“Before this emerging technology, what we do is we would fly a pattern with a drone back and forth and take several hundred, sometimes several hundred photos. We’d have to upload them to a server and then we’d have analysts take a look at each individual photo Zooming in, searching back and forth across the photo, looking for an object of interest. You know, hopefully the person that’s lost,” said Vinal Applebee, the Chief Drone Pilot for DEEMI.

But now drones are being developed with artificial intelligence.

The idea is that rescuers can input information about who they’re looking for using things such as what color clothing a person is wearing.

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The new Weir Fire Station will be located at 525 Somerset Ave.

“This is an important investment in the future of public safety in Taunton,” O’Connell said in a release. “Our firefighters deserve a modern facility with the space, equipment and technology they need to do their jobs safely and effectively. We’re especially pleased that the project came in under budget and that construction is now underway.”

The new station will replace the existing Weir Fire Station. Officials said the new station will have drive-through apparatus bays, updated technology, and improved space for firefighters and emergency operations.

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Wayland High School Principal Allyson Mizoguchi said in a letter to families that the incident happened around 9:15 a.m. during a jewelry and metalworking class.

A small fire broke out after the torch was dropped in an art classroom, Mizoguchi said. The building where it occurred was evacuated.

A student put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher, and firefighters removed the torch and gas tanks that were in the art room.

Mizoguchi said the incident left one student with burns. That student was treated by the school’s nursing staff before being taken to an area hospital.

The Wayland Fire Department said that student has since been released.

The building was cleared for use and classes resumed, but the art room remained closed, Mizoguchi said.

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The $984,692 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant will be combined with about $612,106 from the town. Together, the funding will provide nearly $1.6 million to support the four new positions.

One firefighter will be added to each of the department’s four shifts, bringing staffing to eight firefighters per shift.

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“We had a heavy fire in the back of the building (during) the first fire. It got into the roofline. The roof started collapsing. It was difficult to get access to — knocked it down, had it out, transferred the building back to the homeowner,” Canton Fire Department Deputy Chief Andy Morgan said. Firefighters were called back to the home at 3 a.m. after the fire rekindled.

“The building in question is on fire again. It was through the roof and through the whole structure upon our arrival, so we are back here, and we are knocking it down right now,” Canton Fire Department Deputy Chief Andy Morgan. One firefighter who became short of breath while battling the flames was taken to a local hospital.

“The entire back of the house is gone. The front of the house is unstable at this point, so we are not sending anyone in there,” Morgan said. “You can see every floor, front to back, and it’s very dramatic.” The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

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About 30 firefighters participated in the immersive training over two days this week, on Wednesday and Thursday. Each one donned glasses that impaired their vision and headphones with loud, garbled voices and sounds. They also wore gloves, similar to oven mitts, that mimicked impaired dexterity. They each went into a room and had to complete tasks like putting on a scarf, writing a letter and packing items in a backpack.

Firefighter Franz von Lambsdorff, who has worked for Brookline Fire Department for 23 years, said the experience helped him understand what his mother, who had dementia, went through. He called it an “eye-opening” experience.

“How a lot of your [senses] are compromised,” he said. “The touch, the feel, the vision, definitely hearing, trying to listen to the instructions while you have background noises — very hard — and trying to move around with all these distractions,” he said.

Almost 7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number is expected to double by 2060.

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The decision to replace the gear is part of an effort to protect firefighters from cancer. PFAS, which is also referred to as “forever chemicals,” have historically been used in turnout gear for their oil and water resistance.

“Firefighting is already a dangerous profession, and the men and women performing this work are exposed to hazards on a daily basis,” said Attleboro Fire Chief Scott Lachance. “There is no reason putting on the protective gear designed to keep them safe should add to those hazards. Moving toward PFAS-free turnout gear is an important step in protecting our firefighters both on the job and throughout their careers.”

The Attleboro Fire Department said that the existing turnout uniforms will be replaced as they’re scheduled, or sooner if more PFAS-free equipment becomes available.

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The new cardiac monitors will provide firefighters and paramedics with updated diagnostic and monitoring tools used to assess and treat patients during serious medical emergencies. The equipment is intended to improve the reliability and operational performance of the department’s frontline emergency medical services gear.

