VIDEO: The Buffalo Fire Department on Saturday marked the 42nd anniversary of the deadliest tragedies in its history, honoring the lives of five firefighters and two civilians killed in a propane tank explosion in 1983. Firefighters, families of the victims and community members gathered at the memorial site on North Division Street, where the explosion leveled a warehouse and destroyed an entire city block just days after Christmas.

The call came in at 8:23 p.m. on Dec. 27, 1983, reporting a propane gas leak inside a warehouse. Moments after firefighters arrived on scene, the tank exploded. “Being on the fire department, you never know what you’re going to run into,” recalled Fred Langdon, who was Buffalo’s fire commissioner at the time

“I was at a dinner, and I came right away,” Langdon said. “In fact, we felt the explosion where I was, and I spent the night there,” Langdon said. The blast killed firefighters Michael Austin, Michael Catanzarro, James Lickfeld, Anthony Waszkielewicz and Matthew Colpoys — and the civilians, Alfred and Jessie Arnold. In the decades since, the corner has remained a permanent memorial to their sacrifice.

WGRZ-TV NBC 2 Buffalo

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A Christmas Day rescue operation on Highway 101 near Shaker Church Road turned perilous when a large tree nearly struck a Thurston County deputy. Sheriff Sanders reported that deputies, alongside Washington State Patrol and Griffin Fire responded to a single-vehicle rollover crash that had sent the vehicle down an embankment.

While deputies and medics were 20 feet into the ravine providing medical assistance, the tree fell, narrowly missing a deputy, Sheriff Sanders said. The driver of the vehicle was evaluated at the scene and found not to be impaired. The driver was then transported to the hospital in stable condition.

KOMO-TV ABC 4 Seattle

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VIDEO: A car fire on northbound Interstate 5 near the 128th Street SW exit was put out quickly Friday morning, with no injuries reported, according to South County Fire. Crews responded just before 10 a.m. to a stretch of I-5 south of the 128th Street SW exit. When firefighters arrived, they found the engine compartment of a Jeep Liberty fully on fire.

The passenger had already exited the vehicle and was standing in a safe location away from traffic. Firefighters extinguished the flames in less than three minutes, preventing the fire from spreading beyond the engine area and into the passenger compartment. No injuries were reported. When firefighters arrived, they found the engine compartment of a Jeep Liberty fully on fire.

KIRO-TV CBS 7 Seattle

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PHOTOS: Two people were reportedly hospitalized after a large fire broke out at a house connected to a star NASCAR driver in North Carolina on Sunday. The blaze was sparked the night of Dec. 28 along Blacksnake Road in Gaston County. Lucia-Riverbend firefighters said several fire departments from across Gaston and Lincoln counties were called to the home.

Pictures shared by the Lucia-Riverbend Fire Department showed the main part of the house engulfed in tall flames, with much of the home gone by the time the fire was out. “We are thankful for the multiple agency response and ask that the public be in prayer for the affected family and our first responders in fire, GEMs and police,” the department wrote on Facebook.

Tax records connected the property to a company owned by NASCAR star Denny Hamlin, as well as his father, Dennis Hamlin. The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi reported that two people were hospitalized after the fire, although it was not immediately clear who, nor how bad their injuries were.

WHNS-TV FOX 21 Greenville

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Check out this walk-around video of Aurora (OH) Fire Department's new Rosenbauer pumper.

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