Three firefighters were injured and two downtown Longview businesses were damaged in an early Saturday fire that officials are investigating as arson. Longview Fire Marshal Kevin May said crews responded at about 3:50 a.m. to the fire in the 300 block of North High Street. When firefighters arrived, May said they found flames shooting out from the front of the building. Three firefighters were injured while battling the blaze. One firefighter was treated at the scene, May said. Two others were taken to a local hospital where they were treated and released. The fire tore through a building at the northwest corner of High and Methvin streets, which includes Tatum Music and Nicholson Paint & Wallcovering.  

Houston police are searching for a woman accused of setting a man on fire, resulting in a second victim also being severely burned, at a house in the Kingwood area. Houston firefighters were called about 10 p.m. Friday to a burning two-story home in the 2000 block of Aspen Glade Drive, that's just off of the Eastex Freeway and Northpark Drive. Houston police said the suspect came into the residence and poured an unknown substance onto the man before lighting him on fire. The woman then left. The injured 33-year-old man and 26-year-old woman were found outside the home when firefighter arrived, investigators said. One victim was taken by Life Flight and the other by ambulance to the Texas Medical Center, according to firefighters. Both victims suffered severe burns and were last reported to be in critical condition.  

La Marque firefighter Jesse Turrubiate died Thursday after a nearly monthlong battle with COVID-19. He was 31 and would have turned 32 Monday, according to available public records. Turrubiate was an engineer who had been with the department for three years and was serving as an interim captain, Interim Fire Chief David Merryman said. He was posthumously promoted to captain Thursday. "Captain Turrubiate's ability to mentor others just through his daily interactions and his work ethic around his department were strongly evident," he said. "He just excelled at all the traits of a company officer." Merryman didn't know whether Turrubiate had been vaccinated against COVID.  

One person was injured Saturday in a crash involving a Houston Fire Department fire engine. It happened around 10:30 a.m. on South Main Street in front of Fire Station 21 near Bellfort in southwest Houston. It wasn't clear what led to the crash, but the person involved is a civilian and was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital. There was no word on the victim's condition. No other injuries were reported. The truck involved is HFD Engine 21, which is based at Fire Station 21 in the 105000 block of South Main.  

The College Station Fire Department has been awarded a $700,320 grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. CSFD will use the funds to train 12 firefighter/EMT's to become certified paramedics. "These resources will help our first responders do their jobs more safely and effectively," Fire Chief Richard Mann said. "Additional paramedic training also enhances our ability to provide mutual aid, not only with an additional medic unit, but with more paramedics on fire apparatus that perform first responder services to the City of Bryan, Texas A&M, and parts of Brazos County." The program enhances the safety of the public and firefighters with direct financial assistance for critical training and equipment to eligible fire departments, non-affiliated emergency medical service organizations, and state fire training academies.  

Amid the Delta surge, ambulance wait times are putting firefighters, EMTs and paramedics in tough positions as they are waiting longer than normal to offload patients. "Frustrated...they're exhausted," said Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton about how some firefighters/EMTs and paramedics feel amid longer than usual waits to offload patients at hospitals. "If they're sitting in the hallways waiting for the hospitals to get proper facilities, they're not out on the streets responding to citizens 9-1-1 calls," Lancton said. According to data from the Texas Medical Center, the number of COVID-19 cases in the county has jumped more than 2,500 percent in the last month.  

On Saturday night, the 1/5-mile of Macon Speedway welcomed race fans to the popular bullring oval. Local racers raced for big prizes in the 3rd annual Diane Bennett Memorial. Watch the Macon Speedway fire video below. In the Pro Modified feature, a scary fire broke out. Billy Justice Jr and Chris Erwin tangled in turn three. They rolled down the banking. The No. 37 car driven by Billy Justice Jr, sparked. Flames soon followed and the entire car became engulfed in flames. The driver was still int he car. Within seconds, multiple safety workers approached the scene. With the fire raging out of control, one man who ran to the scene from the infield, caught fire. He immediately dropped to the ground and rolled across the race track. The man who was on fire, extinguished his own fire. Seconds later, he was already walking back to the car to help out the scene.  

When he went to his physical exam in October, Lt. Greg Galehouse felt like he was in pretty good health. The Akron firefighter had an active lifestyle and no sign that anything was wrong. After blood work, an EKG and a physical stress test, everything seemed OK. After they took ultrasounds of his organs, Galehouse thought, he'd get his paperwork and be on his way. Instead, a medical professional showed him what looked like a giant blood clot. In reality, it was a tumor the size of a golf ball sitting in his heart. "I would have never known I had it until something happened, like death," Galehouse, 62, said. "The doctor said that multiple times. Usually, you find them after you're dead." Galehouse is one of about 180 Akron firefighters who've gone through one of these comprehensive exams over the last two years, and one of a handful that found potentially life-ending problems early enough to treat them.  

Pointing to long-running structural and health concerns, Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard announced on Friday that the Oak Street Firehouse will be temporarily relocated. The mayor said that operations at the Station 4 Firehouse will be moved until the city can make long overdue repairs. The firefighters and equipment will be immediately relocated to the Station 3 Firehouse until the city can establish a temporary Station 4 located near the Mount Vernon West MetroNorth train station. In the meantime, EMS crews will be staged at strategic locations to maintain rapid response times. "The structural integrity of this building has been well-documented and compromised since 2008," Mayor Patterson-Howard said. "Where temporary fixes were installed at all, no significant repairs have been performed in the past 13 years.  

On a recent afternoon, Antoine Mosley was panhandling on Cerrillos Road when the city's Alternative Response Unit arrived. The unit includes a caseworker, a paramedic and a police officer who respond to low-threat 911 calls usually related to behavioral health issues. The unit members are trained in de-escalation techniques and often connect people in crisis with mental health and housing services. Before the city created the unit earlier this year, first responders had three options: Take people to the emergency room, put them in jail or leave them. The ARU offers another option, and it seems to be working so far, city officials said. After the unit left, Mosley said he felt much better having the ARU respond than law enforcement. "When it's police, I think, ‘Oh god, what have I done here?' But with them, it's not as threatening," said Mosley, 52, who has been living on the streets of Santa Fe for over two years. "It's a lot better."  

PHOTO: The partnership between Oklahoma State University and the City of Stillwater has always been crucial to the success of each institution as a whole. Stillwater and OSU sprang up almost simultaneously over 125 years ago, and their connection remains strong to this day, with their latest partnership culminating in an OSU-branded ladder truck for the Stillwater Fire Department. Friday, dignitaries from Stillwater, OSU and Payne County united to unveil the new truck and host a wet-down ceremony to signalize the truck's activation for duty. A Pierce aerial fire truck, it is white with orange stripes and says "Go Pokes" on the side as well as a black ladder with Pistol Pete. Kyle Wray, interim senior vice president for executive affairs at OSU, said the truck is a symbol of the importance between the school and the city.