A North Texas firefighter has died after a car crash in Paris, Texas Sunday morning. The Paris Fire Department responded to a single vehicle accident Oct. 20 where they found the single occupant — 24-year-old Layton Slade Baker — dead from his injuries. Baker was a firefighter with PFD since April of 2017. The department said Baker had a true "servant's heart" in a statement released Sunday. He was an excellent firefighter, always striving to better himself both professionally and as a person. Slade loved life and was always smiling, yet he was the first to offer help to anyone who needed it. The department has stationed an honor guard to remain with Baker's body during this time, and a cause for the crash has not been released at this time.  

Russell Wilson joined the Katy Fire Department as chief in May 2016. A lot has happened since he came to the city. The department converted staff from mostly part-time to full-time. It opened a second fire station near Katy Mills Mall and contracts with Fort Bend Municipal Utility District 151 for fire service at Firethorne subdivision from a third station. It boosted its Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating to a 1, the highest possible score. Since he became chief, Wilson also has encouraged participation in Special Olympics, was named Fire Chief of the year in 2017 by the Texas Fire Chiefs Association and last month was named by the governor to the 13-member Texas Commission on Fire Protection. The commission develops and enforces statewide fire service standards and provides education and assistance to the industry. His two children are grown — David lives out of state and Schann lives in Huffman. Wilson and his wife, Lisa, will become grandparents for the first time in December.  

One woman is dead after a roof collapsed in a rural area of Los Indios Ranch in Bergheim Saturday. According to officials with Kendall County Emergency Management, there was one fatality when the home collapsed. Four others were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Two others were not seriously injured. The family who lived in the home was working on the roof from inside when a beam shifted, causing the roof to collapse and the house to fall on itself, a neighbor said. The neighbor said the family was renovating the double-wide trailer themselves. Kendall County Emergency Management told us that the call came in at 12:48 p.m. Saturday when a neighbor heard screaming and people calling out for help after that roof collapsed.  

Eighteen people are recovering after being exposed to a hazardous chemical in Fort Worth Saturday. The incident occurred just after noon Oct. 19 at a refrigerated warehouse on the east side of downtown. Fire crews said hazardous materials inside the building caught fire, but it's still unclear what those materials were at this time. Firefighters knocked out the flames shortly after crews arrived. At least two people were taken to the hospital for the exposure, and there's been no word on their condition.  

The Corsicana Fire Department gave a fond farewell to one of their own as Captain Braz Davis stepped down for retirement on Friday. Davis, who Chief Paul Henley referred to as "A fireman's firefighter", has served with the Corsicana Fire Department since Sept. 16, 1993, celebrating over 26 years of service. "He made this department better than he found it," Henley said. "And for that, I'm eternally grateful." In August of 2018, Davis was one of two recipients recognized with the department's first Medals of Honor for performing above and beyond the call of duty at extreme personal risk during a fire in March of 2017. The medal is the highest honor in the department's history. For his retirement, Davis was bestowed a commemorative watch by City Manager Connie Standridge, a shadow box by Assistant Chief Wade Gillen, and a golden firefighter's axe, along with Davis' uniform badge and fire helmet from Chief Henley.  

A firefighter with the Homer Fire Department died Saturday after falling ill at a training, according to the fire chief. Firefighter Robert Bush was feeling ill during a training, and his fellow firefighters offered him medical help immediately, chief Mahlon Irish Jr. said in a Facebook post. "Bush was transported to the local hospital where revival efforts continued. However, the outcome was unsuccessful," Irish said. "I cannot express how proud I am of our members who initiated treatment. This is the worst case scenario in my mind when we have to render aid to one of our own." Irish thanked other fire departments that have offered sympathy and to assist the department. The chief's statement did not say what Bush's cause of death was, and it didn't give more details about what the training entailed. The department also posted a Homer Fire Department logo with a black bar across it to mourn Bush's death.  

Over the last few years, national firefighter organizations have put an emphasis on cancer preventions. Firefighters face higher rates of cancer diagnosis and cancer-related deaths than the general population. Innovative work by the Xenia Fire Department will help them be more diligent about keeping gear clean to prevent the inhalation of carcinogens as suggested by many national firefighter organizations. Jeff Bruggeman, a captain at the department, began to see other fire stations build their gear dryer systems. So, he decided to build his own for the department. "It's just a series of PVC pipes. We have a bouncy house blower of all things. It's what we're using to drive air into it," Bruggeman said. It took the department about 36 hours to build. The machine features hangers and hooks for wet jackets, pants, gloves, hoods and liners. "Commercial units run anywhere between $7,000 and $12,000. We built this one just under $1,000," Bruggeman said.  

Two national experts on firefighter safety were at the Vermont Fire Academy Saturday sharing what they know with leaders in the state's firefighting and emergency services community. "The entire class today is focused on firefighter health and safety," Chief Craig Haigh, a 36-year veteran of the Hanover Park, Illinois, Fire Department, and a field staff instructor at the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute. "It's looking at it not from the standpoint of, we're going to buy you new protective equipment or we're going to give you a different type of fire truck, it's an analysis of what actually goes on inside of the body physiologically when we expose the body to the job we do." Teaching alongside him was Denise Smith, professor of exercise science at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, and a research scientist at the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute.  

San Francisco's Marina was ravaged by fire during the Loma Prieta earthquake, centered 60 miles away. Thirty years later, experts say, as much as a third of the city is still largely unprotected against the massive fires they fear will be sparked by the Big One. "The way the situation is now, we are going to have some major conflagrations in the city," said Charles Scawthorn, an engineer and earthquake fire modeling expert, who predicts as many as 100 separate fires across the city, fueled by broken natural gas lines. "I don't mean a few buildings -- I don't even mean a few blocks – I'm talking about tens, to hundreds of city blocks." The city is not totally defenseless – in fact, San Francisco has more in place than any city in the U.S. to battle quake sparked fires, according to Scawthorn.  

VIDEOS: Firefighters are battling a three-alarm fire at an auto body shop in Philadelphia's Cobbs Creek neighborhood. Crews were called to the the area of 59th and Irving Streets for a fire around 10:10 a.m. Monday. Arriving crews found heavy fire conditions coming from a second-story building. The fire caused parts of the building to collapse. The Philadelphia School District says students at Sayre High School on the 5800 block of Walnut Street are being relocated to Andrew Hamilton Elementary School due to the fire. There is no word on any injuries at this time. It's not clear yet how the fire started.