In what an expert calls a “huge failure,” hundreds of residential and commercial buildings across Oakland were never inspected after firefighters flagged fire dangers and referred them for followup, including more than 200 apartment buildings housing thousands of residents, an investigation by the Bay Area News Group has found.
- PUB DATE: 7/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: East Bay Times

A sport utility vehicle collided with an Akron firetruck Friday afternoon, killing two people inside the SUV, including a 16-year-old girl, and injuring three firefighters. Fire Engine No. 3 was southbound on Rhodes Avenue about 3:45 p.m. when witnesses say a burgundy Chevrolet Trailblazer westbound on West Exchange Street drove through a red light and struck the firetruck, Akron Police Capt.
- PUB DATE: 7/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Akron Beacon Journal and Ohio.com

Terrifying images from London remain fresh in many minds: Flames rapidly consuming the exterior of the 24-story Grenfell Tower while trapped residents frantically cried out for help from the upper floors, and firefighters physically and emotionally exhausted from the intense battle and loss of life they confronted.
- PUB DATE: 7/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Firehouse

About 100 firefighters are killed in the line of duty every year. A robot being developed at Pensacola's groundbreaking Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) might one day save lives. Researchers at IHMC are specifically working on a robot that could fight fires on ships. Research Associate John Carff said, "When you're on a ship, there's a good chance if you're a firefighter in there fighting a fire you could get a hatch closed behind you and you're going to be stuck in a ship that's sinking.
- PUB DATE: 7/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WEAR-TV ABC 3 Pensacola

Thick columns of smoke could be seen for miles Sunday morning as firefighters battled big flames at a warehouse in Southeast Seattle. The blaze broke out shortly after 5 a.m. near the corner of South Grand Street and 22nd Avenue. The manufacturing warehouse is located just a block or two from the Coleman Playground near Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood.
- PUB DATE: 7/17/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOMO News