Authorities say they found four bodies in a burning mobile home in southwest Arkansas and another person was found dead inside a nearby house.

Two half brothers who died from injuries suffered in a fire at their eastern Henrico County home Friday night were the only ones home, their sister said last night. Asheli Nadine Black, 18, declined to discuss a possible cause of the fire, which remains under investigation by authorities. She identified the two victims as her brother, Ashton I. Black, a 16-year-old sophomore at Henrico High School, and their half brother Aaron D. Brown, a 9-year-old third-grader at the Virginia Randolph Education Center.

Authorities arrested a man they say tried to kill himself by setting fire to a house in Richmond’s East End, only to be rescued by firefighters from the burning building. Authorities charged David Junious McLean Jr., 34, with arson after the fire that started late Wednesday night in the 1200 block of North 26th Street. The blaze was reported at 11:43 p.m. When the first fire trucks arrived, the two-story house was ablaze.

Authorities arrested a man they say tried to kill himself by setting fire to a house in Richmond’s East End, only to be rescued by firefighters from the burning building.

A memorial fund has been established for the families of the victims of Tuesday’s house fire in Highland Springs. The blaze killed Latasha N. Davis, 28; her daughter, Jazmine Whisnant, 8; and son, Jamie L. Whisnant Jr., 3. On Thursday, more than 250 people gathered at a local football field to remember the victims, who authorities said died of smoke inhalation.

Five people were displaced yesterday after a cooking-related fire heavily damaged a brick home in South Richmond, fire officials said. The fire in the 3300 block of Broad Rock Road near Walmsley Boulevard was reported about 10:30 a.m., and firefighters cleared the scene about 1 p.m., said Shawn L. Jones, a fire department spokesman. There were no injuries; no one was at home at the time.

Henrico County authorities are investigating the death of a person found in a burning shed this morning in the 9500 block of Nandina Drive, in the Hungary Meadows subdivision off Hungary Road. Fire crews responded to the address about 9:30 a.m. for a reported shed fire. “During our extinguishing process, it was discovered that we did have a fatality in the shed fire,“ said Henrico Fire Capt. Chris Buehren. Henrico police are assisting in the investigation and Buehren said more information would be released as it becomes available.

Officials in Buffalo, N.Y., say two firefighters have been killed when the first floor of a burning convenience store collapsed into the basement.

For the second time in less than 18 months, a Richmond apartment building popular with Virginia Commonwealth University students was damaged in a fire. Once again, no one was hurt. “You can rebuild the building. I’m just glad everyone’s OK,“ Jim Wright, owner of Metro Properties Inc., said before he resumed directing the cleanup efforts at The Ritz Apartments yesterday morning.

A city report says inadequate water flow from fire hydrants hindered the effort to stop a destructive blaze at the mansion of a civic leader and arts patron.

Authorities say crews have contained a fire at a Michigan fuel storage facility where a stubborn blaze caused several oil barrels to explode and prompted area evacuations.

Country-music legend Jimmy Dean was so upset by the fire that gutted his Henrico County home that even today, more than three months later, he refuses to look at it. But Dean said he never once considered leaving his Chaffin’s Bluff estate overlooking the James River. He and his wife, songwriter and former recording artist Donna Meade Dean, plan to remain on the property until the main house is rebuilt.

Fire last night destroyed the mansion and art collection of D.C. arts patron Peggy Cooper Cafritz, and firefighters battling the blaze were hindered by problems with water pressure, The Washington Post reports this morning.

It’s hard not to see the reasoning behind the Virginia Professional Firefighters’ support for a proposal to require sprinkler systems in all new home construction. Homes with sprinklers incur far less damage from fires than homes without them, and the cost of the sprinklers can be recovered through lower insurance premiums. It’s also hard not to see the reasoning behind the Home Builders Association of Virginia’s opposition to the idea. Requiring sprinklers adds to the up-front price of a new home—a price that often is jacked up further by proffers, minimum lot-size requirements, and other government policies that help put homes out of affordable reach for many first-time buyers.

A two-alarm fire at the Williamsburg Shopping Center has destroyed a restaurant and damaged three other businesses.