Buckeye man among the 3 U.S. firefighters killed while fighting Australia wildfires

A Buckeye man was among the three U.S. firefighters killed in a plane crash while fighting to extinguish the wildfires ravaging the Australian wilderness on Thursday. First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson, 42, was killed when the C-130 Hercules aerial water tanker he was riding in crashed. Coulson Aviation, a private company based in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada, and has a presence in Oregon, confirmed Hudson's death in a media release posted on Facebook Thursday evening. The plane had departed from Richmond, New South Wales, for a firebombing mission around the Snowy Monaro area. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The release said Hudson graduated from the Naval Academy in 1999 and served 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps that included being a C-130 pilot. He retired at the rank of lieutenant colonel and was awarded a number of decorations during his military career.
Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com & KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

Crews battle massive fire at Phoenix auto shop

VIDEO: Phoenix fire crews battled a massive fire that broke out at a business early Friday morning. According to Capt. Rob McDade with the Phoenix Fire Department, when crews arrived around 1 a.m. they found heavy smoke billowing out of a business and storage yard near 7th Street and Broadway Road. The fire tore through multiple buildings that house vehicles, boats and RVs. Investigators are on site to determine the cause of the fire. McDade said no injuries were reported.
KASW-CW6 & KTVK-3TV (azfamily.com)

More Arizona firefighters head to Australia to help fight wildfires

VIDEOS/PHOTOS: The deadly wildfires ravaging Australia may seem like a world away from Arizona, but fire professionals from the Grand Canyon State continue to help our neighbors down under. Nine Arizona fire personnel from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management are headed to Australia Thursday. The nine crew members are part of a 20-person team that will use their expertise to operate fire engines or help with anything else that is needed. They will join four other BLM crew members that are already in Australia. The National Council for Fire and Emergency Services in Australia and New Zealand recently shared a photo of two U.S. firefighters helping out with some of the injured animals. The picture features Tracy Milakovic of Colorado and Koreena Haynes of Arizona changing the bandages of a burned joey kangaroo. An estimated 1.25 billion animals have died in the wildfires that have swept across parts of Australia.
KPNX-TV NBC 12 Phoenix

Eviation’s Electric Alice Aircraft Catches Fire During Ground Tests At Prescott Regional Airport

A fire broke out during ground testing of Eviation’s all-electric Alice aircraft on January 22 at Prescott Regional Airport in Arizona. The company said that the fire is believed to have been caused by a fault with a ground-based battery system. It has yet to confirm how extensively the prototype aircraft might have been damaged in the incident. The Prescott Fire Department was on standby for the planned test and quickly extinguished the fire, which caused no injuries. Eviation has begun an investigation into the full cause of the fire and has not said how the incident might affect plans to begin flight testing the aircraft. Israel-based Eviation is aiming to complete type certification for the fixed-wing Alice before the end of 2022 under the FAA’s Part 23 rules. The first prototype arrived in Prescott in late 2019, having been shipped from Vannes, France, where it was assembled at facilities owned by composite fuselage supplier Carboman Group.
Aviation International News

Phoenix fire truck drove up to 29 mph above the speed limit at time of deadly crash, report says

VIDEO: A Phoenix fire engine was traveling approximately 29 mph over the speed limit at the time of a deadly crash in April 2019, according to the police investigation released Wednesday. The report, released more than nine months after the crash, also said the other vehicle's driver, Kenneth "Chase" Collins, 20, did not possess a valid driver's license and had marijuana in his system. Collins turned left in front of the engine, which was operating with lights and siren activated, according to the report. Police investigators did not specify which driver was at fault for the crash, and they did not recommend criminal charges. Phoenix Fire Engine 18 was on an emergency call on April 7 when it crashed into Collins' pickup truck on Bethany Home Road at 29th Avenue. The engine rolled over into a schoolyard, and the pickup was crushed. Collins, his girlfriend, Dariana Serrano, 19, and their infant son, Kenneth, all died in the pickup. All three firefighters on the engine were injured.
KNXV-TV ABC 15 Phoenix

Dozens of firefighters from Arizona, Mexico come together for cross-border training in Rio Rico

Fire departments south of Tucson and even south of the border headed to Rio Rico Wednesday night for cross-border fire training with propane. It's an exercise that happens once a year. "The infrastructure down here for natural gas isn't there," Santa Cruz County Emergency Planner Frank Granados said. "A lot of the homes and businesses in Rio Rico, Tubac and Nogales area rely on propane for heating. It's one of the areas we need to deal with. We need to be prepared for propane emergencies." Granados, a retired Tucson firefighter and senior adviser with Rio Rico Fire District, leads the training. Firefighters from Guymas, Sonora drove north six hours to learn in this environment. "They don't have a budget, the majority of these firefighters are volunteers, they do it for the passion of being a firefighter and to save lives and property without pay," Granados said.
KVOA-TV NBC 4 Tucson

Right place, right time: Tour guide helps crews rescue injured hiker in the Dove Mountain area

VIDEO: It’s the first hiker rescue of the year for the Northwest Fire District and it probably won’t be the last. Wednesday afternoon, nearly two dozen firefighters from three different agencies responded to a call regarding an injured woman on the Wild Burro trail in the Dove Mountain area. Northwest Fire District Deputy Fire Chief Brian Keeley said the hiker was about a mile from the trailhead and was unable to make it out because of her injuries. Crews couldn’t drive to her, meaning they would have to hike about a mile each way carrying medical equipment with them. That’s when John Polaski drove up. Polaski owns Trail Dust Jeep Tours in Tucson. He was on his way to do some brush trimming on some nearby trails when he came across the fire trucks.
KOLD-TV CBS 13 Tucson

Maricopa Fire Department donates kids coats to F.O.R. Maricopa

Normally when a fire truck shows up, it means bad news. Maricopa Fire Department (MFD) regularly are the first responders to the worst accidents and fires of Maricopa, and they take it all in their stride. However, when Station 574 and their crew showed up to F.O.R. Maricopa Wednesday morning, it was for a much more joyous occasion. Firefighters hopped down off their truck and began unloading boxes and bags of all kinds of children's winter gear, and a few extras. It was all coming from Peoria Unified School District, where Maricopa Fire Captain Paul Neumann regularly raids their lost and found at the end of the semester for goods to donate to the community. Neumann says kids often leave their winter jackets behind and never come looking for them. For this latest batch of donations, they stopped counting at about 350 winter jackets.
Pinal Central

Residents escape house fire in Wickenburg

Wickenburg Fire Department responded to a fire at a residence on the 100 block of Howard Court late Monday night. WFD Fire Chief Ed Temerowski told The Sun two engines arrived on the scene at 10:38 p.m. The fire started near the chimney, but as of Tuesday morning it could not be determined whether the fire started because the chimney was in use or if nearby wiring was the reason. The fire was contained to the attic of the residence. When WFD arrived, the two occupants of the house were outside. No injuries were reported. The occupants were displaced and stayed at a hotel. WFD cleared the scene between 12:30 and 1 a.m. Tuesday. Investigators were still at work Tuesday morning.
Wickenburg Sun