A fire in a Midtown Anchorage apartment just before noon Thursday damaged four units within the eight-plex, a fire official said. One person in an adjacent unit was transported to a hospital as a precaution after she inhaled smoke, said Brian Dean, an Anchorage fire marshal. Firefighters arrived at the scene at Benson Boulevard and Dawson Street to find light smoke coming from a vent on the building around 11 a.m., said Tom Upchurch, a captain with the Anchorage Fire Department. The fire was mostly in the walls and ceiling of two apartments on the second floor, and dropped down to an apartment below. "It wasn't much of a fire, but it could have been," Upchurch said. The cause of the fire wasn't immediately known, Dean said. The four damaged units are uninhabitable, Upchurch said. But residents in the four undamaged units will be allowed back in once the utilities in the building are turned back on, he said.  

VIDEO: The North Richland Hills Police and Fire Departments showed off new technology Thursday they say will allow them to do their jobs more effectively and in less time. Jennie Espy, a North Richland Hills Police Department Crime Scene Investigator said, "This is absolutely fantastic technology." The state-of-the-art device scans everything in its site — 360 degrees — and provides 3D photographs of a crime scene, major crash or an arson fire. It's so accurate, even if there's a missed measurement, investigators can take another measurement by going back into the 3D scene. "If we needed to take this to court, we could really walk you around the crime scene as if you were there," said Espy. The technology also helps crash and traffic investigators save time because they no longer have to manually measure everything at a scene.  

It's been more than two months since Summit Fire & EMS firefighter Ken Jones fell to his death while fighting a blaze in Copper Mountain, though the feelings of grief are still fresh for his second family at the fire department. Jones' picture still stands on a table in the entranceway of Summit Fire's administration building in Frisco — the first thing visitors see on their way into the building each morning. Inside, firefighters and staff go about their business as usual, though many now bear a special "KJ" button pinned to their jackets or shirts as a reminder of his sacrifice. And while there has been a subtle shift back to relative normalcy, at least as far as the job is concerned, the memories of Jones still seem to permeate daily conversations among those who knew him.  

When you think of fire fighters, what comes to mind? You should think nothing short of heroes. Dedication. Bravery. Saving others' lives while risking their own. The list is endless. For the Lancaster Fire Department, there are two words you probably don't think. And, it's such a big deal, the department has five pages on policy about it. "Right," Assistant Chief K. J. Watts said. "We never really had one up until about six years ago." Those two words: bed bugs. "We engage with the public, we go in their house, we sit on their furniture to try to talk to them to find out what's going on and, sometimes, the bed bugs jump on us," he said. Between three stations, the fire department goes on 9,000 calls a year. In the last few years, Watts says the exposure to bed bugs has increased up to 10 percent every year. But with the increase in bed bug numbers, how do they decrease the potential spread? "This machine has two different heaters that have fans in them," he said.  

It was on a trip to Britain and Ireland that Norfolk County Sheriff Jerry McDermott first saw seat belt covers that notify first responders that the wearer has autism, the Patriot Ledger reported. Half a world away, a light bulb went off, McDermott said that he thought that covers could be helpful at home too. Now the covers, created by McDermott's office, will be available at a number of police departments including Weymouth, Stoughton, Norwood, Needham, Millis, Holbrook, Dedham, Avon and Sharon. Families can pick the covers up at police stations and slide them on top of seat belts. Advertisement Want news like this sent straight to your inbox? Head over to PatriotLedger.com to sign up for alerts and make sure you never miss a thing. You pick the news you want, we deliver. "People we talked to thought it was a good idea," McDermott said. "In the case of an emergency, if the parent is incapacitated, this helps first responders know the situation ... it's a public safety issue."  

VIDEO: Today marks 25 years since the East Hills fire. Three firefighters died that heartbreaking Valentine's Day in 1995. Capt. Thomas Brooks arrived on the scene with Engine 17 and Patricia Conroy and Marc Kolenda responded with Engine 8 just after midnight to the home on Bricelyn Street. They became separated from their other crew members while inside the burning home. A stairwell collapsed and they became trapped. The six-member family that lived in the rented home escaped without any injuries. Investigators determined that the windows of the home were covered in plastic, which held the smoke inside and made it difficult for the firefighters to see and find a way to escape. The firefighters were found with a ruptured hose and overcome by carbon monoxide, possibly due to malfunctioning air masks. The fire department changed training procedures and upgraded equipment as a direct result.