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Firefighter injured, dog dies in Silver Spring apartment fire

An apartment fire in Silver Spring, Maryland, displaced several families, injured a firefighter and left a dog dead, according to Montgomery County fire spokesman Pete Piringer. Units from Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and D.C. Fire and Rescue responded around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to a 2-alarm fire at the Blair Park Garden Apartments in the 7700 block of Eastern Avenue in Silver Spring. Piringer said more than 85 firefighters across multiple agencies worked to put out a large blaze that had fully engulfed a second-floor apartment unit. One firefighter was injured and one dog died in the fire. The failure of a power strip with multiple items plugged into it near a bed is the likely cause of the fire, Piringer said. The building sustained about $700,000 in damage.

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Montgomery County fire officials will be returning to the building Thursday afternoon to provide a safety check, including investigating whether smoke alarms are working properly. Below is a map of the area: [google_map latitude=”38.983036089920404″ longitude=”-77.02422194269361″ zoom=”13″ height=”300px” location_label=”” dynamic_map=”false”]

Fentanyl seizures plummet as Trump administration shifts focus to immigration

WASHINGTON — Fentanyl seizures decreased by 39% during the first year of the second Trump administration after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shifted the Department of Homeland Security’s criminal investigations arm to conducting immigration enforcement, according to a report government investigators published Friday.  Agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a subagency of DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reported an “all hands-on deck” environment toward immigration enforcement began in January 2025, according to the DHS Office of Inspector General report. “With ICE dedicating more staff hours to immigration investigations, staffing hours for fentanyl investigations declined,” the report said. The report found that the hours dedicated to fentanyl investigations for fiscal 2025 declined by more than 250,000 hours, or 31%, compared to fiscal 2024.
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