A house in Grayson County caught fire during Wednesday night's storms, after it was hit by lightning. "We were in bed, hear a big loud crack, knew it was really close," said next door neighbor Andy Brewer Andy Brewer and his wife live in Van Alstyne. Wednesday night, just after 10 p.m. in a matter of seconds, he recalls seeing a flash, and hearing thunder. "I have the (News 12 Weather Authority) app, and I looked at my phone- you get the notifications for the lighting strike- well this one was 0.0 miles from my home, so yeah, it was close," Brewer said. That's when they walked outside to see their Next door neighbor's home, in flames. "There was 3 or 4 fire departments here, there was smoke billowing out of the roof of the house!" Brewer said. Several fire agencies toned out to the home, in the 700 block of Belmont Avenue, near Co Road 3356 in Van Alstyne at around 10:10 p.m.  

Several mobile homes near Eagle Mountain Lake in Parker County were destroyed by strong winds during Wednesday night's storms. A family inside a mobile home was rescued after strong, straight line winds flipped and rolled it off its foundation. "Twice, it rolled two times. It would've rolled three times, but the house that's behind it, my mom's bedroom is inside that house. That's the only thing that stopped us from rolling even more," Dakota Smith said. Parker County Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Coordinator Sean Hughes said three people were taken to the hospital after their home blew over during the storm. Those injuries are not life-threatening. "We had damage all across Parker County. We had some concentrated damage in the Friendship Road area, also the Enchanted Rock Circle area.  

One person was hospitalized after the Wichita Falls Fire Department fought a house fire in the 4600 block of Karla Street on Thursday. Heavy fire and smoke could be seen coming from the front of the building; it took firefighters about 15 minutes to extinguish the fire. One person was taken to the hospital in an unknown condition. The fire reportedly caused about $65,000 in damage to the house and contents. WFFD is continuing to investigate the cause of the fire.  

An early morning fire consumed a house in the Nigton area on Friday. Authorities say that around 2 a.m., a structure fire near F.M. 2501 broke out and when crews arrived on scene the structure was engulfed in flames. Apple Springs Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brett Selman noted that the incident is currently under investigation, but current information does not indicate that the origin of the fire is suspicious in nature. Selman said the fire's origin is possibly due water running down an electrical line coming into the house which may have shorted out. No injuries were reported.  

The McAllen Fire Department are urging residents and others to stay indoors and to avoid the area of Cedar Avenue between 20th and 21st St. The city of McAllen Fire Department responded to an emergency call for a swarm of bees attacking. Six people were stung, including a McAllen firefighter, while four others were transported to the hospital, according to officials with the city. It is undetermined if the bees were Africanized or not. Please call 9-1-1 for any emergency situation. Animal control and the fire department were in the area assisting.  

VIDEO: A firefighter was injured and hundreds of people were evacuated after a massive fire at Manor Chemicals plant Thursday afternoon. The Affton plant, located in the 6900 block of Heege Road near Tower Tee, had a fire break out around 2:30, and it quickly grew until smoke could be seen for miles. Officials on the scene said the mushroom cloud was 400 feet in the air. Police said when crews first arrived they saw up to 10 different chemicals involved, a tanker truck and the structure itself. All employees were evacuated and none of them were injured. By the time firefighters had foam on the fire, the call moved up to a 4-alarm. Preliminary reports show the fire could've started from an electrical short or static electricity. "I heard a couple of booms, not earth-shattering but you felt them," Richard Garcia said.  

PHOTOS: In looking over the burned district with the fire still raging fiercely on Bay Street, in the most important retail business portion of the city it's sad. The entire length of Beaver Street from Davis to the creek, over Liberty Street, have been totally destroyed. This is fourteen solid blocks of residences east and west. For the same distance Ashley and Church Streets have both been completely blotted out. When the fire reached Bridge Street, in its eastward course, it enveloped in flames three blocks, Duval, Monroe and the north side of Adams, burning up that entire section of the city and running fourteen blocks to the Duval Street Bridge. St. Luke's Hospital was saved. The conflagration had covered as far as is definitely known, a distance of two and a half miles, by a half mile wide. When the fire reached Julia Street it was a roaring furnace, without any prospect of being put under control.  

VIDEO: A fire at a Tempe duplex that left a nine-year-old boy dead is highlighting the need for mental health services for firefighters. "How do you prepare for someone to see something -- a child that's dead or dying or that's been injured," said Tempe Fire Medical Rescue Deputy Chief Mark Manor. Manor says fire departments have to be reactive when caring for a firefighter's mental health. "Over the course of a career you could see hundreds of things that just kind of bottle up. And one tragic event like we had yesterday could really set someone off and we want to do the best we can to keep that from happening." Fire departments across the Valley, including Tempe Fire Medical Rescue, are now offering mental health services to combat PTSD. "Employee assistance programs, that kind of thing, as well as another third-party provider we use to specialize in mental health and mental wellness and they specialize in public safety personnel," Manor said.  

A bill strengthening penalties for drivers endangering first responders working on Montana roadways was signed into law Thursday by Gov. Greg Gianforte. House Bill 264 was driven in part by testimony in both the House and Senate from family of Casie Allen and Nick Visser, two Hanser's Automotive tow truck operators who were hit and killed by a truck while clearing a crash on I-90 between Park City and Columbus on an icy morning in October. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Ross Fitzgerald, R-Fairfield, and co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Hamilton, D-Bozeman. Among the supporters of the bill is Jerry Prete, a firefighter and manager for the Montana State University Fire Services Training school and the state coordinator for the federal Traffic Incident Management program that teaches first responders how to work safely on roadways.  

Millions of Americans are receiving their COVID-19 vaccines, and in a world of over-sharing on social media, that means Instagram and Twitter feeds are also being flooded with shots. People are not only sharing when they receive their vaccine, but also which vaccine they receive, often using hashtags like #PfizerGang or #TeamModerna. Nearly three-quarters of Americans say they prefer a specific vaccine brand by name, according to a recent survey of 1,000 people by M Booth Health, a health communications consultancy, and Savanta, a market research and advisory company. The survey found the largest share — 36% — preferred Pfizer. Moderna came in second with 19%, closely followed by Johnson & Johnson at 17%. Among those who said Pfizer was their first choice, 21% said social media posts by family and friends contributed to the reasoning behind their choice. The most common reason given for their preference was the vaccine's efficacy, named by 45%.