A fire and explosion at a Silver Spring apartment complex has caused massive damage, killing two, injuring dozens and displaced almost a hundred residents, some of whom are still missing. The incident is now being treated as a death investigation. According to Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein, fire crews were called to the 8600 block of Piney Branch Avenue for reports of an explosion and fire shortly before midnight.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WUSA-TV 9 DC

An assistant fire chief that Mayor Tony George had demoted to captain last week is returning to his post after his replacement turned down the promotion. Michael Bilski, president of the International Firefighters Local 104, said Ed Snarski ascended back to his assistant chief position after Robert Suchoski, one of two firefighters promoted to assistant chief, decided to return to his position as captain and fire inspector.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice

VIDEO - J.J. Watt is one of the best defensive ends in the league. He takes on big players and makes huge tackles. To say he's tough might be an understatement. But what happens when he spends the day as a firefighter in his home town? Watt and his father, John Watt, visited the Pewaukee (Wisconsin) fire station so that Watt could see what it's like to train as a firefighter in full gear.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPRC-TV NBC 2 Houston

GoodCall, a data analytics company, released a study listing the best places for first responders to live in the United States. According to their research, more metropolitan areas from the Pacific Northwest ranked in the top 20 than any other region of the country. Nearly 1,000 metropolitan areas were analyzed in terms of safety, affordability of housing and pay, among other factors.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: FireRescue1

A Cowlitz 2 firefighter has found another way to serve his community. Brad Yoder, a Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue Firefighter/EMT, will donate his right kidney to Dana Clayton, a local woman who is lifelong friends with Yoder’s wife, Laura, according to a Cowlitz 2 press release. The surgery will take place Monday at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland.
- PUB DATE: 8/11/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Daily News

On August 7, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Sheboygan fire crews are investigating today after an overnight fire damaged a home. Dispatchers got a call around 3:10 am on Tuesday of a fire at a home on the 1600 block of North 4th Street. Fire crews arrived to find a significant fire on the back side of the home. The resident who made the call told firefighters he was the only person inside, and crews moved in to put out the flames.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2016 8:37:00 AM - SOURCE: WXER-FM 104.5 & 96.1 The Point

On August 9, 2 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On August 8, 6 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

On August 6, 5 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

Former Wisconsin Badger JJ Watt tried firefighter training with his dad at their hometown fire department for the Gatorade Beat the Heat education campaign. Inmate accused of trying to arrange hit is headed to trial JJ Watt’s father, retired firefighter John Watt, joined him at the Pewaukee Fire Department and tried the physical and technical training firefighters conduct, according to a release.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2016 5:41:05 AM - SOURCE: WISC-TV Channel 3000.com Madison

Four fire departments battled a blaze Tuesday that destroyed a barn in rural Pardeeville. The Pardeeville Fire Department was called about 12:30 p.m. to 9580 Comstock Road, where firefighters found a barn storing hay bales engulfed in flames. The family at the farm reported the fire started when they had gone inside for lunch.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2016 1:52:48 AM - SOURCE: Portage Daily Register

On August 9, 0 residential fire fatalities were reported by the Nation's news media.

When one firefighter is seriously hurt a ripple is felt throughout the FDNY — but Tuesday it was more like a wave. Three firefighters were critically injured in a massive inferno that ripped through five buildings in the Bronx. Officials say more than 170 firefighters responded to the fire which broke out at about 12:30 p.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WNBC-TV NBC New York

In the latest show of support for police, hundreds of firefighters and staff Tuesday started wearing Back the Blue T-shirts on duty. “It’s not only for our local Police Department but officers across the country,” Assistant Fire Chief Bill Murphy said Tuesday. North Texas law enforcement agencies have been flooded with cards, emails and food from residents showing their support for officers, starting in the hours after Dallas police were ambushed July 7, leaving five officers dead.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

VIDEO - Police in Kentucky are looking for a man caught on surveillance video attempting to torch a barbershop -- and in the process lighting himself ablaze. Investigators in Madisonville -- located roughly 150 miles southwest of Louisville -- said two suspected arsonists in a white Ford minivan targeted the business Sunday morning.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WHAS-TV ABC 11 Louisville

Fire departments that service unincorporated areas of the county are requesting funds from potential future income tax revenues that largely would pay for more personnel. “Fire service, as a whole, outside the city limits is in dire need of personnel,” Ellettsville Fire Department Chief Mike Cornman told a committee of the Monroe County Income Tax Council on Monday night, speaking on behalf of Richland Township, which his department serves.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firerescue1

Matthew A. Jurado told North Tonawanda police Thursday that he poured a bottle of lighter fluid on the couch in the apartment of Kenneth D. Walker, the city’s only African-American firefighter, and lit it. However, Jurado said he did it because he was angry about being suspended from the Fire Department – not because of Walker’s race.
- PUB DATE: 8/10/2016 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Buffalo News

VIDEO: Local fire departments in the area are partnering up with WIS SAFE, also known as the Wisconsin Smoke and Fire Education Program and the North Central American Red Cross to install smoke detectors in homes that don't have them. Currently they're targeting homes which are high risk, such as those with the elderly, disabled, low income, and middle school aged children.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2016 5:21:16 PM - SOURCE: WSAW-TV CBS 7 Wausau

A shed housing machinery and hay was destroyed by fire early Tuesday morning in the town of Roxbury, with nobody injured in the fire. The fire was reported at about 1:25 a.m. on a farm at 7772 Inama Road, the Dane County Sheriff's Office said. Firefighters responded from seven area departments, including Sauk City, Sauk Prairie, Prairie du Sac, Dane-Vienna, Black Earth, Mazomanie and Lodi.
- PUB DATE: 8/9/2016 7:15:24 AM - SOURCE: Madison.com-Wisconsin State Journal-Capital Times