San Antonio fire investigators believe a fire at a former restaurant on the city's Northwest Side Friday morning was the work of an arsonist. They say it appears someone threw a Molotov cocktail through a window at what used to be Joe's Crab Shack near Loop 410 and Babcock Road. A police officer driving by the area noticed smoke around 1 a.m. and reported it. Fire crews that answered the call also found fire inside the building, which had been boarded up previously. They say a sprinkler system activated and knocked down most of the flames for them. The restaurant had shut down some time ago so there was no one working there. The fire did not threaten any other buildings. Firefighters say this is the second time within a few weeks that there has been a suspicious fire inside the former restaurant. No one has been arrested in either case.  

Central Texas first responders continue to battle keeping their communities safe, but that's not their only fight as the latest COVID-19 surge dips into their own departments. "This recent surge we are seeing, we are no different than any other agency, department, employer," Killeen Fire Chief James Kubinski said. "We are seeing higher numbers of people out with COVID-19 positive tests." Like most of the country, Central Texas first responders are dealing the Omicron variant taking people out of work. Kubinski says his department is lucky compared to others across the country that the virus has taken down. "We're really not seeing too much of a strain on staffing," he said. "Little bit of overtime, maybe one or two personnel out of 52 that are on duty per day that we have to call for overtime coverage."  

No one was injured when an RV in Eustace caught fire Thursday, and the flames spread to another RV on the property. According to a post on the Payne Springs Fire Rescue Facebook page, PSFR volunteer fire firefighters were asked to assist with a structure fire on FM 316 North at about 11:22 a.m. Thursday. When Engine 1 with the Eustace Volunteer Fire Department arrived at the scene, one RV was fully engulfed, and the flames had spread to a second RV. A short time later, PSFR's Engines 4 and 2 arrived at the scene and started an "interior attack" on the second RV to stop the fire. The Gun Barrel City Fire Department also assisted with the fire, the Facebook post stated. According to the Facebook post, the Eustace VFD chief was in command at the fire scene. Adam Robinson, PSFR's chief, said no one was injured in the fire.  

San Antonio firefighters responded to a chimney fire at a North Side home late Thursday night, the San Antonio Fire Department said. The fire was called in just after 10 p.m. at a home in the 200 block of Wyndale Street, not far from Harry Wurzbach Road and Loop 410. Firefighters said it appears the flue in the chimney became separated due to ground shifting and that it caused the fire to get into the attic of the house. The fire was knocked down quickly and without incident. A battalion chief said that if you live in an area that has ground shifting -- which he said is pretty much all of San Antonio -- it may be worth hiring experts who can drop a camera down the chimney for inspection and make sure your fire place is safe before using. Damage to the home is estimated at $20,000. There are no reports of injuries, fire officials said.  

The Texas A&M Forest Service is raising awareness of dry fuel conditions to reduce human-cause wildfires as the incoming cold front and high winds will increase the potential for fires this weekend, according to a release on Thursday, January 13, 2022. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, due to the incoming cold front and the high winds associated with the passing of the front, the potential for fires has increased significantly and will remain high through the weekend. Since nine out of ten wildfires are caused by people, public awareness is critical. The Texas Forest Service is encouraging local residents to be mindful of any outdoor activities that may cause a spark, which may include unsafe debris burning, welding, using heavy equipment, and dragging trailer chains along the roadway.  

PHOTO: An investigation is underway in Killeen after flames engulfed a home early Friday morning. The Killeen Fire Department got the call to the 300 block of Cartwright Loop at 4:42 a.m. When firefighters arrived, they found flames spewing from inside the home. Thankfully, the person who lives there and their two cats made it out safely. The house, however, is a total loss.  

VIDEO: Fire crews responded to a house fire in the 200-block of Ocean Boulevard West in Holden Beach Thursday evening. The structure appeared to be fully enveloped in flame by 6:30 p.m. according to witnesses on the scene. According to Holden Beach Police Department, two people were at home at the time and were able to exit the building without injury. "All the witnesses that saw it say it happened very quickly," said Holden Beach Police Chief Jeremy Dixon. "All the accounts were the same. It started at the bottom of the house and spread up quickly. It's actually been several years since we've had a fire like this over here. The fire department did an amazing job. They were on scene quickly. We actually had a response from several other neighboring agencies that came from as far as Winnabow and Sunset Beach and everywhere in between."  

New York firefighters battled a fire with "great volumes of smoke" nearly 36 years ago at the same Bronx apartment building that caught fire Sunday, leaving 17 dead -- all from smoke inhalation, officials said. The March 1986 fire was documented in FDNY's official training publication, WNYF, in which members of the department write about fire incidents, highlighting protocols and training, according to a FDNY spokesperson. The article said smoke from the 1986 fire was banked down to the floor and engulfed entire hallways, seeping through the bottom of closed apartment doors "creating frightening and in some cases untenable conditions for the occupants inside." Residents who escaped Sunday's fire also reported battling thick smoke as it filled the 19-story building.  

Cy-Fair Fire Department supervisor vehicles will now be equipped with whole blood for patients experiencing rapid blood loss from trauma. The department began providing pre-hospital whole blood for patients at the point of injury on Jan. 6, a collaboration with Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center. Justin Reed, assistance chief of EMS for CFFD, said the project has been three years in the making with GCRBC. "The partnership was the most important thing to getting this off the ground and seeing it through to the finish line," he said. "We have to make sure we're good stewards of that and so working with Gulf Coast and having a collaborative dialogue explaining ‘this is what we can project,' ‘this is what we can provide,' and making sure everything we do is not just because it's the flashy new thing but because it's going to make a difference in our community."  

PHOTOS: It's been a year in the making, but the DeLand Fire Department's new fire station, Fire Station 81, is set to open its doors for regular operations Tuesday, Jan. 18. The new station, at 343 W. Howry Ave., will replace the current fire station at 201 W. Howry Ave. So what's new about the city's newest fire station? The new Fire Station 81 is 16,000 square feet, an improvement over the old Fire Station 81, which totaled around 9,000 square feet. The new station cost around $5.5 million, DeLand Fire Chief Todd Allen said, and the former fire station will eventually be torn down to make room for a public parking lot. With more space comes better consolidation of the Fire Department, Allen said. While various elements of the Fire Department were spread across various buildings, the newly constructed Fire Station 81 will serve as a home base for the department with more space for meetings.  

The Alabama Department of Public Health and the University of Alabama at Birmingham are in the midst of a multi-year project to enhance the statewide stroke response system and are now letting other states know how to follow their lead and build their own. The Trauma Communications Center Coordinated Severity-Based Stroke Triage project is funded by a $2.5 million, five-year grant to UAB from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, one of the National Institutes of Health. The Alabama Statewide Stroke System, based on Alabama's successful trauma response system, is unique in the United States. In a paper published in December in Frontiers of Neurology, UAB researchers have laid out their progress thus far in an effort not only to improve on Alabama's stroke response, but to demonstrate to others how to go about it.