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From WSVN-TV:

According to Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, the 50-year-old Pompano Beach firefighter was on top of a 90-foot-high ladder when he fell to the ground below at Fire Station 61, located at 2121 NW 3 Ave, at around 4 p.m. Friday.

Authorities are not sure what caused the firefighter to fall.

He was taken to North Broward Medical Center, but he did not survive the fall.

From Local 10.com:

Pompano Beach fire officials said the firefighter, identified as 50-year-old William Elliott, was rushed to North Broward Medical Center after the fall and was pronounced dead.

Sandra King, of Pompano Beach Fire Rescue, said Elliott was at the top of the ladder, and another firefighter was also on the ladder below him. The other firefighter said he just saw Elliott fall to the ground.

King said it is unclear whether Elliott was wearing a harness.

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Two recent LAFD Alerts:

FIRE's 1/2/2012

*UPDATE: * ARSON FIRES * A person of interest has been detained and is being questioned. It is too early to speculate if this person responsible for spree arson fires. – Erik Scott###
Posted by LAFD Media and Public Relations at 1/02/2012 03:55:00 AM 

FIRE's 1/2/2012

*UPDATE: * ARSON FIRES * A total of 55 fires of concern have broke out in the Los Angeles area over the last four days from 12/30/11 to 01/02/12. 45 fires in the Los Angeles area, nine in West Hollywood, and one in Burbank. – Erik Scott###
Posted by LAFD Media and Public Relations at 1/02/2012 04:57:00 AM  

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From the AP:

Ohio’s new law limiting the collective bargaining abilities of 350,000 unionized public workers has been defeated after an expensive union-backed campaign that pitted firefighters, police officers and teachers against the state’s Republican establishment.

The law hadn’t taken effect yet. It was thrown out today amid high turnout in a year without a presidential election. Current union rules will stand until the GOP-controlled Legislature plots its next move.

Republican Gov. John Kasich traveled the state to promote retaining the law, which set new minimum contributions for public employee health care and retirement and banned strikes, among other provisions.

Supporters promoted the law as a means for local governments to save money and keep workers. Opponents said the union limits threatened public safety with little proof of cost savings.

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Six minutes of raw video from Erie County Fire Wire have been added below.

From WGRZ-TV (updated at 2:10 PM EDT):

Buffalo firefighters say a massive industrial fire in the city's Black Rock neighborhood will have to burn itself out.

Firefighters continue to douse the flames with water and foam but acknowledge there is little more than can do, saying the fire will not be under control until it's burned out.

Buffalo Fire Commissioner Darnell Whitfield is expected to update the situation at 4:00 this afternoon. His news conference will be streamed live in the video window above.

The fire started just before 6 a.m. at Niagara Lubricant Company, Inc., located at 164 Chandler Street.

Foam trucks from the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport and the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station were called in to assist.

Over 100 firefighters are on the scene and continue to be rotated in and out of the area. One was taken to the hospital for a knee injury.

Nearby residents have not been asked to evacuate, however, they have been advised to keep their windows closed as thick, black smoke continues to billow through the area.

According to the Niagara Lubricant's web site, the company manufactures and packages lubricating oils, greases, industrial oils and tire care products.

Chandler Street has been closed to traffic and National Grid was on scene this morning to cut power to the immediate area.

As a precautionary measure, Buffalo Schools have diverted students from the Extended Learning Opportunity Program at School #94 to Riverside High School. At the end of the day, walkers will be taken by bus back to School #94 to head home. Students who normally take the bus will be transported home from Riverside.Parents with questions or concerns can call Riverside at 816-4360.

Several explosions could be heard at the scene, and the smoke could be seen from miles away. Fire crews were ordered out of the building around 6:15 a.m. after they learned the building housed several propane tanks.

Niagara Lubricant has about 35 employees. Leon Smith, one of the company's owners, says five generations of his family have worked there since its founding in 1923, and its products are distributed worldwide. The business is insured.

He said the fire department had given him no indication of the fire's cause.

NEW YORK (AP) — A construction company supervisor was acquitted of manslaughter and all other charges Tuesday in a blaze that killed two firefighters at a condemned bank tower at ground zero.

Jurors delivered their verdict for Salvatore DePaola, but the panel was still deliberating for Jeffrey Melofchik. The judge hasn't yet rendered a verdict for a third defendant and the company.

"I haven't slept in four years," DePaola said after the verdict.

"There are people who didn't do their jobs and they should have been up here," he said, pointing a finger at the fire department.

A worker's careless smoking sparked an August 2007 blaze that tore through nine floors of the former bank building, which was being taken down after being damaged and contaminated with toxic debris in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Firefighters Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph P. Graffagnino, 33, died after being trapped in black, choking smoke and running out of air in their oxygen tanks.

Prosecutors said the break in the firefighting pipe, called a standpipe, was the crucial factor in their deaths. With the standpipe useless, it took firefighters about an hour to get water on the flames, letting the blaze build into a lethal inferno, prosecutors said.

They said Alvo, DePaola and Melofchik knew the pipe had broken about eight months before, when workers took down some braces that were holding it to the basement ceiling. The supports were proving stubbornly hard to scrub of asbestos, and the bosses were under pressure to speed the cleanup to keep it from going over budget, prosecutors said.

So after the break, the men had a 42-foot section of standpipe cut up and carted away and did nothing to repair or flag it, though Melofchik continued to sign daily reports saying the building's fire-suppression system was working, prosecutors said.

"They did the thing that killed those firefighters," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann told jurors in a closing argument. "The evidence … woven together, paints a mosaic of overwhelming guilt — that but for these wholly reckless acts, these firefighters would be alive today."

