One person sustained injuries when a vehicle caught on fire near Arrowhead Trailer Court over the weekend. At about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, dispatchers received a report of a fire at Arrowhead Trailer Court on Sawmill Creek Road. One ambulance and one fire engine with eight firefighters responded to the scene, where they found a Ford Explorer on fire. One person was transported to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center with burn injuries. Sitka Fire Department Chief Craig Warren said that firefighters were able to significantly reduce the fire in about three minutes. The vehicle was totaled and a nearby trailer sustained minor damage. Warren said the department is investigating the cause of the fire.  

A three-alarm fire engulfed a historic vacant church Monday night in St. Louis. The St. Louis Fire Department responded at around 8:45 to a fire at the former St. Augustine Roman Catholic Church, located at 3114 Lismore St., in the St. Louis Place neighborhood. The building is designated as a St. Louis City Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said this is the third fire at the church since 2022. The church was constructed in 1896 by St. Louis architect Louis Wessbecher for St. Augustine's Roman Catholic parish. It was purchased by Christ Baptist Church in 1982. The property is owned by the city of St. Louis, according to property tax records. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.  

When former Concord firefighter Chris Andrews introduced himself to city councilors, he described himself as "a cancer survivor — at least for now." At the outset of his career, new types of protective gear, including the addition of breathing equipment and innovations in boot and pant materials, had made Andrews feel safer than his predecessors. "I was part of a new generation," he said. "I felt somewhat invincible." In his 40s, he listened when national organizations started to raise alarm bells about the presence of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the gear he had trusted to protect him. It made him vigilant about getting thorough health screenings at the first sign of trouble. In 2021, that vigilance led to the discovery that he had prostate cancer and, after choosing to have his prostate removed, that it had been far more serious than his doctor originally thought.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: After thousands of tumbleweeds buried homes in Eagle Mountain, crews have been conducting controlled burns to eliminate piles of them. Unified Fire Authority conducted their second burn on Monday morning in a coordinated effort with the Eagle Mountain City Streets Department. They said it was intended to "efficiently dispose of the tumbleweeds" that accumulated along Eagle Mountain Blvd., specifically in the area of Carriage Hill Dr. The tumbleweeds were blown in after a wind storm on March 2, and city officials advised residents on ways to dispose of them, including through the use of tumbleweed-only dumpsters. "The controlled burn serves as a strategic measure to manage the accumulated tumbleweeds and mitigate potential fire hazards in the area," Unified Fire officials stated.  

Black Butte is an inactive volcano that rises from the high desert in eastern Oregon. In May 2022, a turboprop plane approached its pine-blanketed slopes, carrying about 10 men wearing bulky Kevlar outfits. They were smokejumpers with the United States Forest Service, the agency that directs the majority of the nation's efforts to manage wildfires. Within the vast and hierarchical fire service, smokejumpers occupy a singular niche, parachuting into remote areas to fight early-stage wildfires. There are only about 450 nationwide, and the physical requirements are rigorous. One of the smokejumpers on board was Ben Elkind. Thirty-seven years old with a long, athletic build and restless energy, he had been fighting wildfires for 14 years and jumping for the last eight of them.