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On Tuesday night, Lynchburg firefighter Abbey Meacham was sitting in the gallery of the U.S. Capitol with first lady Michelle Obama and two dozen other guests selected to watch President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress.

On Wednesday afternoon, she was back to work at her fire station at Miller Park, where she reflected on the previous 24 hours and what she called “a once in a lifetime experience.”

After an unexpected invitation Tuesday morning, Meacham was rushed to Washington, D.C., and immediately taken to the White House where she was introduced to the first lady.

via Lynchburg firefighter reflects on meeting Obamas, watching address | Lynchburg News Advance.

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) – A Richmond family is displaced after a fire rips through their home.

This happened about 12:30 A.M. Wednesday in the 1200 block of Richeson Avenue near Mcguire Drive.

Fire crews arrived to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the second floor.

Five people lived in the home and made it out okay.

via NBC12 News, Weather Sports, Traffic, and Programming Guide for Richmond, VA | Richmond fire displaces family of five.

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) – A ten year old boy is still recovering in the hospital after he caught on fire at a gas station Tuesday morning. Fire officials believe a static discharge is to blame. But it’s those who helped the boy in his time of need who fire officials are is focusing on.

via NBC12 News, Weather Sports, Traffic, and Programming Guide for Richmond, VA | Strangers help victim of gas pump fire.

Three teenagers are facing charges after a historic barn at Nuckols Farm in Henrico County burned to the ground Tuesday.

The fire started around 6 p.m. Tuesday in a hay barn at Nuckols Farm. The barn, which was destroyed, was believed to have been built in the late 1800s.

The house adjacent to the barn, circa 1750, is one of the oldest standing structures in Henrico. It was not damaged.

via WRIC Richmond News and Weather – Henrico Teens Charged After Historic Barn Burns.

WASHINGTON – All firefighting recruits will now have to undergo physical examinations before they begin training in Prince William County.

“We’ll be setting up a system that will assure anybody who uses our facility — those trainees and instructors — are physically capable,” says Prince William Fire Chief Kevin McGee.

The changes at the Prince William Safety Training Center, which trains about 300 recruits a year from across the region, come in response to a recruit dying during training last November.

McGee says the department wants to make sure all recruits are “physically capable of doing the training.”

via Fire recruits to undergo physical exams – wtop.com.

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) — A ten-year-old Virginia boy is in critical condition — burned over much of his body doing something most of us do once a week: filling up with gas.

It happened in Chesterfield County near Richmond.
And investigators suspect the fire was sparked by static electricity.

Sixteen to eighteen billion times a year, Americans stick a pump in their car and blow out flammable vapors — most never aware of the dangers — or the very simple precaution. “Never heard of it,” says Tanya Keller, filling up in Falls Church. “Never ground yourself before pumping?” “No.”

via 10-Year-Old Critical After Filling Gas Tank | WUSA9.com | Washington, DC |.

Abbey Meacham, a firefighter/paramedic with the Lynchburg Fire Department will be sitting with First Lady Michelle Obama tonight during President Barack Obama’s address to both houses of Congress. Here is how a press release from The White House describes Meacham:

via STATter 911: Lynchburg, Virginia firefighter/paramedic invited to President Obama’s speech tonight.

Prince William Fire Chief Kevin J. McGee is scheduled to appear at a press conference Tuesday night to discuss the circumstances of the death of Dale City Volunteer firefighter recruit Cecilia Turnbough.

Turnbough, 42, collapsed on Nov. 9 during a training exercise at the Prince William County Public Safety Academy.

An emergency medical technician for more than eight years with the Dale City Volunteer Fire Department, Turnbough was studying to become a firefighter when she died.

via Press conference set to discuss Dale City medic’s death | InsideNova.com.

Also follow the story on STATTer 911

Virginia State Police investigators are trying to figure out what caused a weekend fire that killed a person in Stuarts Draft. It happened Saturday around 3 a.m. at 116 Rankin Lane.

via NBC29-One Dead in Augusta County House Fire.

A resolution celebrating the life of the late firefighter and paramedic Johnny Earl Morphew is making its way through the Virginia House of Delegates.
Del. Joseph P. Johnson offered House Joint Resolution 904 Monday, according to the Virginia General Assembly’s Legislative Information System Web site.
A request for the resolution was made to Johnson and State Senator Phillip Puckett by a colleague of Morphew’s on the Chilhowie Fire Department who asked Wednesday to be identified only as “a fellow CFD brother.”
“My thing in this was just to let the community know it was being done and to publicly thank Joe and others for doing it,” the firefighter said. “Those guys, like us, don’t always get a lot of thank yous.”
This is the full content of the resolution as presented Monday:

via Legislators’ resolution celebrates Morphew’s life – SWVAToday.com.

Michael Lee, Sidney Terry, and Jason Varona – those three men were arrested for a fire at the Weekend Sofa Outlet last August.

