A fire ripped through an apartment complex on Christmas Day in Suitland, Maryland, leaving nearly a dozen families displaced.

A cell phone video shows flames shooting through the roof of the apartment building on Curtis Drive. The fire broke out around 5:45 p.m. as families were having dinner and spending time together.

Fire investigators say everyone was able to get out safely. Residents in two buildings were affected by the fire. There was smoke and water damage, and at least a dozen families are getting assistance from the Red Cross, including food, water, blankets and longer term resources.

“That includes financial assistance. It includes mental health support for those who need someone to speak with, someone to talk to, and other recovery resources like replacing eyeglasses, replacing medication,” said Bethany Bray Patterson with the American Red Cross.

Officials say there are more fire hazards around the holidays, from cooking, to heating sources to Christmas trees that haven’t been properly watered.

“Folks are cooking more around the holidays, re inviting their families over there, they’re cooking, we have a lot of open flames with candles and heating sources,” said Assistant Chief Donald Fletcher with Prince George’s County Fire and EMS. “As the temperatures get colder out, we’ll see a lot of space heater fires.”

With that in mind .. firefighters returned to the apartment complex Thursday to speak to residents, provide fire safety information and remind residents of the sometimes hidden fire dangers that come with the holiday season.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, and residents are receiving help finding new housing.

Anyone affected by the fire can call 1-800-RED-CROSS for assistance.

Following Trump’s victory against Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, the Democratic Party has yet to find a new person to emerge as the new voice and face of its movement. York, the chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, assessed that this situation stems from how Democrats lost the White House and the Senate last month while also failing to retake the House of Representatives.  

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“And even at this moment, of course, President Biden seems to be more out of it than he was even in the past, so they have no one to lead,” York argued on Fox News’s America Reports. “The only bright spot they’ve had in the last week or two has been that Republicans in the House have so much trouble getting their act together, and they hope — the Democrats hope that that will help them trip up the Republican Party in the coming year. But right now, there’s one leader, and that’s the president-elect, Donald Trump, and Democrats don’t have anybody to match his stature.”

York also agreed with the assessment of some Democrats that the most successful candidates among Democrats over the past cycle were those who ran against the party’s brand. He added that the party needs to have a proper debate over where the party went wrong in 2024, in which some could argue the party pushed its policies too far while others could argue the massive loss was due to a messaging problem.

York’s assessment comes after billionaire Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump shortly after the president-elect’s first assassination attempt, argued the best-case scenario for the Democratic Party in the 2024 election cycle would be “a massive loss,” as this would force the party and its leadership to undergo a “reboot.”

Ahead of the Democratic National Committee’s election for its new chair, 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson has launched her bid for the role, though York argued she would ultimately not win this election. Among the competitors she faces for DNC chair is Ben Wikler, the party chairman for Wisconsin, with York calling his bid “smart,” as Democrats could have won the 2024 election if they had won Wisconsin in the Electoral College. 

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“So you’re going to have a contest for the Feb. 1 election for the DNC chair,” York stated. “You’re going to have a contest among people who actually had some background in the party and people who have actually held positions in the party.”

Amid the Democratic Party’s struggle to find a new face going forward, Democratic strategist Tad Devine assessed that his party has “no leadership now at the highest level.” Another person has argued that Democrats are “absolutely committed to their own ideas, even when they’re failing.”

The legislators will make an initial request of $3.5 million toward plans for the training center, which would serve new recruits and current staff. They will seek an additional $3 million during the 2026 legislative session as well as federal appropriations from Washington’s Congressional delegation, according to a letter from Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.

“We really need one place to come together and have the ability to give our officers the best training,” said Vancouver Police Department Deputy Chief Erica Nilsen, who noted Southwest Washington’s booming population. “That’s really why we need the regional academy.”

The academy would primarily serve as a training site for police and sheriff’s department staff from Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania counties, Nilsen said. Her department hopes to have a facility where prospective officers could train on squad car driving, firearms and scenario training, and do classroom work.

Since January, the Vancouver Police Department has used a repurposed elementary school in the city. They also rent a driving track and send recruits to the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission academy in Burien, about two-and-a-half hours north.

That distance creates barriers to hiring potential officers who are female or single parents, Nilsen said.

“To leave your family for four months is incredibly difficult. Sometimes that stops the conversation before they even get past that,” she said.

Lawmakers are pitching the idea of a potential location in Ridgefield on property that’s privately owned by the family of Boschma Farms, near where Clark College is currently building an advanced manufacturing campus.

The likelihood of landing such a request for state funds remains uncertain, given Washington’s projected $10-12 billion budget deficit. Clark County and the city of Vancouver are also navigating multimillion-dollar deficits.

“With the budget issues that we’re going to be facing, it kind of remains to be seen where we’re at. It’s going to be probably quite a stretch, but [law enforcement] is certainly my priority going into this next session,” said state Rep. Stephanie McClintock, R-Vancouver, whose district spans the north end of Clark County.

McClintock said that in addition to being a training academy, she hopes such a facility would provide a new administrative home for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials with the Vancouver Police Department and county sheriff’s office have both recently said they are among the lowest-staffed departments in the state per capita. McClintock said a new training facility could help attract more law enforcement officers.

“We need to send a message that they are a priority,” she said. “It’s a morale issue. And it’s a good recruiting tool to show that we support our law enforcement here in Southwest Washington.”

In November, the city of Vancouver attempted to increase property taxes to fund 80 new police officers. The proposal was rejected by voters. Clark County is considering asking voters to pay for 30 new sheriff’s deputies, according to the mayor’s memo.

From 2020 to 2023, Clark County saw a 3.5% increase in population. While a new law enforcement facility would take years to complete, the need to train officers will increase as the population of Southwest Washington continues to grow.