PHOTOS: The Bell County Fire Marshal's Office has launched an investigation after a house fire in Bartlett that left one person dead. The Bartlett Volunteer Fire Department was called around 5 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, to the 400 block of E. Bell St. Responding units arrived to find the small, wooden-framed house fully-engulfed. Those on scene were also told the person who lived there may have been home at the time of the fire and was unaccounted for. First-responders had to wait for the fire's intensity to go down before they were able to get in. Once inside, human remains were found in the kitchen. The Bell County justice of the peace has since ordered an autopsy. The name of the person involved will be withheld until positive identification can be made.  

The year 2020 was unprecedented with an unexpected global pandemic that put the world on hold, except for essential and front line workers. Those who risked their lives to save countless others proved to be the real heroes of the year. Thanks to a group, including but not limited to, Navarro County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Eric Meyers and the late Dr. Kent Rogers, Corsicana Fire Chief Paul Henley led the charge against the disease and showed the people of Navarro and surrounding counties what it takes to fight back against a deadly virus, and how to do so with poise and a selfless attitude. Corsicana Fire Chief Paul Henley announced his resignation effective Oct. 15, to accept a position with the Town of Flower Mound. He served the City of Corsicana and Navarro County for three and a half years.  

An early Sunday morning fire devastated the home of a Southeast Texas restaurant owner, who is still recovering after being shot multiple times during a May robbery. The fire occurred in the 1800 block of Lincoln Drive in Orange. Oscar LeBlanc, owner of the home and of area restaurant Bluebird Fish Camp, told 12News he was not home when the fire occurred because he was recovering at a different location after the robbery left him severely injured. LeBlanc said he chose to recover at a different location because he was not comfortable in his own home after the crime. Both the May robbery and the Sunday fire occurred at his house. According to LeBlanc, firefighters found heavy flames coming from the center of the home, and at this time, the cause of the fire is not known.  

Hallsville High School student firefighters were joined recently by Hallsville Fire Department firefighters as they visited students at Hallsville North Elementary School for a presentation. The presentation allowed the elementary students to learn about firefighting up close and personal, while also allowing the Hallsville High School student firefighters to exhibit some of the knowledge and skills they have learned in the high school CTE (Career and Technology Education) program. "The elementary students seemed to have a great time and the fire department was amazing with them," Hallsville High School Firefighting teacher Robert Best said. "Hallsville Fire Department was great in allowing our high school students to participate and showcase our high school program."  

Some residents in Athens were forced out of their homes after a tanker carrying propylene overturned, spilling the chemical. It forced everyone living within a half-mile radius of the accident to evacuate their homes. While some were able to stay with family and friends, others spent the night at the Henderson County Senior Center. The building was opened for evacuees like Cherly Greenhalgh who was told to leave her home. "I was sitting on my couch, getting ready for bed. I just happen to see the lights out the window and the door and opened it up. There was a guy telling me to get out and we came directly up here," Greenhalgh said. The tanker tipped heading south on Highway 19 while trying to get on the eastbound ramp of Loop 7.  

PHOTO: A couple and their dog escaped a house fire late Sunday night after storms rolled through North Texas. It happened around 11:30 p.m. on Ashton Court, which is near Hillcrest Road and the LBJ Freeway. The power was out at the time and the owner saw a flash of light, perhaps from an arc in the power lines. A few minutes later he smelled smoke and his smoke detectors went off. The fire was so intense that firefighters had to back out, fearing the home would collapse. It took them two hours to get the flames under control. Everyone in the home was able to make it out safely. No one was hurt. The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: The Mt. Angel Fire District said a four-alarm fire broke out in the early morning hours on Saturday. At 12:48 a.m., officers from the Mt. Angel Police Department discovered that a building in the 200 block of South Main Street was on fire. The officers called in what they had found, and the Mt. Angel Fire District was dispatched to respond. Upon arrival of the first engine, the building was fully engulfed in flames. Additional alarms were called, and the fire eventually went to four alarms. There were 35 fire apparatus that responded with nearly 120 firefighters battling the flames. Over a million gallons of water were used to knock the fire down. The businesses affected by the fire were The Blackbird Granary, KP Harvesttime, Wood Pellet Stoves and Hiddenbed of Oregon.  

A Palm Harbor firefighter and paramedic received a hero's welcome at a community fundraiser Saturday after she was nearly killed on the job just a few weeks ago. Lt. Ashley White, 38, was hit by a speeding pickup truck while responding to a crash in September in Palm Harbor, authorities said. "It's a miracle, honestly, seeing the damage to our apparatus that was done and knowing that he was driving at a high rate of speed," she said Saturday at a fundraiser organized for her at the Tarpon Springs Elks Lodge 1719. The driver of the pickup died. Lt. White sustained several injuries to her legs and arms. "Pretty amazing seeing my crew members working on one of their own and knowing what was going on," she said. One of those crew members was Lt. Steve Gorby.  

Firefighter Dan Felt still has some of the gear Chief Daniel "Skip" Bergbauer used at Red White & Blue Fire District in Breckenridge. "This is his jacket, this is the car he used to drive," said Felt. "We're hanging on to his equipment, but we miss the guy." Fire Chief Bergbauer spent 25 years working as a firefighter at Red, White, and Blue. He died unexpectedly in July. Next to firefighting and his family, Skip loved roasting coffee. So much so, when Skip died, fellow firefighters found 3,000 pounds of coffee beans in his house. "We walked into his garage and the coffee was packed into bags piled halfway up to the ceiling," said Felt. Those beans are now at Cuppa Joe/Breckenridge Coffee Roasters where Andrew Iwashko has been roasting them into three blends Skip would have loved.  

PHOTOS: Mifflinburg Hose Company turns 125 years old in 2022 and when it celebrates that milestone, a piece of its past will proudly be displayed. The volunteer fire company commissioned a full restoration of an 1899 hand-drawn ladder wagon built by the American LaFrance Fire Engine Co. in Elmira, N.Y. The results are stunning. Isaac Reiff and sons from Vicksburg Buggy Shop carefully photographed the 16-foot steel-frame wagon before beginning their work. It looked rough to fire company members, Mifflinburg Hose President Chuck Klose said, but Reiff said it was in pretty good condition. "We did retighten the wheels. Otherwise, it did not take any repairs. It was just cleaning, removing all the paint and with these good pictures we were able to get it (to its original look) as close as I could," Reiff said Friday inside the station where the wagon sat at rest next to a modern fire engine.  

As a massive investment to repair roads and adapt to climate change faces an uncertain fate in Congress, a new report finds much of the country's infrastructure is already at risk of being shut down by flooding. And as the planet heats up, the threat is expected to grow. Today, one-in-four pieces of all critical infrastructure in the US — including police and fire stations, hospitals, airports and wastewater treatment facilities — face substantial risk of being rendered inoperable by flooding, according to a new report released today by the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research and technology group that assesses the threat posed by flooding across the country. The report also found nearly 2 million miles of road — 23% of US roadways — are already at risk of becoming impassable due to flooding.