VIDEO: A fire at a plastics manufacturer in the Humble area led to sky-high flames overnight. Investigators are now looking into the cause of the fire. Humble-area fire crews were called to 1731 Treble Drive around 1 a.m. Tuesday. When firefighters arrived, the building was already engulfed in large flames. Video from the scene shows a ladder truck spraying water down onto the burning building. According to fire officials, the building belongs to a company that makes trash bags and other plastic products. City of Humble Chief Fire Marshal James Nykaza said there were a few employees inside the building when the fire started, but thankfully, they were able to get out safely. He said it took about an hour and a half to extinguish the massive flames, and crews were still monitoring hot spots hours after the fire was first reported.  

Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) had to put out a fire that impacted multiple 18-wheelers at a repair business Sunday evening. A DFR official said there was a 911 call about a structure fire on Kleberg Road at about 7:30 p.m. on July 9. It was by the C. F. Hawn Freeway and Silverado Drive. According to DFR, the caller originally reported a fire at a mobile home. When firefighters arrived, they said there was no structure fire, but there were multiple 18-wheelers on fire instead. The fire was extinguished around 8:30 p.m. Initial reports said there were at least six 18-wheelers involved, but investigators have since confirmed that there were nine. Some of them had a tractor and a trailer while others just had the trailer. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire has been listed as undetermined.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: A cute video from the Round Rock Fire Department shows firefighters rescuing even some of the smallest animals from a tight situation. In a Facebook post on Friday, the City of Round Rock said firefighters saved ducklings from a storm drain. Images and video, provided by Storyful, show ducklings waddling away after being freed. The last image shows them all reunited with their mother. "What the duck?! Round Rock firefighters jumped into action to help save a crew of ducklings," the city posted on Facebook. "Yep, they quackalacked their way right down into a storm drain with momma looking on to pull the little quackers to safety." "Duckties as assigned, are we right?!" the post added.  

VIDEO: In the heat that comes with summer in the Houston-area, conditions inside of a car can get dangerous quickly. That's what first responders in Montgomery County demonstrated yesterday by putting themselves in non-running cars with the windows rolled up in the heat of the day. Doctors fitted a constable sergeant, a firefighter, and a member of the hospital district with medical equipment that monitored their temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. The temperature inside the car quickly rose to 120-degrees, and just as quickly, the doctors started removing the test participants from the car for their safety. "It was hot," Sgt. Austin Gay from the Precinct 1 Constables Office said. "It was very eye-opening on how quickly it got to that extreme."  

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.