VIDEO/PHOTO: The Amarillo Fire Department celebrated a major milestone this weekend. The Amarillo Fire Department was established on January 27th, 1897, and this weekend the Department celebrated its 125th birthday. Amarillo Fire Department Chief Jason Mays said it is nice to reflect on the landmarks the Department has made in over a century that they have been around. "It's nice to get together and reminisce from basically some of the early pages of history with our department and our city and reflect on that," said Chief Mays. At the AFD Birthday Ball, there was a dinner, cake, and presentation to honor the firefighters that came before as well as those that have died in the line of duty. Kylor Williams, who has been on with the department for eight years said the brotherhood within the department is awesome.  

A house fire in northwest Dallas left one woman dead early Saturday morning. Dallas-Fire Rescue said when they arrived at the 1400 block of Briar Cliff Road, they observed heavy fire from the side of the house. Due to reports of a woman in her 70s still being in the building, a second alarm was transmitted. Firefighters went inside the house to look for the woman and found her burned body on the bedroom floor. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The public information officer with Dallas-Fire Rescue said there were reports that a neighbor attempted to go inside the house to rescue the woman, but had withdrawn due to the fire conditions and partial collapse of the roof over the area. The woman's daughter was also in the house when the fire began, but was able to make it out safely before firefighters arrived at the scene.  

VIDEO: Little York firefighters were working to put out a fire at a three-story building at an apartment complex in north Houston, according to the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office. Authorities said flames started shooting through the roof at the Timbers of Cranbrook Apartments in the 14000 block of Ella at about 9:30 p.m. Investigators were called to the scene to determine the cause of the fire. There were no reports of injuries.  

PHOTOS: Firefighters found themselves battling a fire at an east Austin homeless encampment Sunday afternoon. The Austin Fire Department said they got a call around 1:26 p.m. reporting a fire in the 600 block of Bastrop Highway southbound - nearby an oncoming ramp of South Highway 183. Firefighters arrived to see several pieces of belongings were up in flames and the fire was beginning to spread close to a strip center nearby. AFD reported getting the fire under control around 2:10 p.m. AFD is currently investigating the cause of the fire.  

A classroom went up in flames at the vacant Crosby Elementary School Sunday afternoon. A fire official told an ABC-7 photographer on scene that the fire was spreading at 5 p.m. Thick black smoke could be seen coming out of the building. School was not in session as the fire broke out, but there was no word if there was anyone inside. There have been no reports of injuries at this time. Gustavo Reveles, Spokesman for EPISD, said that the school has been vacant since June of 2021. It since has been used by the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium. But, he said it did not did not seem to have impacted it at all. Reveles said this is one of the properties that episd is considering being surplused and sold by the school district Reveles said EPISD will check with the fire department to see what condition the building is left in to decide what they will do with it next.  

PHOTOS: The Dumas Fire Department Monday morning assured the community there was "no need for alarm if you see smoke" as it announced a brush burn at the landfill on 19th and South Maddox. According to the department's social media announcement, the Dumas Fire Department and City of Dumas Landfill collaborated Monday morning to have crews on scene to monitor the fire.  

VIDEO: DeKalb County fire crews have been working to put out a massive fire at an abandoned condominium building in Clarkston Monday morning. At around 7 a.m., 11Alive SkyTracker showed flames shooting through the roof with the entire building engulfed. Within 40 minutes, most of the larger flames were out and all that was left was an exterior wall. The building, known as Brannon Hill Condominiums, are located off Old Hampton Drive. They have long been considered an eyesore and a danger to the people living in it, sometimes described as the "worst community in America." DeKalb County has worked for years to demolish the blighted property. Some buildings have been torn down, but others are still occupied and some are abandoned.  

New York City's fire commissioner said Friday that he will retire next month after more than seven years in the job and a career that spanned more than five decades and included stints in every rank in the department. Daniel Nigro led the nation's largest municipal fire department through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and recently oversaw its response to the city's deadliest fire in three decades. With the FDNY's ranks decimated by the deaths of 343 firefighters and fire officials in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Nigro received a battlefield promotion to chief of department. He led rescue and recovery operations at ground zero and helped the department rebuild. Nigro, one of the few holdovers from former Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration, will leave Feb. 16.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: A Mount Pleasant firefighter had his own cheering section while undergoing training! According to the department, Firefighter Dawson McNeill was training on connecting to a hydrant to have a continuous water supply during a fire. While he was honing his skills, a group of curious kids from Carolina Park Academy watched and rooted him on. The daycare is close to Fire Station 6. Great work by this firefighter and the children!  

In 2005, the film "Animal" starring Ving Rhames as Animal and Terrence Howard as his son Darius was released. Darius fell into gang life while his father was incarcerated as if to carry on the family tradition. This movie displayed how without proper guidance from the parent, or willingness to obtain an education, the cycle of poverty and social disenfranchisement will continue. The Black community is especially vulnerable to this generational cycle of dysfunction. "You only do what you see," said Darick Rhodes, a prominent 20-year veteran firefighter, chief and captain for the Bloomington Fire Department who recently retired. The Minneapolis native, raised on Chicago and Franklin avenues, actually had another career in mind before becoming a firefighter. His first career choice was to join law enforcement like other members of his family.  

At least one in five Americans have now been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, but the number is likely higher, including secondary to unreported asymptomatic cases, according to The Hill. The United States had its first confirmed case of COVID-19 reported 731 days ago on Jan. 21, 2020, but now has had over 70 million confirmed COVID-19 cases with over 866,000 deaths as of this Friday, according to The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which is a continuously updated source of COVID-19 data. The center reported approximately 210 million Americans are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, which is 64% of the United States population, but the percentage varies significantly depending on locality, from as low as 49 % in both Alabama and Wyoming to 87% in Washington, D.C.