Year: 2017

David McNew/Getty Images(SANTA ROSA, Calif.) -- For the nearly 11,000 firefighters battling the towering flames from now 15 wildfires around California, there is finally hope in a chance of rain.Despite one less fire, the bone-dry conditions and gusty Diablo Winds still haven't receded, forcing officials to not downgrade the "high fire danger" status, CAL Fire Deputy Incident Commander Chief Barry Biermann said during a press conference in Napa County on […]

ABCNews.com(CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo.) -- A statewide manhunt is underway in Missouri after two prisoners, accused of violent crimes, escaped from jail just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, according to local authorities.The two escaped from the Pemiscot County Jail through an air duct, arrived at a room to leave and then set off an alarm before jumping over a fence behind the building, Caruthersville, Missouri, Police Chief Tony Jones told ABC News. […]

Jack Weaver(SANTA ROSA, Calif.) -- When one of Northern California's wildfires began tearing through a Santa Rosa neighborhood Kathy Weaver saw the flames engulfing their house and had to flee with the nothing but a nightgown.She left behind everything, including her beloved 9-year-old Bernese Mountain dog Izzy."In the chaos of trying to escape, my parents' dog Izzy ran from them," Beckyjean Widen, Kathy's daughter, posted on Facebook. "My mom couldn't […]

David McNew/Getty Images(SANTA ROSA, Calif.) -- Roland Hendel and his family had just moments to escape the firestorm bearing down on their Sonoma County home.But despite "exploding propane tanks, twisting metal, and the hot swirling winds," one of their beloved dogs refused to come with them. Instead, Odin, a Great Pyrenees, stayed with the family's eight "bottle-fed rescue goats" as the family and Odin's sister Tessa fled.Hendel and his family […]

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- A fundraiser was held Saturday night in Maryland to help pay for the mounting medical bills for a 27-year-old woman who on Friday night woke up and took her first steps after being in coma since being injured in the Las Vegas mass shooting earlier this month.A family spokesperson wrote on a Go FundMe page Friday set up for Tina Frost, that she had taken three steps […]

David McNew/Getty Images(SANTA ROSA, Calif.) -- Towering walls of flames prompted more mandatory evacuations in Northern California early Saturday as firefighters spent another day battling 16 large wildfires around the state that authorities say have killed at least 40 people, left hundreds missing and leveled entire neighborhoods.The blazes -- among the deadliest in the state's history -- have charred more than 214,000 acres of land, forced about 100,000 residents to […]

Stephenie Fenton(MARATHON, Fla.) -- Former Marathon, Florida, residents are returning to their community after it was ravaged by Hurricane Irma in hopes of ensuring children there are able to celebrate Halloween.Five alumni from Marathon High School -- Krystal Langley, Stephenie Fenton, Philip Augustine, Vivi Mira-Culmer, Johnny Moses and Tracy Garcia -- have banded together to create MM50 Relief Project, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to helping rebuild the town.It began […]

Mario Tama/Getty Images(SAN JUAN) -- Hurricane Maria has been blamed for the deaths of at least 48 people in Puerto Rico since it roared ashore last month and knocked out power there, officials said.Authorities there raised the death toll by 3 on Saturday based on a review of medical records. The number could increase as the medical examiner continues to review all deaths that occurred in hospitals on the U.S. […]

Photodisc/Thinkstock(MIAMI) -- An 8-year-old girl died Saturday after falling from one deck in a cruise ship's interior atrium to a lower deck, officials said.The girl, whose name has not been released, fell on the Carnival Glory cruise ship while it was docked at the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami on Saturday morning, police said.Miami Fire Rescue personnel responded to the scene around 8:15 a.m. ET and provided emergency care […]