NEW YORK -- A teenage girl has been accused of starting the three-alarm fire that ripped through a Bronx apartment building Saturday, affecting more than a dozen families and injuring several firefighters, authorities said.

Police said the 19-year-old allegedly lit a mattress on fire inside the six-story apartment complex in University Heights where she lives with her family, igniting the fast-moving blaze.

She was charged Sunday with second-degree arson. Information on an attorney wasn't immediately available.

About 150 firefighters responded to the fire on Cedar Avenue at about 10 a.m. Saturday; the flames spread quickly through the top floor.

"I looked out the window and saw smoke and then me and my mom we just ran down the stairs," said Edward Tavarez, a resident in the building.

Officials said it took firefighters an hour and a half to control the blaze. Six firefighters were treated for minor injuries, including burns.

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All of the building's residents escaped the blaze unharmed.

Three apartments were completely destroyed by flames while several other units were severely damaged by water, authorities said.

The Red Cross said 17 families registered for recovery assistance; eight of those families were housed in temporary emergency housing and the rest either declined housing help or were able to return to their apartments after firefighters doused the flames.

Despite any lost or damaged property, residents said they were grateful to be alive.

"I don't care about what I lost in there but everything is all right. Everyone is all right," said Luby Cheoc.

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia firefighters mourned the loss of one of their own in the line of duty for the third time in less than a year, saluting the body of a veteran captain as it was carried from the ruins of a three-story building that collapsed underneath him during a blaze.

At an emotional news conference late Saturday after the fire in the city's Fabric Row section was extinguished, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers told reporters that the victim, 53-year-old Capt. Michael Goodwin, was his friend and "a ladder man. A firefighter's firefighter."

"He's the kind of guy who looked out for his folks — a big guy," Ayers said. Goodwin had been with the department for 29 years.

A colleague of the fallen firefighter, 28-year-old Andrew Godlinski, was burned on his hands while trying to rescue his comrade and is recovering, officials said.

The loss came as the Fire Department prepared to mark a year since an April 9 blaze at a warehouse that killed Capt. Robert Neary, 59, and Daniel Sweeney, 25. They also died in a collapse, which came as they inspected an adjacent building.

"We have a department that is wounded," Ayers said. "We have scars that are fresh, and indeed they have now been reopened."

Saturday's fire appeared to have started in a fabric store downstairs before spreading to upstairs apartments and a neighboring boutique, the store's owner said. The proprietors of both stores told The Philadelphia Inquirer that everyone in both buildings at the time of the fire managed to escape.

The fire's cause wasn't immediately known, but Bruce Blumenthal, the owner of Jack B. Fabrics, said he believes it started in a wall and may have been electrical in nature.

Blumenthal said he smelled smoke coming from the basement around 5 p.m. and found a box of collars and cuffs on fire. He tried to put the flames out with an extinguisher, to no avail.

Goodwin was on the roof of the building when it collapsed, trapping him inside. Godlinski tried to rescue him before a second-floor roof and two walls also collapsed, officials said.

Goodwin is survived by a wife and two grown children, Ayers said.

The fire cut power to more than 300 customers. The Red Cross is assisting at least 17 people.

The Associated Press

Tyler Sizemore / The News-Times via AP

A house belonging to the Barth family in Newtown, Conn., is seen on March 28, the day after it was destroyed by fire.

A Newtown, Conn., home destroyed by a fire this week was owned by a couple whose children survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in December.

Wednesday afternoon's fire left Hans and Audra Barth and their three children homeless, according to Monsignor Robert Wise, of St. Rose of Lima Church. The American Red Cross has put them up in a hotel and the church is collecting donations for the family.

Two of their children attended Sandy Hook Elementary School, including a first-grader in teacher Kaitlin Roig's classroom, the Danbury News-Times reported. Roig has been called a hero for barricading her students in a bathroom as the shooter killed 20 other first-graders and six educators.

For more, visit NBCConnecticut.com

Friends say the family lost everything in the fire, and their pet dog and several baby chickens died.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — A wildfire burning in a resort area outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee has destroyed more than 30 large rental cabins.

Ben Bryson, a fire resources coordinator with the Tennessee Division of Forestry, says the 145-acre fire was first reported about 5 p.m. ET Sunday in Sevier County, in eastern Tennessee.

Bryson says two National Guard helicopters are being dispatched Monday to help fight the fire, which has been contained and isn't expected to spread.

Bryson says some of the cabins were occupied and about 150 to 200 people were evacuated, but no injuries were reported.

The area is home to country star Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park, which Bryson says is not being threatened by the fire.

The Associated Press

Curt Habraken / The Mountain Press

Firefighters set a boundary as cabins burn in Sevier County, Tenn., on Sunday.