But defense lawyers said the men didn't recognize the pipe's importance, and the disaster was a product of a web of shortsighted regulating and hazards beyond their control.

"This was a horrible, perfect storm of bad circumstance," defense lawyer Edward J.M. Little said in a closing argument. The two firefighters, he said, "died horrible deaths, but it wasn't because of anything the defendants did."

After the blaze, it emerged that the fire department hadn't inspected the building for more than a year, though it was required to do so every 15 days.

Meanwhile, building, environmental and labor inspectors hadn't realized that some measures meant to contain toxins could thwart firefighting. Plywood stairwell barriers slowed firefighters' progress, and a fan system kept smoke in and pulled it down, instead of letting it rise and escape.

The city and Melofchik's employer, general contractor Bovis Lend Lease, acknowledged errors. In response, the Fire Department created dozens of inspection and auditing jobs, and Bovis agreed to finance a $10 million memorial fund for slain firefighters' families, among other responses.

Meanwhile, the building lingered for almost a decade as a grim reminder of the attacks. The last of it was finally removed in February..

TheStarPress.com reports a body, believed to be that of a firefighter, has been recovered after a fire at the Tabernacle of Praise Church on the south side of Muncie, Indiana. Indications are the firefighter was killed when the roof of the church at 2200 E.Fuson Road collapsed. The fire was reported at 3:55 PM.

From TheStarPress.com at 5:45 PM:

A Muncie firefighter has died in the southside church fire confirmed Delaware County deputy coroner Jim Clevenger. They are holding identity of firefighter until family is notified. They know where the firefighter is in the church but they can't reach him because of the fire.

From Chris Bergin via The StarPress.com.

More photos from the fire
Aerial video from TheIndyChannel.com
Aerial videos from WTHR

Earlier from The StarPress.com:

The Muncie Fire Department was leading efforts to battle the blaze with help from surrounding volunteer departments, who are bringing water to the site on tanker trucks.

The structure that collapsed and on fire was sanctuary. Firefighters are trying to prevent it from reaching the family fun center on the northside of the building. A church goer at scene reported the church was hand built by church members.

Radio dispatch indicated at 4:15 p.m. a firefight was missing after the roof collapsed

 

WRAL-TV's live stream, above, has been intermittent.

Today was identified as a high risk day for severe weather in North Carolina along the I-95 corridor. Storms are now firing in the Raleigh/Wake County area and damage is reported along with possible tornado sightings. A USAR deployment has been ordered for at least one possible tornado in the Raleigh.

You can watch and listen live through these links. 

WTVD-TV

Wake County police, fire & EMS

Wake County & Cary County fire & EMS

FDNY’s Ladder 81 & bus collide on Staten Island killing 1 civilian & injuring 14. Click here for coverage from FireTruckBlog.com

FDNY firefighters had their hands full with a fire in both a six-story apartment building and a two-story brownstone next door. Four firefighters were injured. Firefighter Close Calls reports the firefighters suffered electrical burns.

 The fire was reported just after 2:00 PM and the fifth-alarm was requested at 3:13 PM. The fire was reported under control shortly after 4:00 PM..

From WNYW-TV:

A large fire in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx has grown to four alarms.  It started around 2 p.m. and was still burning out of control an hour later.

It started in a six story apartment building and has spread to a two story building next door.  There are four injured firefighters.

CNN live coverage

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KRIV-TV via emergencystream.com

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Above is a taped report and links to live coverage of a fire at the Enterprise Products facility in Mont Belvieu, Texas about 35 miles east of Houston. The fire was reported around 12:30 PM local time

From KRIV-TV:

Witnesses say the heat is intense, and trucks in a nearby parking lot exploded as a result. Other callers to FOX 26 News report having heard explosions.

FOX 26 News briefly spoke with Enterprise Products company spokesman Rick Rainey, who said there are no reports of any injuries at this time.

“We store natural gas liquids at the plant, which comes out when natural gas is produced out of the ground,” said Rainey. “I am getting an operations report very shortly. All I can confirm is that we have a fire at the West Storage Facility at the Mont Belvieu plant. I’ve not heard of any injuries. We are still trying to confirm all of this. We are a part of Mont Belvieu mutual aid, and we have trained firefighters at all facilities who help fight the fire. In addition to the local firefighters, we have plant workers in the mutual aid network trained.”

FOX 26 Chief Meteorologist Dr. Jim Siebert says winds in Mont Belvieu are moving at 14 miles per hour out of the southeast, pushing smoke from the fire over Crosby.

According to its website, Enterprise Products operates 49,100 miles of natural gas, NGL crude oil, refined products and petrochemical pipelines around the world. Its company headquarters are located in downtown Houston.

Here is the latest from NewsVirginian.com:

State police First Sgt. Scott VanLear said the AirCare 5 helicopter was returning from the University of Virginia Medical Center when the crash occurred. No patient was on board, as initially reported by authorities, he said.

VanLear said he did not know where the airplane was coming from or its destination.

Earlier from NewsVirginian.com:

Two people were killed this afternoon after a midair collision between a small airplane and a helicopter in Weyers Cave near Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport, authorities said.

The crash between a Cessna 172 and a medical transport helicopter happened at about 2:30 p.m. over the 800 block of Route 256 (Weyers Cave Road), a half-mile north of the airport, said Jim Peters with the Federal Aviation Administration.

From NewsLeader.com:

Joshua Becker was on his way to visit family near Shenandoah Regional Airport when he saw the small plane and medical helicopter headed toward each other. Becker said he stopped the car, and watched as the plane grazed the top of the helicopter. Immediately after, the plane took a nose-dive to the ground and crashed.

Becker said the helicopter was able to land in the field in the 800 block of Weyers Cave Road. Becker said he thought there were one, maybe two people in the plane.