May 25, 2023 “He put himself in a position of danger to save lives,” Hallowell Chief Jim Owens said.

Source Firehouse.com News

There’s a search underway in Hallowell for a man.

He poses no threat to the public. When he’s identified, residents may roll out the red carpet and stand in line to greet him.

Many say what happened was something like they’d seen in a movie. A man grabbed a ladder and helped rescue two residents from a blazing house fire, News Center Maine reported. 

Then, he was gone. 

“He put himself in a position of danger to save lives,” Hallowell Fire Chief Jim Owens told reporters. 

Owens said it’s rare to see this act of bravery like Hallowell experienced Tuesday night.

“With the way the world has turned in the last few years, it really makes you feel good to see someone like the guy that came to help the police officer with the ladder.” 

May 25, 2023 The two dug a perimeter around the cottage and lit it as the wildfire approached.

Source Firehouse.com News

Louis and Clarence McCallum have a combined 64 years of firefighting experience.

“All of a sudden you could hear the fire in the background really roaring, coming towards the cabin. I told my dad, I said, ‘If we don’t back burn, it’s going to burn down.’ I grabbed a five-gallon tank of gas that I poured around the cabin and lit it on fire,” Clarence told CBC News.

The pair started burning a line, eliminating as much fuel as they could from around the cabin.  Louis said surrounding trees caught fire, wrapping the cottage in a ring of flames.

“We didn’t have very much time to run to the lake — we barely made it to the dock. We had to run in the water and push the boat out, and get out of there. Once we got out of there, we didn’t even know where we were going anyway because there was too much smoke and red ashes just flying,” Louis recalled. 

They wouldn’t know until the next day if their plan worked. 

While surveying the damage by helicopter, Clarence saw they were able to protect not only their cabin but their neighbor’s as well. 

“I told him that the cabin was still up. My mom was happy because that cabin was there for the family for the last 27 years and all of our pictures were in there — photo albums, all the memories that we had. If that would have burned, it would have been a sad moment and I’m just glad that it’s still standing today.”

“He (my dad) taught me all I know and he still teaches me today on how to fight fires,” he said. “To be there, fighting a fire like that, it breaks my heart. But for me and him to do that together, it sure bonded us even more.”

May 25, 2023 A Lexington resident who saw smoke coming from the house called 9-1-1.

By Christopher Leach Source Lexington Herald-Leader (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

One person has died in a Lexington house fire that started Thursday morning, according to the Lexington Fire Department.

The fire started in the 1000 block of Gainesway Drive, according to Maj. Derek Roberts from the fire department. Roberts said firefighters were dispatched around 6 a.m. and found smoke visible from outside the home.

One victim was located inside the home, and the Fayette County Coroner’s Office has been called to the scene to investigate the death.

“As crews started extinguishment efforts and during the course of their efforts, they located a victim that was already deceased,” Roberts said.

Fire investigators were also at the scene Thursday to determine where the fire started and what caused it.

Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said his office was called just after 6 a.m. The victim was a man in his early 60s.

Ginn said he’s fairly sure what the cause of death is but the manner of death is still pending. He said he will wait to make preliminary determinations until after the autopsy.

“We are definitely interested in the origin of the fire, which arson investigators are currently here and working hard,” Ginn said.

Maj. Derek Roberts said the fire was reported by a civilian who saw smoke coming out of the home. Firefighters saw smoke and flames upon arrival.

An hour and a half after the fire, several fire trucks and other emergency response vehicles were still at the scene.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

May 25, 2023 The explosions that shattered windows were likely caused by overheated tires popping as propane tanks found were OK.

By Harry Parker, Thomas Tracy Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A box truck caught fire on a Bronx street early Wednesday, sparking a massive inferno that destroyed several nearby vehicles, the FDNY and witnesses said.

A box truck for a company contracted by the city’s Department of Transportation caught fire around 5:30 a.m. near the corner of Dyre Ave. and Light St. in Eastchester, just a few feet from an elevated train line.

Heavy smoke and flames, which quickly spread and consumed several cars near the corner, could be seen from the elevated station.

FDNY Fire Marshals were trying to determine what sparked the blaze and how it spead so quickly.

The truck belonged to a markings contractor who was working on filling in new pedestrian space under the elevated train with epoxy gravel, DOT officials said.

Video of the conflagration shows something from the box truck leaking out and spreading to the other cars. The fire quickly followed.

“(It was) like lava,” one area resident, who only identified himself as Horace, told the Daily News. “(It was) like gunpowder, but it gave a fire stream and it ran along here and burnt up this car.”

Horace and several other residents recalled hearing several explosions as the fires spread.

“(There was an) explosion, an earth shaking explosion. Not just a noise like a gunshot,” Horace said. “It was unbelievable. You would think a plane crashed down here. A lot of people don’t have power.”

FDNY officials said the explosions were most likely the vehicle tires becoming superheated and popping. Propane tanks were found in at least one vehicle, but did not explode, an FDNY source said.

Firefighters responding to the scene found the vehicles fully engulfed in flames. It took more than 60 firefighters an hour to put them out, an FDNY spokesman said.

The heat from the blazes were so intense that it damaged nearby homes, residents said.

“Each time I’m hearing the explosion getting closer and closer,” resident Antoinette Hoo told The News. “And when I opened my door, I can feel the heat. I see the flames under the door. I said, ‘The fire is going to come upstairs.’ I was crying.”

“It looked devastating. It was an orange flame,” Horace recalled. “The fire was like an intense wall coming to the houses. We were ready to go.”

The truck that caught fire belonged to a company contracted by the city to paint the road, witnesses said. The crew stopped when the truck started smoking and unsuccessfully tried to put the growing flames out with a fire extinguisher.

Horace’s work van and his Mercedes Benz were destroyed by the inferno, he said.

No injuries were reported.