VIDEO: Harlingen authorities are investigating a house fire that occurred Saturday night. The fire occurred at a home on the 26000 block of Crockett Road. Harlingen Assistant Fire Chief Ruben Balboa said when fire crews arrived, 50 percent of the home was engulfed in flames. Firefighters attempted to fight the blaze from inside the home, but because the fire was too intense, they exited the home and began protecting neighboring homes from exposure. Balboa said the people living at the home were able to escape without injury, and the home is likely a total loss. He said the fire may have begun inside the attic.  

An overnight fire is under investigation in Hill County. Firefighters from more than a dozen departments came to the aid of the Itasca Volunteer Fire Department. The fire was reported in an abandoned warehouse on Mill Street before midnight, according to Emergency Services Support. Firefighters worked through the early morning hours to douse the flames and extinguish hot spots. Fire departments from Hillsboro, Waco, and Cleburne brought in ladder trucks. White Bluff VFD provided its 3,000 gallon water hauler. The other fire departments that helped Itasca VFD included Blum, Covington, Hill Co. Emergency Management, Mertens, Peoria, Whitney, and Woodbury, according to White Bluff. At this time, the cause of the fire has not been released. There are no reports of any injuries at this time.  

San Antonio fire investigators are trying to determine the cause of a fire at a home on the city's Northeast Side early Monday morning. The fire was called in around 4 a.m. at a home in the 100 block of Timberlane Drive, not far from Harry Wurzbach Road and Rittiman Road. Firefighters said they arrived to find flames showing in two sheds, an overhang in between and a tree behind the house. They were able to put the fires out quickly and without incident. Fire officials said nobody was living inside the home and that the house had a fire last year as well. Neighbors said the son of the owner of the house previously had stayed in one of the sheds, without any working utilities. The exact cause of the fire, however, is not currently known. A damage estimate is around $12,000.  

PHOTOS: A fire engulfed an apartment building in Ashland early Monday morning. At 3:52am, Monday, emergency personnel were called to 1100 West Centre Street in Ashland for an apartment building fire. Fire Chief Phil Groody arrived on scene and called in a working fire after finding the whole rear of the apartment building along 11th Street engulfed in flames. The fire would hit a 2nd alarm calling in units from across northern Schuylkill County and eastern Northumberland. It would take firefighters more than an hour to bring the fire under control, with the fire being held to the original fire building. By 5:30am, some units were being released from the scene. At least 2 people were reported to live in the building and escaped unharmed.  

In a significant move aimed at transforming how emergency services are funded, the Board of Fire Commissioners has passed a resolution to include a fire benefit charge proposal on the August 6, 2024, primary election ballot. The Wenatchee Valley Fire Department is championing this initiative, asserting that it offers a fairer method of funding compared to the existing system. Under the current model, funding for emergency services is solely derived from a fire levy that is based on the assessed value of properties. This setup leads to a disparity where two identically-sized houses might incur vastly different fire levies simply due to their location within the fire district. "This means two houses of the same size can pay very different amounts depending on their location within the fire district, while the cost to put out a fire at both is the same," explained a spokesperson for the fire department.  

In response to Gov. Josh Green proclaiming April as Tsunami Awareness Month in Hawai'i, the University of Hawai'i Sea Grant College Program (Hawai'i Sea Grant) partnered with organizations across the state to promote tsunami preparedness by creating a new 2024 Hawai‘i Tsunami Preparedness video. This year marks 78 years since the deadly 1946 Aleutian Islands earthquake that generated tsunami waves over 50 feet high in Hilo, caused tragic loss of life and $340 million economic damage to the state. To prepare for future tsunamis which can strike with very little warning and occur anywhere, at any time, Green's proclamation highlighted the importance of awareness, education and action in preparing the state for potentially deadly tsunamis.