With wildfire season just on the horizon in Alaska, firefighters from both Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson and the Anchorage Fire Department recently participated in a chainsaw training program to become Sawyer certified. The course — hosted on base in Anchorage — consisted of one day of classroom instruction followed by two days of in-field training. The class, taught by JBER Wildland Support Module firefighter and equipment operator Matthew Allen, teaches the basic principles of chainsaw safety, operation, maintenance and tree felling in regard to combatting and preventing wildland fires. "Fires need fuel to burn, the trees are the fuel. How do you remove the trees is chainsaws and other equipment," Allen said. "They're a big piece for us."  

Officials said Sunday that a five-alarm fire that ripped through an ambulance depot in Freeport was not considered suspicious. The massive fire broke out Saturday at an ambulance service building on Commercial Street and left a shell of structures and damages. Video captured plumes of black smoke billowing into the air. Officials said four first responders were injured, two of which were Freeport firefighters, and one was a Northwell medic. All four were treated with smoke inhalation and later released from the hospital. A third firefighter was treated at the scene for a minor facial injury. The Nassau Fire Marshal's Office confirmed to News 12 Long Island that the fire started in one of the ambulances and spread to others. Oxygen cylinders stored in the building and some acetylene tanks that are used for repairs further fueled the fire.  

Americans are renewing their focus on railroad safety after a string of recent derailments, especially two fiery ones involving hazardous chemicals in Ohio and Minnesota that prompted evacuations. Federal regulators and members of Congress are urging railroads to do more to prevent derailments. They want standards for the trackside detectors used to help identify equipment problems, more notice to states about hazardous chemicals they are hauling, and at least two people at the helm of freight trains. A Senate bill would toughen the penalty for safety violations to up to 1% of a railroad's annual operating income and set standards for the maximum length and weight of freight trains, which have grown significantly in recent years. Trains now routinely stretch beyond two miles (3 kilometers) long.  

PHOTOS: Nasty green smoke filled the Waco Oriental Rug Company on Feb. 24, 1993, as a young Don Yeager and his fellow Waco firefighters entered the building, unaware of the peril that awaited them. With two years of experience, Yeager arrived with the first crew and paired with his captain to carry a hose into the building at 1101 Austin Ave. Another rookie firefighter teamed with an experienced firefighter to carry a second hose in. "My captain told me, ‘Don't let go of the hose,'" Yeager said. "We heard a crack overhead, as we pulled the hoses farther into the building," Yeager said. "Then came a boom as the ceiling fell in a V-shaped collapse." Along with other firefighters that day, Yeager dodged fate and lived to tell the tale. Now a retired battalion chief, he will join other former and current Waco firefighters and the public to celebrate 150 years of Waco Fire Department history, from horse-drawn to high-tech.  

Semiautomatic gunfire echoed in the hallways of The Covenant School, making a distinct noise teachers there would not soon forget. That was more than 14 months ago – before three children and three adults were gunned down on Monday in the stately stone school connected to Covenant Presbyterian Church, atop a tree-shrouded hill just south of downtown Nashville. The active shooter training session ended with live gunfire intended to familiarize school staff with real gunshots if they ever heard them. "Blanks don't sound the same. They just don't," said security consultant Brink Fidler, whose firm conducted the exercise. A bullet trap the trainers wheeled around captured the rounds of a semiautomatic pistol and an AR-15-style rifle loaded with real ammunition. When a handful of teachers heard the very first shot of Monday's rampage they initially mistook it for the din of ongoing construction at the building.