The Olympia Fire Department responded Monday to reports that a tree caught fire after falling into powerlines at Morse-Merryman and Wiggins roads, ultimately causing a small explosion of a power transformer that was captured on video. The explosion occurred about 10:30 a.m. Monday in southeast Olympia.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2017 1:51:51 AM - SOURCE: Olympian

Crews from Lacey Fire District 3 extinguished a fire about 1 a.m. Monday in an unoccupied house in the 3600 block of Arbor Drive Southeast near Long Lake. The fire was caused by a heater that was running in the garage and was “too close to combustibles,” Battalion Chief Ryan Fox said. The homeowner had been painting the two-story house’s interior and had removed all of the doors inside, which allowed the fire to spread easily and rapidly, Fox said.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2017 1:49:10 AM - SOURCE: Olympian

Firefighter Joyce Craig made five “Mayday” distress transmissions as she became trapped in the dining room of a burning West Oak Lane home on Dec. 9, 2014. “Engine 73 can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” Craig, 37, said in her final transmission. Nine minutes later, Craig – the first female Philadelphia firefighter to die in the line of duty – was found by her comrades with her left hand still near the nozzle of her fire hose, according to a report released Monday by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Philly.com

After Elkhart Mayor Mike Gordon wrote a letter to the public explaining why the city council decided to sever ties with its fire department, Elkhart Volunteer Fire Chief Randy McCoy responded. McCoy disagrees with Gordon, who said the city was spending a tremendous amount of money paying for the volunteer fire department's insurance and utilities, and the history of oversight and accountability demands placed on city officials, as well as the city’s staff, were costly and time consuming.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Palestine Herald

A construction worker frantically woke residents of a two-story home in Cambridge, alerting the three people upstairs to escape as flames swept through the second floor, grateful renters said this morning. Dozens of firefighters responded to the multi-alarm blaze. Ladder trucks poured water into the second floor, shattering windows.
- PUB DATE: 4/18/2017 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald