It's been a quiet fire season in Alaska, as the state inches closer to wrapping up its smallest fire season in the past three decades. "I'm sorry, did you refer to a wildlife season this year?" said Eric Stevens, a fire weather program manager at the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center. "We really haven't had one." At this time last year, 3 million acres had already burned due to fires. As of Monday, only 1,500 acres have burned. In total, the state has responded to 151 fires this season and currently stands at Level 1 preparedness. At the moment, there is only one staffed fire, the Lake George Fire, off the Alaska Highway between Delta Junction and Tok, with a crew of 121 people. "And it appears that it's in mop-up mode right now, so basically they are putting out hot spots," said Beth Ipsen, the spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management.  

Firefighters regularly risk their lives in dangerous situations, but most deaths on duty are not directly caused by fire or smoke inhalation. Instead, approximately 40% of on-duty fatalities come from sudden cardiac death. Now, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues have used a form of AI known as machine learning to accurately identify abnormal cardiac rhythms in firefighters. The researchers hope their work will eventually lead to a portable heart monitor that firefighters could wear to catch early warning signs of heart trouble and prompt them to seek medical attention before it's too late. The team, which includes researchers from NIST, the University of Rochester and Google, published its results in the Fire Safety Journal.  

A fire at a Paramount commercial building burned for four hours early Monday, but firefighters prevented flames from spreading to nearby businesses. The fire was reported around 12:30 a.m. in a 40,000-square-foot building in the 7500 block of East Rosecrans Avenue. Firefighters took up positions outside the burning building as flames shot through the roof and a large cloud of black smoke formed over the southern Los Angeles County community. Medical supplies, including masks and sanitizer, were being stored in the warehouse. It was not immediately clear how the fire started. The fire was reported out at 4:45 a.m.  

VIDEOS/PHOTOS: This summer alone, the Knoxville Fire Department said it had not one, not two, but three cars crash into stopped fire trucks responding to emergency calls, including some on Interstate 40. KFD is asking drivers to follow the law and move over into the other lane if they see flashing lights or parked emergency vehicles on the road. "Fortunately, no one has been hurt or killed in these incidents. However, the potential for serious injury or death to a first responder or driver of the vehicles involved is very real," KFD said. KFD shared a video of one crash that happened on I-40 at the I-640 split near Papermill Drive. A KFD fire truck parked diagonally across the rightmost lanes of I-40 was responding to a crash when a car drove straight into the side of the vehicle.  

As of 9 p.m. Monday, 14 Vermont rivers had reached flooding stage, according to the National Weather Service's hydrologic tracker. That includes three with major flooding: Otter Creek at Rutland, Williams River near Rockingham and Winooski River at Montpelier. Three rivers had reached moderate flooding: Winooski River at Waterbury, Lamoille River at Johnson and Dog River at Northfield Falls. Just over the border in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the Hoosic River was also in flood stage on Monday, according to the weather service. The National Weather Service tracks hundreds of water gauges on rivers, lakes and other bodies of water in Vermont and its surrounding areas. Each gauge has its own measurement of whether it is "near" flooded, also called the action stage, or under minor, moderate or major flooding.