VIDEOS: Houston firefighters battled a 3-alarm apartment fire Thursday night that left families from more than 50 units out in the cold in the Galleria area. No injuries were reported but residents from 60 to 60 units had to evacuate due to fire damage, smoke and power outages, according to Houston Fire Department Sam Pena. The Houston Fire Department tweeted about the fire in the 3000 block of Greenridge Drive shortly before 9 p.m. More than 100 firefighters had to battle the blaze overnight because the strong, cold winds extended the fire into other parts of the apartment complex. It's unknown when and how the fire started, but Pena said the Red Cross has been requested to assist with displaced residents. Officials said they took many of those displaced residents to warming centers.  

VIDEO/PHOTO: The Brazos County Sheriff's Office confirms that an oil tanker caught fire off East Highway 21 near Tabor Road in the Kurten area of Brazos County. Brazos County Precinct 3 Fire Chief Jason Ware says he believes there was a gasket failure on the heater treater at the MD America energy well site. The pit was on fire when firefighters got to the scene but Ware says no storage tanks were actually involved. The owner of the site was able to turn off the valves to the tanks before firefighters arrived. No one was injured. As of 8:45 a.m., a KBTX crew on the scene said the fire is completely out.  

El Paso Fire Department (EPFD) crews successfully extinguished a fire at a West El Paso apartment complex. The fire was first reported just after 2 a.m. Thursday morning, at the Santa Fe Place Apartments, along the 300 block of North Festival. Enrique Dueñas-Aguilar, El Paso Fire Department public information officer said, the fire was first approached as a condition 2 fire, but was upgraded to condition 3, bringing in more vehicles. Dueñas-Aguilar explained residents were evacuated from the building and at least two units suffered damage. EPFD confirmed two people were injured, one firefighter and one civilian, who were treated for minor injuries. Shortly after 5 a.m., as the fire was extinguished, a Sun Metro bus arrived to pick up residents who needed transportation to a safe lodging. According to EPFD's preliminary information, the fire started in an attic, but the investigation is still taking place to find out the exact cause.  

The Austin Fire Department says the cause of a two-alarm fire in central East Austin was accidental. Officials say improperly discarded smoking material was to blame. The fire happened at the Rise at the Cameron Apartments on Reagan Hill Drive near Berkman Drive shortly after 11 p.m. on February 17. First responders say seven people, including three children, were hurt. Firefighters say five adults and one child were taken to nearby hospitals with potentially serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Four apartments had fire damage, but 20 units were vacated because the electricity had to be shut off. Officials say the Red Cross is helping 15 people affected by the fire. Officials say the damages are estimated at $200,000 for fire and fire control damage and $50,000 for contents.  

When some people think of first responders, they think of nurses, firefighters or police officers. While these positions are extremely vital, the first people called when someone is in an emergency situation are 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers. San Angelo has at least eight open positions for emergency service dispatchers. The San Angelo dispatch office takes emergency calls for all of Tom Green County. The SAPD Communications Division is one of the most vital services for both the police and fire departments and also serves as a critical link between citizens in need and responding personnel. Dispatchers receive and dispatch requests for police, fire, EMS and other emergency and non-emergency services. "A dispatcher is almost like a counselor. They're someone to talk to when they don't know who to call or what to do in an emergency situation. The job can be very challenging but is rewarding when you can help those in need," San Angelo Police Department Sgt. Chris Carpenter said.  

The McKinney Fire Department (MFD) is expanding its award-winning Community Healthcare Program by partnering with Molina Healthcare of Texas (Molina). The alliance is one of the first-of-its-kind involving fire-based EMS. The Community Healthcare Program (CHP) bridges the gap between emergency care and seeing a primary care physician. Since 2013, the CHP has successfully helped more than 250 people stabilize their overall health so they do not need to rely on EMS for routine medical care. The program is part of the MFD's Mobile Integrated Healthcare initiative, including the recently launched telemedicine program that connects some patients to ER physicians without a trip to the hospital. Molina Healthcare of Texas provides health insurance to individuals through government programs like Medicaid and Medicare.  

PHOTOS: Officials say the Thursday fire at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township has caused "extensive" damage. We're told the fire started around 10 a.m. Thursday morning and the roof of the clubhouse collapsed around 11 a.m. Multiple fire departments responded to the scene, including Farmington Hills, Rochester Hills, Southfield, Madison Heights, Waterford, Bloomfield Township and Franklin. We're told there are still active fires that they are working to put out. The weather conditions are making it difficult for crews. Officials say no there were no injuries in the fire. We're also told firefighters worked to save some items. "They pulled that memorabilia out and handed it off to the club members at the front door," Bloomfield Township Fire Chief John LeRoy said.  

VIDEO: An Omaha firefighter, who just graduated from the academy, almost lost his life even before he began his career. Kevin Juszyk, 32, is one of the newest members of the Omaha Fire Department. But he got sidetracked for a while before taking his seat on a fire engine. "It's definitely the best job in the world," Juszyk said. "Great to finally be here and be through academy." KETV Newswatch 7 caught up with him on his first week on the job at station 41. He's gladly doing the daily probationary firefighter duties of cleaning the kitchen and testing the jaws of life. He does bring some experience to the job. He's already saved someone's life. In June of 2019, Juszyk was working as an EMT at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. While on the job, he revived a man having a heart attack. The Omaha Fire Department honored him and three other EMTs with the citizen life-saving award.  

VIDEO: Just this week, more than a dozen Massachusetts firefighters file a federal lawsuit against several companies that make their turnout gear and firefighting foam. They allege companies knowingly used chemicals in those products that could cause cancer. One of those firefighters is Dan Ranahan of Boston. Family is everything to Dan. And in the Ranahan family, firefighting is in their blood. "My father was on for 38 years, and my brother's been on for 15," Ranahan said. And for seven years, Dan's proudly served on Boston's Ladder 4. "This is the one thing I always wanted to do," he said, "and I wouldn't change it for anything." But in October 2020, a lingering cough and low-grade fever led to a diagnosis that would change everything. Dan said the doctor told him, "You have a mass in your chest the size of a coconut." At just 30 years old and a new dad, Dan was diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  

A Cygnus cargo ship launching toward the International Space Station (ISS) this weekend will carry an experiment designed to improve fire safety on moon and Mars missions. Called SoFIE (Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction), the experiment is the latest in a series of in-orbit investigations that look at how fire behaves in microgravity. SoFIE is part of a larger haul of science, supplies and hardware flying on Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-17 resupply mission, which is scheduled to launch at 12:39 p.m. EST (1739 GMT) on Saturday (Feb. 19). "What we hope to do is inform future missions on material flammability as they work prototype designs for future spacesuits, cabins and habitats and predict how those materials would burn in lunar, Martian or other environments," Paul Ferkul, SoFIE project scientist at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio, told Space via e-mail.  

An Oklahoma man says he is trying to change how fast first responders can make it to a house when someone is in need. His new invention is a special light bulb called "The Locator 911" and it launched this week for anyone to buy. Johnathan Harrison was a paramedic for 25 years and said he was in many situations where they couldn't find the person who needed help because the address didn't come up properly in GPS systems. He said sometimes the GPS will give a general location, like a street in a neighborhood, but not always the exact house. Harrison said the inspiration for this light bulb invention came in 2009 when a call came to his unit for a two-year-old in cardiac arrest, but when they got to the location, they couldn't find the child. "When we finally got to the correct driveway there were four mobile homes scattered, we had no idea which to go to," Harrison said.