“Going into it within about 30 minutes, we knew the fire was suspicious,” said Roanoke Fire and EMS Chief David Hoback.

Federal agents are still looking for who they think is the mastermind and Vice President of the store, Jay Aneja. According to an indictment, Aneja hired a man to set fire to the store, Michael Lee. Lee then recruited the two other men.

Julia Dudley, United States Attorney, said it was all “To set fire to the business’s inventory in order to collect insurance money.“

via Updated: Four men indicted in arson, attempt to collect insurance money | WSLS 10.

A chemical spill at a Richmond kidney dialysis clinic Wednesday morning forced the evacuation of employees and patients, as well as an elementary school.

Emergency vehicles packed the parking lot of John Marshall High School, monitoring the conditions of more than two dozen students and staff members who were forced to move there after being evacuated from Carver Elementary school.

According to school officials, 25 teachers and students began complaining of burning eyes, nausea, and vomiting shortly after the chemical spill at a nearby medical facility.

via WRIC Richmond News and Weather – Richmond School Evacuated After Spill.

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — Federal authorities are seeking a Roanoke

businessman on charges of burning his furniture store last year.

U.S. Attorney Julia Dudley said Friday that 47-year-old Jay Aneja (uh-NEE-shuh) has been indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit arson and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Aneja is a Canadian citizen, and authorities believe he’s out of

the country.

via Arson Investigation / Winchester – tv3winchester.com.

NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk firefighters were kept busy Friday morning battling two fires.

The first happened in the 900 block of Marietta Ave. where crews were originally called to a brush fire between two house.

When firefighters arrived on the scene they discovered the blaze started underneath the home. Officials tell WAVY.com there were no injuries.

via Early morning fires in Norfolk.

* Mary Kay Mallonee

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Virginia Beach firefighters battled an apartment fire this morning in the 3000 block of Cape Henry Avenue just off Shore Drive near the Lesner Bridge.

Fire investigators tell WAVY.com a man living in a first floor apartment called 911 around 6:30 a.m. and told dispatchers there was a fire in his bedroom. The man ran outside and waited for firefighters as other residents in the apartment complex were awaked by the strong smell of smoke.

via VB firefighters battle apartment fire.

A teenaged woman is dead and her boyfriend remains hospitalized after a house fire earlier this week in Bridgewater. The fire broke out early on Monday morning, February 16, and firefighters arrived on the scene around 7:30am, according to Rockingham County Assisant Fire Marshal Mike Armstrong. Twenty-year-old Johnny Corson Jr. had already escaped the blaze at 211 S. Main Street.

According to Armstrong, Corson said he awoke in a second story bedroom to smoke so thick “I couldn’t see my hands in front of my face.” He made his way out of the house; 17-year-old Nichole Nicholson, however, did not, and Armstrong wonders if her unfamiliarity with the layout of the house contributed to her inability to escape. Corson lived there with his parents, who rented the house.

via The Hook News Blog » Blog Archive » Did detector sound in fatal Bridgewater fire?.

Investigators are getting outside help to learn the cause of Monday’s fatal fire on South Main Street in Bridgewater. Seventeen-year-old Nicole Nicholson, who was visiting her boyfriend at his parents’ home, died in the fire.

via NBC29-Bridgewater Fire Investigation Gets Outside Help.

In 2005, she was one of 30 recruits who spent 22 weeks in training to become a Fairfax County Firefighter.

“She told me about the arranged marriage and how she got here and ended up being homeless for awhile,” said Fairfax County Firefighter Ron Gemsheim, a 45-year-old captain who was Achhal’s superior officer at the Franconia Fire Station in Alexandria. “Honestly, she inspired me. To come from something like that and stay upbeat the whole time, really made me look at my problems and say ‘What the hell, mine are minuscule compared to that.’”

Mike Lee, a 28-year-old firefighter stationed at Fire Station 14 in Burke, was part of Achhal’s class at the academy in Fair Oaks.

“She really didn’t have any prior experience, but what she had was heart,” said Lee, who works out with Achhal four to five times a week. “She might not have been the most technically proficient person, but she had the heart to push through a lot of stuff. And that’s basically the same deal with her fighting, it’s like, regardless of whatever setback she might have, she always has the heart to keep on pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing.”

via Annandale’s Achhal Set to Make MMA Debut at Patriot Center – washingtonpost.com.

Louisa County has expanded over the past few years, and now the fire and rescue squads are growing to meet the demands of the population.

The Louisa County Board of Supervisors approved nine additional fire fighters at a price of about $570,000. Fire Chief Robert Dube said the new hires will be trained to respond to both fire and EMS calls, both of which have increased steadily over the past three years.

Dube said local volunteer fire and EMS squads have had difficulty responding to daytime calls, and the full-time personnel will help improve emergency coverage and response time.

via NBC29-New Louisa Fire Hires Will Also Do EMS.