A group of locals stand around a small fire pit outside, but it's not your average weekend island bonfire. Instead of roasting marshmallows or drinking beers around the fire, most of them are dressed in full firefighter gear, waiting for their turn to attack the flames. One after another, they step up with extinguishers. Unalaska Fire Department Captain Ben Knowles offers feedback and instruction. "I would actually prefer that you stand up when you come at this thing because there's this lip here," Knowles said, demonstrating to the class as he kneeled near the pit. "So, if you're down next to this thing and you're hitting it, you're missing all this inside edge." Unalaska's Firefighter I certification course began in February and is scheduled to end sometime around June. The course includes three major sections: fire and hazardous materials training, as well as a written portion. After completing the course and final testing, the six students participating will be certified to work as firefighters.  

VIDEO: Two years ago, the Orange County Fire Rescue Division created an Apparatus Committee with the expectation of taking a look at its current apparatus, and specifically its fire engines, in order to find ways to become more efficient. The results were recently revealed in impressive fashion. "Efficiency and safety were our two main goals when we went to redesign the engine," said Battalion Chief Brian Beechner. "We put out a survey to the entire department, all 1,200 members, asking specific questions about what we can do to increase efficiency." "When firefighters are riding around all day in the cab, they don't want to be subjected to the potential carcinogens on some of the equipment stored there," explained Beechner. Knowing what it needed, the department went to work designing the new engine, which features lower hose beds – with different hose loads and sizes – to make it more efficient to deploy them.  

VIDEO: Electric cars are better for the environment but can pose a hazard for firefighters. El Paso Fire Department Captain Manuel Maldonado said electric cars are not necessarily more dangerous, but require a different approach when trying to put out fires caused by a crash or any accident. He said that the initial extinguishing of the fire is the same: the firefighters wear the same protective equipment to extinguish the flames, but they take one additional step after. "Once the fire is extinguished, we're going to locate the battery," said Maldonado. Each make and model of an electric or hybrid vehicle may have the battery positioned differently. Some vehicles can have the whole bottom part designated for a lithium battery. Maldonado explained that because of the thermal runaway and stranded energy, the battery will keep heating up and potentially igniting over again until it is properly and promptly cooled down.  

A federal appellate court said Tuesday that prosecutors can retry a man whose conviction in the 1995 deaths of three firefighters in the East Hills was overturned. In a 19-page opinion, the three judge-panel from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the federal retrial of Gregory Brown Jr., on a single charge of malicious destruction of property by fire resulting in death, does not violate his double jeopardy rights. Just after midnight on Feb. 14, 1995, Pittsburgh firefighters responded to a home on Bricelyn Street. Several entered the basement. Marc Kolenda, 27, Patricia Conroy, 43, and Capt. Thomas Brooks, 42, were killed when a stairwell collapsed. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated and said gasoline was found in the basement. They ruled the fire arson and offered a $15,000 reward for information on the case.  

PHOTOS: When firefighters arranged to conduct search and rescue training on a vacant house in memory of Dominic "Bama" Hunt, who died in a Sylvania Township house fire in February, Mr. Hunt's fiancée Teresa Laney wanted to be there. "We had to be here as part of the healing process," Ms. Laney said. Through Fireground Training Bureau, area firefighters participated in training all weekend. Working in a smoke-filled house in Rossford to rescue plastic mannequins and dolls simulating real victims, firefighters took turns on different exercises that were designed to replicate a real-life situation as much as possible. "It's the beginning of realistic training," said Pvt. Barrett Dorner, founder of Fireground and a firefighter with Toledo Fire & Rescue Department. While fire training programs have facilities where drills can take place, Private Dorner said it's difficult to make those areas feel like a real house. Being able to train in a realistic setting is an invaluable experience, as firefighters learn how to navigate around furniture and how to feel the difference between different types of floorings.