Story type
Long, researched pieces, including lessons and after-action stories.
Unprotected engineered floors collapsed in about six minutes in Underwriters Laboratories testing. The numbers change what the 360 has to answer before anyone walks in over a basement fire.
Nine Charleston firefighters died on June 18, 2007. The investigations that followed reshaped how that department runs its fires. The model codes require sprinklers in new furniture stores, and South Carolina turned down Charleston's request to require more.
In lab houses and real buildings, a front door pulled back to the width of a hoseline slowed fire growth and kept a closed bedroom survivable. The findings translate into a few decisions for the first-due engine.
Crash-damaged electric vehicle batteries have reignited on the driveway, on the flatbed and days later in the impound yard. New full-scale research changes how much water to throw and what to tell the tow operator.
Cities are now paying more than $1 million for custom pumpers, and some come with delivery dates four years out. Departments from Cheyenne to Tampa have taken stock and demo trucks, and others have priced prepayment or a rebuild.
NIOSH's investigation of a floor collapse that injured four career firefighters at an abandoned residential fire lists eight contributing factors; each one points to something a department can check, train, or change this week.
Some departments are paying to swap out every set they own. Others say no replacement is ready yet. The 2025 standard sets chemical limits, but its low-fluorine label covers less of the gear than many buyers assume.
Phoenix's drills after the 2001 Southwest Supermarket fire found that rescuing one firefighter took a dozen more. A Canadian study later timed two-person and four-person teams, and both bear on how you staff a rapid intervention crew.
The United States has about 173,000 fewer volunteer firefighters than it did in 1986, and call volume has more than tripled. Federal recruitment grants brought new members to Pennsylvania departments. No published figures show how many stayed.