North Carolina’s SouthPark fire: ‘Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about it,’ firefighters say

VIDEO/PHOTOS: We’re approaching one year since a deadly fire at a construction site in Charlotte’s SouthPark neighborhood. Anchor Erica Bryant spoke with some of the heroes who were right in the middle of it. It’s an interview that none of the firefighters really wanted to do, mainly because May 18, 2023 is a day that’s hard for them to think about. Yet they do — a lot. “I’d say probably not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about it, or thought about something that happened during it that I could have done differently or done better,” Charlotte Fire Captain Mike Watts said. “What-ifs is a big thing.” Bryant asked the firefighters to take her back through the day. “That fire specifically — and you could see it citywide pretty much. I mean wherever you were in the city at the time, you could see that fire,” Division Chief Dave Farnum said.
WSOC-TV ABC 9 Charlotte

Firefighters compete in 2024 West Regional Classic Firefighter Challenge in Nevada

VIDEO: Firefighters from agencies across the western region are competing for the top seed at the 2024 West Regional Classic Firefighter Challenge. The Sparks Fire Department and Sparks Firefighters Local 731 will host the event, also known as “The Toughest 2 Minutes in Sports.” “It’s a qualifier for Worlds. This is a significant event in the fire service. It promotes fitness and showcases to the public the physical demands of the job,” said Sparks Fire Department Chief Walt White. A job that entails high demands and danger. “It takes a lot of work, a lot of effort. We all try to be the best we can always,” said Sparks firefighter Mike Szopa. “You need to have the best day of your career on somebody else’s worst day of their life,” added Captain Jeff Wright, who made the trip from Irving, Texas.
KOLO-TV ABC/CW+ 8 Reno

A vintage fire truck bell may soon sound again in Pennsylvania

PHOTOS: A piece of Leetsdale fire department history has made its way back to the borough. Mary Jane Wasco, daughter of the late Fire Chief Charlie Wasco, donated the bell of a 1937 Ahrens-Fox fire truck that was driven by her father for many years. She presented it to council and borough firefighters May 9. “Hopefully it can serve in some way as a memorial to all those men and women through the years who have served Leetsdale as a fire person,” Wasco said. “I’m happy that it’s coming back to where it started, with the borough.” The chrome bell was on the passenger side of the truck and was struck when crews would respond to emergencies. Most trucks in the 1930s did not have the loud sirens like more modern vehicles and those in operation today. Wasco said her father bought the truck from the borough in the early 1970s.
Sewickley Herald

4 dead as severe storms hit Houston area; hundreds of thousands lose power in Texas

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Emergency crews in southeast Texas were clearing debris and assessing flooding early Friday after powerful storms tore through the state, killing at least four people and knocking out power to nearly 800,000 customers. The winds — which reached 100 mph — were reminiscent of 2008's Hurricane Ike, one of the costliest natural disasters in American history, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said in a briefing Thursday. A widespread 3 to 6 inches of rain fell north of Houston, with one of the highest totals reaching around 6.9 inches in 24 hours near Romayor. The storm also battered New Orleans overnight, with severe thunderstorms and flooding possible again Friday, according to the local branch of the National Weather Service.
NBC News

VIDEO: Dashcam shows semi driver hanging over Ohio River moments after Kentucky bridge crash in March

We now have a first-person dramatic look at the Clark Memorial Bridge crash that left a semi-truck driver hanging over the Ohio River on March 1. Video from inside and outside the truck's cab was played in court Wednesday morning as the man charged in the crash appeared in court. The dashcam video shows 33-year-old Trevor Branham's pickup truck swerving out of his lane to avoid hitting an electric vehicle that stalled on the bridge. He then crashed into a Sysco semi-truck, driven by 26-year-old Sydney Thomas. As Thomas tried to avoid hitting other vehicles, her semi plows through the bridge's railing and she is left hanging nearly 100 feet above the Ohio River for about 45 minutes. Following the crash, Louisville firefighters conducted a daring rescue to get Thomas out of the semi-truck's cab.
WHAS-TV ABC 11 Louisville

One Oregon fire department to start training with virtual reality headsets

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Clackamas Fire Department is getting some major upgrades thanks to virtual reality or VR. The station's brand new VR simulation program was funded by the State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) grant. The department is now the second fire agency to use this program in the U.S., a department in Oklahoma was the first. “When you go into a virtual space, your brain thinks you’re actually in there and it’s pretty compelling," Division Chief Rick Huffman told KATU. “What we would do is use a scenario that is extremely high risk, that doesn’t happen very often and is hard to train on.” Huffman says there's not always a lot of opportunities to train on specific scenarios that don't happen in Oregon everyday, and the new VR headsets help fill that gap.
KATU-TV ABC 2 Portland

After more than 2 years of advocacy, FDNY Commissioner celebrates Congressional passage of lithium-ion battery regulation

VIDEO: FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh is celebrating the successful Congressional passage of lithium-ion battery regulation, achieved through collaborative advocacy efforts with local, state, and federal partners. “This bill is the first step in what must be a long-term, nationwide conversation,” Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said. “Technologies like these are evolving rapidly, and public safety agencies must be part of those conversations. We need to work together, share information and ideas.” H.R. 1797, also known as the “Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act,” would require the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a consumer product safety standard for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used commonly in micro mobility devices, including e-bikes and e-scooters, to protect against fire risk.
City of New York Fire Department