This story was originally published on Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:59 AM EDT

Bristol, Conn. Police

Derek Rupe is accused of setting fire to a shop in Bristol, Conn., and stealing martial arts weapons.

A 29-year-old Bristol, Conn., man is suspected of setting fire to the Wasteland Gift Shop in Bristol to help him get in and then stealing martial arts weapons, according to Bristol police.

Police responded to the shop at 320 Terryville Road at 1:22 a.m. on Thursday after the burglar alarm went off and found Derek N. Rupe, of Ruth Street in Bristol, inside, according to police.

Rupe surrendered to police.

As officers investigated, they determined that Rupe started a fire to weaken the outside of the building to make it easier to get inside, then broke a water pipe, according to a news release from police.

Rupe was found with more than $500 in cash and $48 in stolen merchandise, including some sort of martial arts weapon and a metal throwing star, according to police.

Police estimate that Rupe caused around $15,000 of damage to the building and merchandise.

He was charged with third-degree burglary, possession of burglary tools, fifth-degree larceny, carrying a dangerous weapon, first-degree criminal mischief and third-degree arson and held on $50,000 surety bond.

The Bristol Fire Department also responded to ensure that the fire was completely extinguished.

Gerald Herbert / AP

A fire still burns on Wednesday after a tugboat and barge hit a gas pipeline Tuesday evening in Perot Bay in Lafourche Parish, La., about 30 miles south of New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS -- A gas pipeline burned Wednesday morning in a bayou south of New Orleans hours after it was hit by a tug boat pushing an oil barge, but authorities say no oil appeared to be leaking from the barge.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Russ Bowen said it appears the barge is intact and none of its cargo of crude oil was leaking, though there were patches of oily sheen in the area. The Coast Guard was investigating whether those sheens were related to the accident.

A plume of smoke rising from the site could be seen from downtown New Orleans Wednesday morning. Bowen said authorities planned to allow the gas to burn itself out before approaching for a closer inspection. The area is thinly populated and no evacuations had been ordered.

Four people aboard the 47-foot tug Shanon E. Settoon were injured, one severely, in the collision Tuesday at about 6 p.m. CDT. Water at the collision site is very shallow.

The 19-mile section of pipeline was carrying liquefied petroleum gas. It had been isolated from other conduits by its owner, San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron, so only what was inside could burn.

"All crew members were able to exit the tug; the captain reportedly suffered second to third-degree degree burns," the Coast Guard said in a news release early Wednesday.

The barge was holding 92,000 gallons of crude oil, the Coast Guard said. The tug boat had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Settoon Towing of Pierre Part, La., lists the tug among its vessels on its website.

Bowen said it was believed that the diesel fuel aboard the tug had burned up.

WWL-TV reported that the tug's captain was transferred to the burn center at Baton Rouge General Hospital.

It was not immediately known who owns the 154-foot oil barge.

The area is along the northern reaches of Barataria Bay, which was heavily affected by oil from the BP spill in 2010. It is mostly small communities where people often make their living from the sea, either working in the oil and gas industry or as fishermen.

The 92,000 gallons the Coast Guard says was being carried by the barge is a fraction of the millions of gallons that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 spill.

The region where the fire was burning is crisscrossed by pipelines and wellheads are a common sight in the shallow waters of the bayou and bay shoreline.

Bowen said it's not unusual for tugs to operate in shallow areas. "That's just the nature of coastal Louisiana," he said.

Beyond that, he said he couldn't comment on why the accident happened.

Bayou Perot was the scene of an explosion and fire on a specialized oil rig in December 2010 in which three men were injured. The explosion happened while the men were welding and there was no pollution, the Coast Guard reported.

Related:

BP to pay $4.5 billion, plead guilty to manslaughter in spill

3,675 gas wells OK'd by US -- and environmentalists

This story was originally published on Wed Mar 13, 2013 5:19 AM EDT

Five firefighters were hurt when the backdraft from a six-alarm blaze set off a massive explosion at a New Jersey building Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

The injuries were not considered life-threatening, but one firefighter was severely cut by flying shards of glass after the explosion shattered a window at the Harrison, N.J., building, fire officials said.

"It sounded like a bomb went off, to be completely honest," said Captain Robert Gillen of the Harrison Fire Department.

Dramatic video footage recorded by a witness shows a monster fireball ripping through the two-story structure, masking adjoining buildings in a thick cloud of smoke.

"There was heavy, black smoke. Debris was thrown from the building. A couple firefighters were literally thrown out of the building because the explosion was so powerful," Gillen said.

An unidentified man is heard in the video instructing people to turn away from the smoke spewing out of the building.

"Get down! Get down! Get down! Shield your eyes," the man can be heard shouting.

The original blaze broke out Sunday morning and raged for hours before firefighters stamped it out. Gillen said officials do not yet know what triggered the fire, but it reportedly began in the kitchen of a Mexican restaurant on the building's ground floor before spreading to an adjoining apartment complex.

