VIDEO: A babysitter could face charges after a massive fire erupted at a Spring motel as children inside were playing with a lighter. The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office traced the cause of the fire at the Motel 6 near Cypresswood and I-45 to a 3- and 6-year-old. This is consistent with what witnesses told Eyewitness News earlier at the scene. Seven people, including two children, were transported to hospitals for smoke inhalation after the blaze engulfed the building, leaving a massive hole in the roof. Investigators said the children who started the fire were left alone by the babysitter. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy flames penetrating the roof, sending a thick column of black smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles. The fire later spread to an adjacent building through a common attic space.  

National high suicide and depression rates in first responders has pushed Lubbock Fire and Rescue Lieutenant Matt McGinnis to develop a comprehensive system to help firefighters understand what mental health is, how to look for signs, and understand their options to get help. McGinnis calls it a "comprehensive mental health wellness program," created in response to high rates of critical incidence stress among firefighters and a very high suicide rate. National statistics show that firefighters are 20 times more likely to die by suicide and 10 times more likely to die from a fire response-related event such as a heart attack. "There's a stigma among first responders that if you have an issue then it's a sign of weakness. We've got to teach guys that that's not the case and that in fact, it takes a lot of courage to face your issues," Lt. McGinnis said.  

VIDEO: A fire at a two-story barn-condo hybrid sparks when resources such as manpower and water are sparse in Denison on Wednesday night. The part-residence-part-cabinet shop on Old Airport Road off FM 1753 was set for completion just two weeks from when it went up in flames, two years after work began. No one lived there, but people on the scene say thousands of dollars of tools, equipment and custom carpentry, as well as a speed boat, forklift and at least one motorcycle are destroyed. Neighbors, friends and family of the couple who built the home gathered Wednesday night on the front lawn to helplessly watch firefighters battle the blaze. The day had already seen more than its share of action for the Denison Fire Department, which spent most of its day battling a monster blaze on Main Street that claimed at least three buildings and at least two residences.  

Kids learned the vital movements stop, drop, and roll from firefighters Wednesday morning. October is Fire Prevention Month and firefighters paid a visit to teach kids at the Camilo Prada Child Development Center about fire safety. Veronica Juarez says words like smoke detector, fire alarm, and fire drill are now a part of kids' vocabulary at the daycare. "They love it, they make them feel comfortable, the firefighters are doing a great job. They're showing them how to respond to the smoke detectors sound. Sometimes they panic, they get scared, but us having monthly drills, they're being alert and safe." These lifelong skills were taught to the 68 children that attended the presentation at the child care center.  

Northbound I-35 has reopened following a large fuel spill on the highway. First responders with the Austin Police Department and Austin Fire Department responded to a crash on I-35 involving a dump truck around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9. The crash happened in the 9700 block of northbound I-35 and involved one vehicle and a dump truck, according to police. One female was transported to a local hospital by ATCEMS. The extent of her injuries are unclear at this time. Approximately 25 gallons of diesel fuel were spilled, according to the Austin Fire Department. Drivers were being asked to avoid the area and to find alternate routes.  

VIDEO: Just days after Cactus Jack's was lost in a devastating fire, 6 News was able to join the bar's general manager, Brad Bush, for an exclusive walk through of what remained. Emergency crews were called the fire just after 8 a.m. Monday. Firefighters tried to extinguish the fire from inside the building, but heavy winds and the "difficult location of this fire" made it impossible for them to fight, officials said. Bush said surveillance video showed two people smoking outside of the bar in the early morning. Nobody was hurt in the fire, but the bar was a total loss. Cactus Jack's was founded in 2005 by a woman named Miss Donna. When she passed away in 2011, she left Bush in charge. "This was her legacy," Bush said. "This was Donna's place. It wasn't just Cactus Jack's."  

VIDEO: The president of the largest flight attendant union wants the FAA to ban e-cigarettes from planes because their batteries could be a fire hazard. FAA data from 1991 through this August shows at least 48 e-cigarette related smoke or fire incidents at airports or on planes. That's more incidents than laptops and tablets, cellphones, battery chargers or spare batteries. A FAA test video shows why lithium ion batteries have been banned in check luggage. If a battery fails and enters what's called thermal runway, it can burn so hot the plane's fire suppression system can't put it out. A lithium ion battery fire on a plane can be catastrophic. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said flight attendants have become firefighters on planes, and the FAA needs to do more.  

Lexington's 911 emergency center is struggling to keep up as fewer call takers and dispatchers attempt to answer a swelling number of calls and help an increasing number of police and firefighters, city officials said Tuesday. The Enhanced 911 Center answered 477,711 calls last year. Of those, more than 217,000 are 911 or emergency calls. That's a 55 percent increase from 1998. The center has 65 staffers, a drop of about 20 percent from 1998, according to information provided Tuesday to the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council Planning and Public Safety Committee. Robert Stack, the director of the Enhanced 911 Center, told the committee he will ask for six additional call takers for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2020, to keep up with demand.  

"The unicorn program." That is how a recent student with the Bennington Rescue Squad described the organization's year-long apprenticeship program. Bill Camarda, Deputy Executive Director, oversees the only EMS apprenticeship program registered with the state of Vermont. Bennington rescue launched its program in December 2018 and is in the process of interviewing applicants for its third cohort, said Camarda. The program has "opened up a new pipeline of employees," said Camarda. Nationally, EMS organizations have struggled to find employees. According to Camarda, the work is demanding and training is expensive. EMT training costs between $800 to $1,200. The profession also comes with a high turnover rate or approximately 15 to 20 percent a year. As the labor market in Vermont has tightened, the problem has gotten worse.  

VIDEO: It's been one year since a backyard bonfire changed Eli Beasley's life. In a moment of carelessness, the professional firefighter tried to light a bonfire that had been doused in a gasoline mixture. He was instantly engulfed. Beasley was taken to University of Missouri Health Care's Level 1 Trauma Center with burns over 75 percent of his body. According to the American Burn Association, nearly half a million people receive medical treatment for burns each year. A new product, though, is changing the way the worst of those burns – like Beasley's – are treated. Traditionally, in very large burns, doctors harvest small bits of healthy skin to grow into sheets of skin for grafting. However, Litt was one of the first surgeons in Missouri to also use a newly FDA-approved treatment called spray-on skin.  

The trees are really dense along a stretch of bumpy, narrow road outside Cle Elum in Kittitas County. After years of keeping fire off the landscape, the forest has grown close together. That means there's more fuel when a wildfire does burn through this area. "The density of this, it's just a wall. It's a giant wall," said Kyle Smith, forest manager with The Nature Conservancy of Washington. Forest managers are using a tool to help bring this area back to how it was 100 years ago. The tool is about the size of a tractor, with a spinning rod of metal teeth. "If you can imagine like mowing [a] lawn ... with a sweet riding lawn mower but out in the forest, it's something like that," said Connor Craig, who owns Wildfire Fuel Protection. The bumper of his company rig — parked nearby — reads, "Thin it or watch it burn." Craig isn't just hacking down these trees. Forest managers have a plan.