Firefighters on foot and in packrafts continued accessing hard-to-reach areas of the 2,135-acre About Mountain Fire near McGrath in southwest Alaska on Monday to boost containment of the fire located 6 miles south of McGrath along the Kuskokwim River. Containment on the fire climbed from 60 to 80 percent as of late Monday night and that number should continue to rise as crews access uncontained line. A drone with infrared imagery was ordered to conduct a flight over the fire later this week to search for any lingering hot spots. There are 80 personnel working on the fire, including the Division of Forestry's Pioneer Peak Hotshots, 14 smokejumpers from the BLM Alaska Fire Service and two Type 2 contract crews. Ten smokejumpers were demobilized from the fire on Monday and returned to Fairbanks to be available for initial attack on any new fires.  

PHOTOS: Smoke from two large lightning-caused tundra fires burning north of Kotzebue is impacting surrounding villages to the south. The Noatak River Fire (#232) burning in the Noatak National Preserve 120 miles northeast of Kotzebue grew significantly over the past few days and is now the largest in the state at an estimated 11,000 acres. Meanwhile, eight smokejumpers were dispatched Tuesday afternoon to protect a Native allotment a few miles from the Tutak Creek Fire (#243) burning about 24 miles east of Kivalina and 70 miles north of Kotzebue. The Tutak Creek Fire is an estimated 2,000 acres and was burning in wetlands within about 3-4 miles southeast of the nearest Native allotment Tuesday morning. Despite the abundance of natural barriers, afternoon winds pushed it close enough to warrant response from smokejumpers to protect the allotment.  

Theron Jenkins walked into his first bodybuilding competition already accomplishing the goals that meant the most to him. It wasn't to win first place — that never mattered to Jenkins — and it sure wasn't for the attention and recognition he received when he dominated the competition, earning a first-place prize and drawing comparisons to the eight-time Mr. Olympia champion Ronnie Coleman. All the 32-year-old Jenkins, a Jersey City firefighter, wanted was to learn how to live a healthier and more fit lifestyle, one that would help him deal with the one thing that has played on his emotions his entire life. "I only did this so I can learn how to lose weight and be happy and comfortable when I go to the pool, look at myself in pictures, and when I put my clothes on each day," said Jenkins. "Those things are first place to me, that's the real win, not the trophy."  

VIDEO: About four seconds was the difference between life and death on May 31 when an unconscious man awoke to Manatee County medical first responders trying to help him and pulled out a loaded gun. "I had no choice but to go for the gun," said Manatee County Paramedic Carlos Santos. Santos' quick reaction, along with his partner, EMT Joe Savasta, and nearby sheriff's deputies, prevented what could have been a tragic day. Santos and Savasta responded to a call about an unconscious man inside his vehicle at the traffic light at 2600 53rd Ave. W. After several failed attempts to get the man's attention with verbal commands, the two EMS employees got inside the vehicle by breaking the back window and immediately began to check if the man was having a medical emergency.  

VIDEO: Joe Saunier, a school resource officer in Frankfort is restoring old toy fire trucks for children in need. "When you get to see the children's faces. You know, it means a lot right there," Saunier said. For the past few years, Officer Saunier has been restoring old fire trucks for children who undergo difficult situations, with some of those fire trucks being over fifty years old. "And I'll call them and ask how many families you got that just got totally wiped out and do they have kids or do you know of any. I'll get an email back in a day or so, and off I go. I hand-deliver them," Saunier said. Saunier says he's always had a call to serve and understands just how hard life can be. "Everything is at my expense, you know I don't worry about it. Can't take it with you is what my wife says. For years we struggled with our son Ryan with cystic fibrosis. We were just flat broke, it seemed like we were living paycheck to paycheck, sometimes, beg, borrow and steal and you know I have a large family to help that," Saunier said.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: The Waverly Fire Department has a new home for a truck previously used in the department 100 years ago. The American LaFrance was the first "new" truck used by Waverly Fire in 1921. After the truck retired service it was sold to Redfield, Iowa, who then later sold it to Dale Miracle. After that, it stayed with a family in Indianola for sixty years. After three years of negotiations the century-old vehicle finally wheeled its way back home to the Waverly Fire Department. Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Miller says it's about doing what you can to bring history home. "Anytime you can get your history back, you only get one shot at that," Miller said. "There's always another house or another car, but in this case, there isn't another truck. This is documented that this is our first piece of equipment." Miller feels this piece of history gives to the community as well as the fire department's families, as many of them have been involved for generations.  

VIDEO: New warnings from federal regulators have local fire departments rethinking their approach to electric car battery fires. The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) has trained about 250,000 first responders, but there are 1.2 million firefighters nationwide. The lithium-ion batteries found in these cars burn differently than combustible engine fires. The fire chief for the Woodlands Fire Department, a suburb outside of Houston, called the batteries a "trick birthday candle." "When you add electricity to the mix, it adds a different dynamic," said T.J. Martin with the Parma Fire Department. "Training in the fire service has always been a challenge because no two fires are the same, and any fire department across the country will tell you the same thing."