Authorities said at least five families living in adjacent buildings were displaced by the blaze but suffered no injuries. Some of the private residences damaged by the fire will need to be razed, Gillen said.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey Red Cross told NBC New York that the organization was assisting 17 people forced to leave their homes.

All the injured firefighters were transported to a local medical center and released, according to Gillen.

Bill Estep / The Lexington Herald-Leader via

This photo shows the charred remains of a Gray, Ky., home after a fire erupted, Saturday, March 9.

GRAY, Ky. — As flames engulfed a small house in rural southeastern Kentucky, Gino Cima raced to the scene to try to save his nephew, his nephew's fiancee and the five children inside. The drive in the tiny town of Gray took just minutes, but family members said Sunday that Cima was too late — he reached a side door as the fire raged and pulled out the bodies of the two adults.

"Hey, there's babies in there, there's babies in there!" Gino Cima screamed to firefighters, according to his wife, Laura, who also was at the scene.

The fire killed all seven people in the ranch-style home Saturday. Officials on Sunday did not identify the victims, but family members said the children ranged in age from 10 months to 3 years. They said the woman who died was three months pregnant and was the mother of three of the children inside. The other two children were siblings and friends of the family, visiting for the night for a sleepover, the relatives said.

Officials said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Arson investigators were at the scene Saturday, but officials said no foul play was suspected.

Laura Cima said she owned the single-story, wood-frame house that the couple was renting. She said they had recently moved in and were busy painting and getting carpets cleaned. They shared a bedroom in the back of the house, and Cima said the children were sleeping in a front room Saturday morning. She described an unused bedroom where she and her husband saw flames pouring out of a window when they arrived Saturday.

Gray is a few miles outside of Corbin, a city of about 7,000 in the foothills of Appalachia near the Daniel Boone National Forest and the borders of Tennessee and Virginia.

Shannon Disney, a sister-in-law of one of the victims, said the house that burned on Shady Brook Lane is surrounded by homes of family members — so many that the area is nicknamed "Disneyland." She said a relative who drove past the house at 7:45 a.m. noticed nothing unusual, but another who lives nearby saw smoke coming from it around 9 a.m.

Disney described the couple as devoted to the children, with their lives organized around bedtime and bath time. She said the woman had just gotten an ultrasound, and the couple was excited to plan for the birth, though they didn't know yet whether it was a boy or girl.

Lisa Norman-Hudson / AP

A charred house partially stands on March 10 after it was gutted by a fire in Gray, Ky., on March 9, killing two adults and five children.

Disney called the house alive with kids, with the couple regularly pulling children on a wagon, pushing a tire swing or playing hide-and-seek. On Sunday, children's toys and a stroller were seen outside the house as a stream of people stopped by.

"Everybody is very heartbroken over it. Everybody knows the Disney family," said Amy Weddle, who was working Sunday at J&G Market, a popular convenience store where the couple and the children frequently stopped to buy candy and milk. "They're always good to everybody."

Weddle put a jar on the counter Sunday seeking donations to help pay for burial expenses. It had four $1 dollar bills in it Sunday morning.

State police said Sunday that no more information on the fire would be released until Monday.

WNBC New York

Firefighters at the scene of a fire in a high-rise building in Manhattan.

Nineteen people, including nine firefighters, were taken to the hospital after a wind-driven fire broke out in a 40-story building in New York City early Saturday morning.

The blaze on the 12th floor of a Second Avenue building on Manhattan's Upper East Side saw 25 fire department units – a total of 110 firefighters – speed to the scene after the call came through at 3:42 a.m., said Mike Madison, a fire department spokesman said.

Nine firefighters were taken to the hospital, including six who suffered minor burns to their knees, Madison said.

Ten civilians suffered minor injuries or were affected by smoke inhalation, the FDNY spokesman added. The fire was brought under control at 5:34 a.m.

Fire officials said the fire was contained to one apartment in the high-rise on the corner of 92nd Street, NBCNewYork.com reported.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. As of noon Saturday, more than six hours after the blaze was brought under control, fire officials remained on the scene. Windows on the building’s 12th floor were shattered and shards of glass were scattered on the sidewalk in front of the building, along with other debris. Broken glass was also in the street on Second Avenue.

John Rodriguez waited for the building’s elevator service to be restored on Saturday afternoon. Rodriguez, 75, got a call from his girlfriend, a resident of the building’s 28th floor, at about 5 a.m. Rodriguez said she was told by building security to stay put. Rodriguez was hoping to avoid climbing the 28 flights of stairs up to see her.

“At some point, I’ll have to make the climb,” he said.

NBC News’ Michele Acevedo and Ian Johnston contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Sat Mar 9, 2013 9:38 AM EST