VIDEO: Fire crews responded to a fire around 12 a.m. Sunday on Lavaca Drive near South Padre Island Drive and Everhart Road. Investigators said flames sparked in the garage and spread to the house. "Investigators are on scene to determine the cause. Despite high heat and smoke conditions, firefighters were able to push through the house and extinguish the fire in about 10 minutes with no injuries to firefighters or residents," said CC Fire Battalion Chief Jim DeVisser. According to officials, no one was home at the time of the fire, but there was significant damage caused to the residence.  

VIDEO: Two bodies were found dead after a fire burnt down a home in Huntsville early Saturday morning. That same home was the target of racist attacks just last month, according to the homeowner. CAIR-Houston and the ADL Southwest are now calling for the FBI to investigate the incident as a hate crime. The fire broke out around 2:30 a.m. Saturday on the 23000 block of Piney Point Road in Huntsville. Two people were found dead, but the homeowner, Mario Roberson, said his home in the Waterwood neighborhood was not being rented out at the time. Neither victim has been publicly identified. "Mr. Roberson would like to thank the community for their prayers and support. He is working with authorities to resolve this and get some answers to the questions he has regarding his home being burnt down," said Lana Turner, a representative of Roberson.  

Central Austin community members got front row seats on how the Austin Fire Department responds to house fires. Gossett & Co. offered AFD a home they purchased as a training site. "We're a home builder in this part of Austin, and they know we have a lot of homes that need to be torn down that could be used as practice, so they contact us regularly whenever we get a new home when they get over here and train," president Jared Gossett said. Before the house is demolished, the fire department has a month-long window where they can go to the home and practice different scenarios. "So, the firefighters are going to be over here off and on for the next month training and practicing," said Gossett. Austin firefighter Steve Norman says it's often a challenge for the department to get realistic training to they are grateful for the partnership with Gossett & Co.  

A man is in critical condition after being saved from a burning house fire in southeast Houston on Sunday afternoon, officials said. The fire reportedly happened on Sunday at 3599 Mcllhenny Street near Lucinda Street. It was confirmed by Houston fire officials and neighbors on scene that there was a man trapped inside. Neighbors in the area spoke to ABC13 and said they smelled smoke and attempted to save the man by smashing in a window and kicking down a door, but were unsuccessful. The man trapped inside reportedly became disoriented and passed out, neighbors said. When HFD arrived, a firefighter, not wearing any equipment, noticed the man on a bed and jumped through the window and pulled him through. The man did not appeared to be burned, but did suffer severe smoke inhalation.  

Repairs on Interstate 95 are expected to take "months" after an elevated section collapsed in Philadelphia on Sunday morning when a tanker truck carrying flammable cargo caught fire beneath the overpass, officials said. "With regards to the complete rebuild of I-95 roadway, we expect it to take some number of months," Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told a press conference on Sunday evening, adding that he plans to issue a disaster declaration to "expedite this process" and "immediately draw down federal funds." Shapiro said he had spoken directly to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg who assured him there would be "absolutely no delay" in getting federal funds to safely and swiftly rebuild the "critical roadway."  

When Greg Rhinehart, a 37-year-old firefighter/paramedic at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, woke up at 5:30 the morning of Jan. 7, he found he couldn't speak. Not a word. Rhinehart, who was sleeping on base because he was on duty, was the victim of a stroke. But even as a paramedic, he said it took a while to put together the symptoms he was experiencing. "It was terrifying," Rhinehart said. "I had some numbness and tingling in my arm earlier, but that went away. I thought that was weird. I got a headache, but I get migraines, so I took Tylenol and laid back down to rest a bit and let them work. A half hour later, I woke up unable to speak." Rhinehart wrote a note, saying he could not speak and that he needed to go to the hospital. "I went and found another paramedic, and gave him the note," he said.  

VIDEO: A new 20-minute video has been released by the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board involving the 2018 Husky refinery explosion and fire in Superior. The goal of the board is to "drive chemical safety change through independent investigations to protect people and the environment." The 2018 incident injured 36 workers, caused roughly $550 million in damage to the facility and released 39,000 pounds of flammable hydrocarbon vapor into the air. The incident happened during a partial refinery shutdown for scheduled maintenance. The federal investigation found multiple factors contributed to the incident, including outdated steel, a faulty valve and inadequate employee training. A chunk of flying steel punctured a nearby asphalt tank sending thousands of barrels of the flammable material into the refinery, which later caught on fire.  

As the 2023 hurricane season officially begins, state legislatures have so far kept pace with related legislative activity of prior years. Disaster resilience bills enacted so far reflect a range of topics both similar to and divergent from 2021-22 trends. These results, and the methodology behind them, can be found in a December report on the 2022 legislative session from Columbia Climate School's National Center for Disaster Preparedness. At the time of this sampling (late April), 13 states — Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, Kansas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, West Virginia, and Virginia — had all adjourned their regular sessions for the year. Other states are also adjourning in rapid fire at this time of year, with at least an additional 11 states having adjourned since April.