Of more than 200 fire departments in the U.S. and Canada, San Antonio's is one of the busiest. Firehouse, a media outlet dedicated to providing industry news and building community, conducted the 39th National Run Survey, which compares statistics on company and department levels, funding, staffing and pay. A total of 209 department participated in the 2019 survey. Firehouse said some departments were unable to respond to the review, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The results were released in four parts, with the latest being published on Sept. 1. One of the four parts looked at the number of total calls. The San Antonio Fire Department landed in the No. 9 spot for that list, with 203,309 calls. SAFD recognized the national position on Facebook Wednesday. "A 'RUN' is an SAFD response. Here are the results from 2019 showing the busiest Departments in the US (firehouse magazine)," the post reads.  

Multiple crews responded to an explosion in Howard County Thursday afternoon. Big Spring EMS and the Howard County Sheriff's Office responded to an explosion relating to a well site in the area of County Road 40 and County Road 15 at around 3:30 p.m. according to Fire Chief Craig Ferguson Upon arrival, crews found three victims. Two people were taken by ground ambulance to Scenic Mountain Medical Center while the third was airlifted to an Odessa hospital. At this time there is no word on the patients' conditions or the cause of the explosion. The Howard County Sheriff's Office is currently investigating and more details will be released as they are available.  

A San Marcos family survived a mobile home fire that started in the middle of the night but left them with no home. Crystal Gonzalez awoke to her daughter saying, "Mommy there is a small fire." Gonzalez and her husband got out of bed, grabbed their other three daughters, and headed for the door. Gonzalez's husband attempted to put out the flames. "By the time we knew it everything just went up in flames we couldn't put it out," said Gonzalez. "It spread through the whole house." The entire family made it outside of the house safely by the time first responders arrived the mobile home was fully engulfed. The Guadalupe County Fire Marshal's Office said the York Creek Fire Department was the first to arrive on scene around 3 a.m. and was assisted by San Marcos and Hays County fire departments.  

A construction worker was killed while working on a site Thursday in a neighborhood in Cypress, officials said. Cy-Fair firefighters responded to a rescue at 2:15 p.m. at Bridgeland subdivision near Parkland Trail Crossing and Summit Point Crossing. Authorities said the man was struck by an object and fell down about 15 feet below into a trench. The rescue efforts turned into a recovery after the man was pronounced dead, officials said. The victim's identity has not been released. Firefighters are working with the Harris County Sheriff‘s office on the investigation to determine exactly what happened.  

A new audit shows San Marcos firefighters have missed their target in the time it takes to respond to fire emergencies. The report took about a year to compile by a third party and was presented this week to city council. It found that between 2014 and 2018, crews took—on average—10 minutes and 49 seconds to respond to fire emergencies. The department's goal was six minutes and 20 seconds. The fire chief says the city's population is growing very quickly and spreading out farther, stretching out his current resources. "The community has continued to grow both vertically, more and more high rise buildings, and also across the amount of land that the communities developing further and further east and west of the interstate," said Chief Les Stephens.  

Hurricane Laura cleanup continues in east Texas, a week after the storm made landfall in Louisiana. The hurricane, which hit near Cameron, Louisiana as a Category Four, took the lives of at least 15 people in Louisiana and Texas, NBC News reports. But the Austin Fire Department and other local first responders are helping communities in east Texas and Louisiana pick up the pieces. One Austin firefighter even took down a whole tree that was threatening power lines. On Friday, AFD tweeted a picture of John McKinney, who cut down a 90-foot tree in east Texas as a "sawyer." The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service defines a sawyer or "faller" as someone who fells or removes trees. AFD said the tree was pushing against power lines, and by the looks of the picture, McKinney made his way through the tree trunk with both chainsaw and ax on hand.  

A firefighter battling a wildfire in Washington state near the Canadian border lost his wife and three children in an early-morning blaze that destroyed their new home. The family's single-wide trailer was almost completely consumed when firefighters and sheriff's deputies responded to the Green Acres Mobile Home Park in Benton City, Washington, just before 1 a.m. on August 27. "There was really nothing we could do," Ron Duncan, chief of Benton County Fire Protection District 2, told CNN. The radiant heat from the fire was so intense that a nearby trailer also caught fire, but deputies were able to rescue the residents of that home, Duncan said. Firefighters put out the fire and found the family members' bodies while searching the trailer. Marcaria Garcia-Martinez, 32, her daughters Luz Garcia-Martinez, 17, and Michelle Garcia-Martinez, 6, and son Luis Garcia-Martinez, 15, died from asphyxia due to smoke inhalation, Benton County Coroner William Leach told CNN in an email.  

VIDEO: If you came across this vehicle, you might have trouble deciphering exactly what it is. It's towering, it has wheels, but also, a propeller. "We pride ourselves in preserving the history of the firefighter," Joe Kufrovich of the Schuylkill Historical Fire Society said. "That would belong to the Reading Scuba Team in the city of Reading. Up until a few years ago, they used it for water recovery." The vehicle, built in the 1960s, is what you call a LARC, which stands for lighter, amphibious resupply, cargo. Over the weekend, it was given to the Schuylkill Historical Fire Society by the Reading Fire Scuba Team so that its history and the tradition of firefighting can be celebrated and preserved. "In 1976, we had 300,000 firefighters," Joe Kufrovich said. "In 2015, we were down to 7,000. When they teach the classes, the first thing is the history of firefighting, and the history of firefighting is what we do."  

The IAFC applauds the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) for recommending that all firefighters and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel be placed in the highest priority tier for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. While firefighters and EMS personnel need reliable access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 testing, vaccines are the ultimate form of defense for those serving on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health recently asked the National Academies to develop a prioritization schedule for administering the COVID-19 vaccine. Throughout the summer, the IAFC has been urging the CDC, through its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and other federal entities to ensure firefighters and EMS personnel receive prioritized access to the vaccine.  

VIDEO: When Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, it changed everything New York City thought it knew about storms. The storm left behind a trail of damage that put climate change into sharp focus. Scientists say Sandy's catastrophic flooding was made worse by rising sea levels. The "Rising Risk" docuseries explores how those rising sea levels will play out in lower Manhattan of the late 21st century. Impacts include Sandy-like flooding during smaller storms and possible daily tidal flooding in some waterfront areas. Lower Manhattan is especially vulnerable to the problem of sea-level rise. It's the home of Wall Street and a large business district. It also has a large residential population. Many high-rise towers and NYCHA developments sit just steps from the water there. Nearby hospitals had to evacuate when Sandy sent water from the East River spilling into their basements. Eyewitness News Chief Meteorologist Lee Goldberg examines the efforts to protect this area.  

9/11 Day, the nonprofit that successfully worked to establish the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as a federally-recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance ("9/11 Day"), launched a major new initiative in response to COVID-19, called "9/11 Day At Home." This initiative features a new digital platform that enables millions of Americans to engage in a wide range of charitable service activities virtually, and from the safety of their homes, in observance of 9/11 Day, the nation's largest annual day of service. "Each year on the anniversary of 9/11, tens of millions of Americans have traditionally participated in 9/11 Day by volunteering or engaging in other in-person service activities," said David Paine, president and co-founder of 9/11 Day. "Because of COVID-19, we recognized the need to provide creative, virtual ways for Americans to continue to transform the anniversary of 9/11 from a day of tragedy into a day of doing good, and keep the solemn promise to 'never forget.'