VIDEO: A wildfire in San Jacinto County has spread over 200 acres and sent two firefighters to the hospital, the Texas A&M Forest Service said Wednesday. According to a tweet, the fire, which has been named the "Snowhill Fire" is west of Lake Livingston and currently is at 215 acres and 90% contained. Fire activity has reportedly increased and aircraft are assisting ground crews. "We've been seeing that things are a little bit more receptive to any kind of ignition source. And that's really what happened today," said Matthew Ford with the Texas A&M Forest Service. "Aircraft continue to make beneficial drops to slow fire spread and assist ground crews," Texas A&M Forest Service said. A temporary flight restriction is currently in place in the area. People are encouraged to avoid the area to provide a safe environment for firefighting aircraft.  

Two people and a firefighter were injured after a mobile home fire on the West Side. The fire started around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at a mobile home off Castolon Drive near Loop 1604 and Marbach Road. Firefighters believe the fire started in the garage area and spread throughout the mobile home. The three people hurt were treated on the scene and are expected to be alright. Two cars were lost and the family has been displaced. Arson investigators are looking into the exact cause of the fire.  

The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management is responding to a wildland fire located near Hellinger Road. The fire, named the Mesquite Field Fire, is separate from the 100-acre Powder Keg Pine Fire that broke out Tuesday. Officials said the Mesquite Field Fire is currently estimated at roughly 37 acres and 80% contained, as of about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. While this fire didn't cover as much ground as Tuesday's Powder Keg Pine Fire, it still gave people quite the scare Wednesday. "My neighbor called and said there was a fire out here," said Paul Todd, whose farmland is close to where the fire started. "So I came out here as quick as I could. My thought was to get out here and make sure everything was okay, and everybody's house, whatever I could do to help my neighbors."  

A series of four fires that occurred last week in Jeff Davis County with unknown causes are currently under investigation by the Texas A&M Forest Service. The agency will determine whether or not the fires — all which were roadside starts, with two occurring last Wednesday and another two occurring Sunday — were accidental or arson. Jim Fowler, a spokesperson for the Fort Davis Volunteer Fire Department, said the investigation was launched due to the fact that the fires occurred in close succession during times when weather conditions weren't particularly dangerous. "Certainly four fires, without thunderstorms, on days without wind, are concerning — they may not be suspicious, but it's certainly concerning," said Fowler.  

Three firefighters were hospitalized after a fast-moving, wind-driven fire ignited at a junkyard in west Phoenix Wednesday afternoon, according to Phoenix Fire. Phoenix firefighters were dispatched to the blaze near 27th Avenue and Buckeye Road just before 3 p.m. for reports of a grass fire that may have spread to a fence nearby. When fire crews arrived, they were met with heavy smoke and flames. Officials said due to high winds the fire quickly spread to nearby industrial properties and the incident was upgraded to a fourth-alarm fire. A neighbor showed 12News surveillance video that captured the moments before the fire started. A dust devil could be seen forming in the APS station dirt lot near 31st Avenue and Sherman Street, the wind picked up and a piece of metal went flying into the air.  

More than 100 people in Alabama died in fires in 2022, and 2023 is on pace to be even worse. "Unfortunately we're usually in the top 5 or the top 10 annually," said Scott Pilgreen, Alabama's state fire marshal. "In my view, all of them are preventable." The Alabama Fire Marshal's Office reports there were 108 fire fatalities in the state in 2022, and 67 more through July 27 of this year, though that number may be out of date. "As I talk to you now, we're probably at 70 or just north of 70," Pilgreen said on Tuesday, the first day of August. "We have to change the trajectory of our numbers. If I'm correct and our unofficial number is around 70, when cold weather hits, we're going to have an uptick. And I hope I'm wrong when I say this, but what I foresee is we're going to be pretty close to triple digits again before the end of this year, and we shouldn't."  

A man is critically hurt after the van he was driving crashed into an ambulance that was going the opposite direction on Georgia Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., early Wednesday morning, fire officials say. Surveillance video of the crash shows the ambulance driving on Georgia Ave. near Farragut Street NW about 7:20 a.m., when a white minivan going the opposite direction veers over and slams into the side of the ambulance. Part of the front portion of the van then appears to go under the ambulance, jolting the truck before the van spins around in the other direction. When the van comes to a stop, the front of the car appears to be crumpled to pieces and smoke can be seen rising out of the area where the hood of the car was just seconds before. The driver of the van was trapped after the crash and firefighters had to get him out, D.C. Fire and EMS said.  

Which U.S. counties face the biggest danger from Earth's most powerful storms? With climate experts forecasting a "borderline hyperactive" hurricane season, Gutter Gnome ranked 2023's Most Hurricane-Vulnerable Counties. The study combined hurricane risk assessments by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) with 10 years of historical storm data and financial impact projections from government agencies. See how over 300 counties might fare this hurricane season in the ranking. The Sunshine State might also be called the Hurricane State, as two of its counties, Broward and Palm Beach, occupy the two worst spots for hurricane risk. It's also no surprise that the Southeast has the biggest hurricane vulnerability, the ranking confirms.