Anchorage firefighters extinguished a fire at a vacant East Anchorage apartment building in the early morning of Christmas Day. Tim Garbe, a battalion chief with the Anchorage Fire Department, says firefighters responded shortly after 6:00 a.m. to the fire on the 4300 block of San Roberto Avenue. The sixplex was vacant and boarded up with heavy smoke billowing out of the building, Garbe said. Firefighters entered the building and fought fires on two different floors. It took AFD roughly 50 minutes to extinguish the fire and Garbe said that crews would be returning throughout the day to ensure it doesn't reignite. The cause and origin of the fire is still under investigation. 15 units including five engines, three truck companies, a heavy rescue crew and an ambulance all responded to the fire. Garbe said the reinforced response was because an apartment building fire requires "a lot of work to be done in a short amount of time."  

Seven-year-old Charlotte Millen scanned the approaching big red vehicles while standing with her parents across the street from Harborview Elementary School. With her mom holding onto her hood to keep her on the sidewalk, the energetic girl locked her eyes on Santa Claus, standing next to Mrs. Claus atop an oncoming fire truck. Santa waved to the adoring child on his way down Glacier Highway, leaving Millen in disbelief. "I can't believe I just saw Santa!" Millen shouted. "This is the best day ever!" Santa and CCFR have teamed up for decades to create such moments. The planning of the Santa Parade starts shortly after the Fourth of July, said CCFR Assistant Chief Chad Cameron, who has volunteered with the parade for over two decades.  

Much of a Long Island firehouse was destroyed after going up in flames Christmas morning, leaving the chief in tears as he described the loss of two pumpers, a ladder truck, an ambulance and the volunteer department's firefighting equipment. A passing state trooper noticed the blaze at the unoccupied North Massapequa fire headquarters at 1000 N. Broadway just after 6 a.m. and called it in, Fire Chief Joe Pesale said. "The first arrival was myself and my first lieutenant. Smoke was coming from the truck room," Pesale said. "The immediate response was to transmit our signal 10, which is for a working fire, alerting everybody as well as multiple departments coming with mutual aid — especially being that this is our firehouse and our apparatus is on fire," the chief continued. "We made an attempt to get the trucks out of the building. There were three small explosions which prevented us to," he said.  

Spartanburg County's fire service needs have failed to keep up with the growth of more than 50,000 residents over the past 20 years, the county's leading fire official says. That's primarily because the county's master fire service plan has not been updated in more than 20 years, according to Barry Frost. "All departments respond to fires, but there is a huge difference in the other services provided," Frost said. "There are inconsistent levels of service across the county with the rural areas being hit the hardest." Frost is the fire chief in Duncan and chairman of the county's Fire Prevention and Protection Advisory Committee. Frost told county council his committee is trying to correct years of neglect when it comes to coordinating fire service needs.  

VIDEO: Firefighters battled a five-alarm blaze at a commercial building in Mahwah shortly before 5 a.m. Christmas Day, working for hours to get it under control, officials said. The fire occurred at the Arzee Building Supply Center at 37 Franklin Turnpike, Mahwah Police Chief Stephen Jaffe said. All five Mahwah fire department companies, township police and firefighters from mutual aid support from Rockland County in New York responded to the call, officials said. Arzee Building Supply Center sells residential and commercial roofing, waterproofing and siding supplies. No fatalities or injuries were reported, Mahwah PBA Local 143 wrote on Facebook as firefighters continued to battle the blaze Wednesday. The building itself suffered a partial roof collapse.  

The Pell City Fire Department is working on a new partnership with local businesses for 2020. The department will ring in the new year with its new Fire and Life Safety Program. This program will mainly entail the inspections of all business in the city during the new year. Ahead of these inspections, the city is also asking that businesses complete a few minor steps that will help both them and the department in the long run. Fire Chief Tim Kurzejeski said the new program will help the department streamline its process. As part of this program, the city is asking for businesses to update their contact information. Fire Marshal Caleb Walker said keeping current contact information is a highly important step. "We sometimes don't even have up-to-date contact information," he explained.