Bell County area voters Tuesday, voted in favor of creating an emergency services district. The ESD will be the first in Bell County. About 72 percent of voters in Bell County's precincts 103, 113 and 203 voted ‘yes'. Through the district, the Salado Volunteer Fire Department will receive funding from a tax on property owners. Currently the Salado Volunteer Fire Department is entirely operated by unpaid volunteers. "We do have times in the day where someone calls and they need medical attention and we don't have anybody to send," said Bert Henry, the department's public information officer. The department is currently funded with $40,000-$50,000 a year from The Village of Salado and about $60,000 from Bell County. The funding from Bell County will cease once the new tax funding kicks in. According to state law, emergency services districts can tax up to 10 cents per $100 valuation.  

The Amarillo Fire Department is taking strict safety precautions to continue to help the community. The 274 firefighters in Amarillo have done whatever asked to stay healthy, so they can protect our area. "There's not a playbook for COVID. It got thrown at us just like it got thrown at the rest of the world and we've had to adapt so that we can continue to provide the best service possible to citizens of Amarillo," said Kyle Joy, Amarillo Fire Department district chief of health and safety. Joy says the department has gone above and beyond the governor's and the CDC's recommendations. That includes, contact tracing, social distancing and wearing a mask for 24 hour shifts. These precautions have allowed them to be fully staffed the last several months. "So far we have been lucky. We have continuously been able to staff our trucks. We haven't reached that point where not able to provide a service to the city and god willing we don't get there," said Joy.  

Brandon Raynes watched the election coverage on November 3 when his young son ran into the room and said there was a fire. Raynes went outside and could see flames coming from the neighborhood being constructed nearby. Fortunately, it was across several streets away. Raynes told 6 News Thursday that it was one of a number of fires he and others had seen in the area. "This is about the 6th one in the past two months," Raynes said. "(It's) right across the street from a neighborhood people are living in, where I live in. Makes you nervous. Hopefully, they don't do it to homes people are living in." The Harker Heights Fire Marshal's Office and the Bell County Fire Marshal's Office are now seeking the communities help in identifying a suspect or suspects involved in that series of fires that occurred in houses under construction.  

Crews with Lubbock Fire Rescue responded to a fire at the Texas Tech TIEHH laboratory at Reese Center Thursday afternoon. The call came in at 4:14 p.m. Firefighters and Hazmat were called to The Institute of Environmental and Human Health at 1207 Gilbert Drive. LFR says most of the fire was contained to attic space, Hazmat arrived on scene to decontaminate firefighters as a precaution, as the building does store chemicals. Lubbock Fire announced before 6 p.m. that the fire was extinguished. Crews stayed on scene briefly to monitor conditions. Texas Tech University released the following statement, Thursday evening: "At approximately 4 p.m. Thursday, a fire broke out in the ceiling of The Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Reese Center and was quickly extinguished. Damage to the building was primarily isolated to an office area. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by Texas Tech and state fire marshals. No injuries were reported, and the building was immediately evacuated."  

VIDEO: "We were working in the yard and noticed a huge black smoke coming up from the area," said Wendy Barber. Barber noticed the smoke that began around 8 a.m. wasn't going away, so she drove to find the source. She ended up at MPG, a pipeline contractor located off Highway 281 about a mile north from the City of Blanco. "I called MPG contacts, I called Permian Basin contacts, I called the news, I called my state representative Erin Zwiener and I filed a complaint with TCEQ," Barber said. Brad MacLean, a spokesperson for MPG, says employees got permission from the fire department before their burn, and once they received the complaint Thursday morning, they stopped. Matthew McMain, fire chief for Blanco County ESD No. 2, says he was driving in the area when he noticed the smoke himself, because dispatch told him they weren't notified of the controlled burn.  

For the past 24 years in Haskell, Texas, Steel Fire Apparatus has been transforming trucks into firefighting machines. "But we take it and add the bed, the tool boxes, the pump, the water," Wes Steele, owner, said. But before they're ready to fight brush fires, everything starts with Wes designing the truck on the computer based on a fire department's needs. "We take their ideas and try to build the best truck that works for them," he said. After cutting sheets of metal and having them bent into the desired shapes, they're welded together. He said it's typical to find a truck made entirely of aluminum because the lighter the truck, the more water it can carry. "Sometimes they have to travel 20, 30, 50 miles just to get water," he said. It's then over to their body shop for final touches and an extra layer of paint protection.  

Compared to the general public, New York City firefighters and emergency medical workers were 15 times more likely to be infected with the new coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic, researchers reported on Thursday in ERJ Open Research. They studied nearly 10,800 firefighters and 3,500 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics. From the beginning of March to the end of May, 36.2% of these front-line workers were either confirmed as having the virus with a positive PCR viral test or suspected as having COVID-19 due to their symptoms. During the same period, the rate was 2.4% in the city's general population. Compared to the firefighters, the EMTs and paramedics were more likely to contract the virus and to develop severe COVID-19. Everyone in the study had previously undergone tests to assess their lung health, and those with declining lung function before the pandemic had higher risks of severe COVID-19.  

A Delray Beach firefighter is sharing his story of survival from cancer in an emotional post on Facebook. Throughout November, the agency is telling stories about firefighters who have battled cancer. They said it part of an effort to increase awareness of the disease and the importance of prevention for everyone. Firefighter Robert Pastor, now 36, was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 after an ultrasound technician noticed a small nodule on his neck. "The minute you are told you have cancer, the first thought in your head is 'I'm going to die.' You think the worst," Pastor said in the Facebook post on the Delray Beach Fire Rescue Facebook page. "I'm like, 'I'm married. I have two kids. I am going to die. Who will take care of my kids?" he said. It was an emotional battle for Pastor, but he said his wife's strength helped him through the process. "Not once did my wife ever show she was scared," he said. "Honestly, she was my rock."  

The Rutgers School of Public Health received a $1.5 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to support cancer research for volunteer firefighters. The funding will enhance research already being done in collaboration with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey as part of the Cancer Assessment and Prevention Study. The assessment and prevention study works with fire departments across the state to assess how to understand and prevent exposure to cancer-causing agents in New Jersey firefighters. "With this Federal Emergency Management Agency funding, the Cancer Assessment and Prevention Study will engage with volunteer firefighters and stakeholders in New Jersey and nationally to address the knowledge gap in cancer causing exposures and risk factors among volunteer firefighters and inform cancer prevention strategies," said the grant's principal investigator Judith Graber.  

For the past 24 years in Haskell, Texas, Steel Fire Apparatus has been transforming trucks into firefighting machines. "But we take it and add the bed, the tool boxes, the pump, the water," Wes Steele, owner, said. But before they're ready to fight brush fires, everything starts with Wes designing the truck on the computer based on a fire department's needs. "We take their ideas and try to build the best truck that works for them," he said. After cutting sheets of metal and having them bent into the desired shapes, they're welded together. He said it's typical to find a truck made entirely of aluminum because the lighter the truck, the more water it can carry. "Sometimes they have to travel 20, 30, 50 miles just to get water," he said. It's then over to their body shop for final touches and an extra layer of paint protection. "The heat that they're exposed to, it's an industrial coating, it's a lot thicker, it's a little bit harder than just your automotive coating," he said.