An Anchorage woman is accused of setting a West Anchorage house on fire and faces multiple charges, according to court documents. According to charging documents, 37-year-old Wendy Seltenreich was charged with first-degree arson and third-degree arson, as well as first-degree criminal mischief and violating conditions of release following a house fire on Loussac Drive in the Turnagain neighborhood on Oct. 18. According to Anchorage Fire Department Assistant Chief Alex Boyd, no people were injured during the house fire. The fire department responded with 13 units to battle the blaze at around 10 a.m., on Oct. 18. Police and firefighters responding to the fire reported smoke billowing up from the home visible from miles away, according to the charging documents. According to the documents, multiple neighbors "reported hearing loud booms and seeing heavy billows of smoke and flames" coming from the home.  

VIDEO: AIR11 was over the scene as massive flames engulfed a car service center in Linden, New Jersey early Friday morning. The three-alarm blaze ripped through the Reydel Volkswagen service center on East Elizabeth Avenue, at the corner of Lincoln Street. Large flames were shooting from the roof and thick, heavy smoke could be seen billowing from the building. Firefighters were on the scene around 7:20 a.m., working to put out the flames from different angles. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. The blaze burned right next to a self-storage facility, but there was no word on if it had spread beyond the vehicle service center.  

Between the COVID-19 pandemic, more intense hurricanes, and ongoing wildfires impacting the western U.S., first responders are being challenged more than ever. While first responders are on the front lines during emergencies and face more danger than most people do in their occupations, they don't earn much more. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, these workers earn an average annual wage of $60,292, or about $4,000 more than the average across all occupations. First responders generally include emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics, firefighters, and police officers. Among these occupations, police officers earn the most, on average, with an average annual wage of $70,000. Firefighters earn $56,360 per year, on average, while EMTs and paramedics earn just $40,370 annually.  

PHOTOS: Prepare to be scared. Take a walk past the "human sacrifice" and into the "Chop Shop," while the strobe lights, fog and eerie music add to the creepy mood. These are just two of the chilling attractions at the Palm Coast Fire Department's 20th annual Hall of Terror, and because it's free, you can go through as many times as you dare. Fire Department Lt. Dan Driscoll is the brains behind the show, and this is his eighth year working on the Hall of Terror. He said this weekend's event is a kind of compilation of previous years and includes some enhanced sound and visual effects. The setup at Fire Station 21 takes about a week, he said, but the planning takes a lot longer. "I start flushing out an idea in the spring, early summer, so I start making some lists," he said.  

George Strait is tipping his hat to first responders in his latest music video. The country music legend premiered "Weight of the Badge" on Thursday (October 28), marking National First Responders Day. It focuses on first responders — police, fire and others — and their families, sharing their personal stories throughout the video. Each one gives their firsthand account of what the weight of the badge means to them, including a sobering message from one of the officers at the start of Strait's music video: "You have people that are going out and doing a job to defend their communities, and you know in the back of the mind of every one of those officers, one of them might not be going home. And we have seen — I've seen it, throughout my career, I have seen it here locally — where a police officer didn't go home."  

VIDEO: New technology will change how the Springfield Fire Department completes its investigations. It's called Matterport, and it was donated to the fire department a little less than a year ago. The technology allows fire marshals to go back into a scene through 3D renderings and virtual reality. Matterport consists of a camera that swivels 360 degrees, taking photos to turn into those 3D renderings of a house. These 3D images allow firefighters to look back at the scene at any time throughout their investigation, no matter how long ago it may have been. Springfield Fire Marshal Mark Phillips says it takes about 30-45 minutes to fully photograph the entire scene. "With this, we do one scan and it covers the floor to the ceiling. So if we miss something, we can always go back through our rendering of this," Phillips says. Phillips says it's used for the more severe fires.