Easthampton Fire Chief Christopher W. Norris emphasized the importance of the federal funding for local emergency operations. “This award represents a significant investment in the health and safety of the Easthampton community,” Norris said. “Modern cardiac monitoring equipment is an essential component of advanced life support and this funding allows the Fire Department to make this important equipment upgrade while minimizing the financial impact on the City.”

The award marks the 12th FEMA grant received by the department over the past seven years. During that period, total FEMA grant funding awarded to the Easthampton Fire Department has reached approximately $4 million. Department officials have prioritized securing competitive grants from federal, state and alternative sources to obtain needed resources while limiting local taxpayer expenditure.

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Fire crews from Somerville, Cambridge, Chelsea, Medford, and other surrounding communities responded to the fire at a building at the corner of Broadway and Curtis Street shortly after 5 p.m. Firefighters appeared to be mainly focused on the roof, where smoke was seen billowing from.

“We had extremely heavy smoke pushing out of the clark loft, which is the it’s a big space between the ceiling on the third floor and the roof,” said Somerville Fire Chief Charles Breen. “It’s got to be probably at least this deep, and we had heavy fire conditions running the whole length of the building.”

Several streets in the area were closed at this time as dozens of firefighters fought the flames.

“We needed a lot of manpower here. We had to search all the units, there was heavy smoke condition in there,” Breen said.

Warren thames and his partner have lived in the building for 23 years, and said when it caught fire their biggest concern was finding their 13-year-old cat Naz. Chelsea firefighter Alex Lozada went back into the building, and found him hiding in a closet.

“Kind of surreal, I mean, it’s part of the job, but it definitely was surreal because it was hidden. Like I said it was a dark cat, the closet was dark, all I could really see was the eyes when I found himm” Lozada said. “It feels good to actually know that when I’m doing my job I did something right, and to be able to help, and give back.”

No word yet on any injuries, or what could have caused the fire.

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Twenty-seven firefighters spent the day at the Department of Fire Services training facility — which repurposed land in 2019 next to the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater — learning to cut through steel using torches, stabilizing collapsing structures and rigging cars to cranes.

They will go through an 80-hour technical rescue program, spread over eight days, honing technical rescue skills. To become certified, firefighters must pass various tests at the end of their training program.

Mark McCabe, program director for the Department of Fire Services, brings more than 30 years of experience as a firefighter and more than 20 years working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. His technical rescue experiences range from natural disasters to working at ground zero after 9/11.

“These skills are in high demand,” McCabe said Tuesday.

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The fire started just before 8 a.m. at 72 Warren St., with thick smoke billowing from the building as fire crews arrived.

Boston Fire officials posted on X, “Fire companies have the entire block surrounded with engines pumping to all the trucks with ladder pipes.”

Crews were ordered out of the building due to the intensity of the fire, and water was pulled from hydrants as far as Moreland Street, two blocks away, to fight the flames.

Several businesses, including Ugi’s Sub Shop, were affected by the fire.

“We should be grateful this happened so early in the morning,” said Sharon Galloway, public information officer for the Boston Fire Department. “This would be a nightmare if it was after school or any later when people would be in the building.”

Dozens of firefighters worked to extinguish the fire, with one firefighter suffering a hand injury from cut glass and being taken to a local hospital.

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On June 26, 2026, Governor Maura Healey signed into law Chapter 114 of the Acts of 2026, An Act Relative to Violation of Regulation Regarding Hot Work Processes. The law, which took effect Saturday, is one of several pieces of legislation that arose out of the 2014 fire that claimed the lives of Boston Fire Lieutenant Edward J. Walsh and Firefighter Michael Kennedy. The blaze started with unpermitted hot work, with sparks or slag igniting a nearby shed and growing to nine alarms. More than a dozen other firefighters were injured.

Local fire departments can impose a variety of sanctions in connection with hot work violations. In accordance with the new law, DFS now collects information on these violations from local departments, notifies property owners and the violators’ insurance providers, and makes the violations public in a searchable database. It was developed with input from the DFS Code Compliance & Enforcement Unit, Executive Office of Public Safety & Security, and Fire Prevention Association of Massachusetts.

The database will be populated in the weeks and months to come as local departments submit their enforcement actions to DFS. It can be viewed on the DFS website, along with other hot work safety information.

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