters were on scene to battle the blaze, which they deemed a third-alarm incident.

At around 8:10 p.m., OCFA officials told CBS LA that the fire was still burning and that it would be for “some time.”

No injuries have been reported, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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A large fire tore through a business in West Norriton Township, Montgomery County, on Monday morning, sending massive flames and thick black smoke into the air and prompting a massive emergency response.

The blaze broke out shortly after 11 a.m. at Superior Play Systems, a facility on Industry Lane that manufactures outdoor play equipment.

Cell phone video captured part of the building collapsing as intense flames quickly overtook the structure.

Firefighters said conditions deteriorated rapidly as crews arrived on scene.

“We pulled everyone back, which turned into a master stream operation at this location because the building was too unsafe to actually enter,” Chief Kenny Kanauer of Jefferson Fire Co. #1 said.

Video from Chopper 6 showed flames and black smoke rising high above the building.

Officials said 130 trucks from approximately 100 fire companies across the region responded to the scene, underscoring the scale of the fire.

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VIDEO: A fire engine — not a Ferrari — may have delivered the most unexpected moment of the weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Video shared with KSBW 8 by Riley Tessler showed a Salinas Fire engine drifting on the famed track during the weekend.

The unusual scene stood out at a raceway best known for high-speed sports car competition and gave fans a memorable moment beyond the scheduled racing action.

The driver was identified as Kevin Coon, and the tillerman was Hayden Parker, per Salinas Fire.

The drifting fire engine appeared during a weekend when Laguna Seca was hosting Ferrari Challenge North America, the main featured event from June 19 through June 21.

The event included qualifying sessions and races for Ferrari Challenge drivers, along with Club Competizioni GT activities and Passione Ferrari owners lapping on the circuit.

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A massive fire at a recycling facility in Houston’s East End was still burning Tuesday morning after breaking out Monday afternoon.

Tires and other debris continue to burn.

The fire was reported around 3 p.m. Monday near Kellogg and Manchester streets, according to the Houston Fire Department. Thick black smoke from the blaze was visible for miles across Houston.

Houston Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz said the fire was burning in a debris field roughly the size of a football field behind a warehouse at a recycling facility. No structures have caught fire.

Approximately 200 firefighters were called to the scene to contain the blaze. Muñoz said tires were the primary material burning, and the rubber made the fire especially difficult to extinguish.

“This is a very difficult fire,” Muñoz said.

Video from Air 11 showed the massive burn area stretching across the property, while video released by HFD showed firefighters working inside the debris field to knock down the flames.

Fire officials said flames reached an estimated 35 feet in height.

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VIDEO/PHOTOS: Around 30 people have been displaced after a fire at an apartment complex on Lake Road in Clarkson on Sunday morning that involved 21 units.

The Brockport Fire District says it took 14 fire companies from Monroe, Orleans, and Genesee counties to battle the flames. Crews got the first call just before 5 a.m.

Several Monroe ambulance services were on the scene, and the fire district says four people were treated and later released.

No firefighters were injured, and BFD says one person was rescued and carried out by firefighters. The fire destroyed the roof of the building, and the base of the building is now fenced off.

The displaced victims were brought to BFD’s station across the street, and the American Red Cross is helping them. Two cats and an iguana were also rescued by firefighters, according to BFD.

The fire district says the cause of the fire is under investigation by the Monroe County Fire Bureau’s Investigation Unit.

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