A Carrollton Fire Rescue captain has died at the age of 57. Captain Lee Holbert died on Sunday while hospitalized for a medical emergency suffered while on duty at Fire Station 8 on Sept. 9. According to the City of Carrollton, Holbert is a Carrollton native and 1981 graduate of Newman Smith High School. He served with Carrollton Fire Rescue for over 30 years. Holbert was hired by the Carrollton fire department in November of 1989, and he served as a Firefighter, Sub-Apparatus Operator, and an Apparatus Operator before being promoted to Captain in 2007. "Carrollton Fire Rescue is devastated by the loss of one of our own. Captain Holbert was a highly decorated 30-year veteran, an exceptional firefighter, a selfless teammate, and a tireless public servant," Fire Chief Gregg Salmi said.  

A woman was found dead Sunday inside a burning home in Magnolia. The fire was reported about 3:30 a.m. in the 16200 block of Barbara Lane in the Walnut Cove neighborhood. Firefighters arrived to find the single-story home engulfed in flames and the roof of the home collapsed. Crews found the 78-year-old woman who lived at the home dead, along with her dog, about an hour into the effort to extinguish the blaze. Investigators with the Montgomery County Fire Marshal's Office said the woman made it out of her bedroom but could not escape the home. Investigators said there were smoke detectors in the home. "Her son reported to us that she did have smoke detectors but he's not sure if they were working," said Kevin Bates with the Montgomery County Fire Marshal's Office.  

A routine fire call at a vacant house in East Fort Worth quickly turned potentially deadly for two firefighters early Wednesday morning. Captain Ryan Zelazny and another firefighter and longtime friend Clint Robinson were in the attic when the roof collapsed. Meanwhile, on the ground floor, one firefighter suffered burns to his legs and feet. Robinson was not responding. "The hardest part is seeing the guy that you live with and do everything with daily at the fire station not moving," Zelazny said. Through the smoke and flames, Zelazny and his team lifted the roof off of Robinson and finally heard him call out. "A weight was lifted," Zelazny said. "I can't explain in words what it felt like." Robinson and the other injured firefighter are expected to make full recoveries. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

The Texas Brotherhood Ride rolled into Richmond Fire Station Friday morning. They had come to honor late firefighter Ray Burciaga, who lost his battle with cancer last February. The Brotherhood Ride in an annual bike ride to honor fallen first responders. Dressed in matching blue and orange shirts, the cyclists began their journey across Texas on Sept. 6. There were 17 honorees this year, and despite impediments created by COVID-19, the brotherhood was determined to make each "honor stop." "It's so beautiful what they're doing, putting out such a positive message," said Caroline Burciaga, daughter of Ray Burciaga. "My dad was very outgoing. This is the kind of thing he would have loved to have been involved in." The riders comprise firefighters, law enforcement officials and emergency medical personnel. The Texas chapter of the Brotherhood Ride started in 2014. Their mission is to raise funds and provide emotional support to the families of the fallen heroes.  

Houston Fire Capt. Tommy Searcy, who died from coronavirus complications, will be laid to rest this week. The Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association said visitation for the 45-year-old will be Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Champion Forest Baptist Church at 15555 Stuebner Airline Road. Searcy's memorial service is scheduled for the following morning Wednesday at Champion Forest Baptist. A march starts at 10 a.m., and the service is at 11 a.m. Searcy will then be interred at Klein Memorial Park-Tomball at 32539 State Highway 249 in Pinehurst. The 18-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department loss his battle with COVID-19 last week. The firefighters' union said he had been in a hospital in The Woodlands for several weeks, and that he was given an experimental medication as a last ditch effort to save him.  

A Harley Davidson belonging to the Austin Fire Department chief was stolen on the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. AFD posted images on social media of two suspects as they escaped a parking garage with Chief Joel Baker's motorcycle. "It's bad enough when your motorcycle gets stolen," AFD wrote on Facebook. "But when you're the fire chief and said motorcycle gets stolen on 9/11, well, it's just too much." On Friday, fire departments across the country paid tribute to the 343 firefighters who were among the 2,977 victims on Sept. 11, 2001. Chief Baker is offering a personal $1,000 reward to anyone who can help recover the motorcycle. It is a 2017 Harley Davidson Road Glide Ultra, described as being silver and black with chrome wheels.  

VIDEO: An off-duty New York City firefighter watched flames engulf his own home on Sunday but that didn't stop him from doing his duty and rescuing his neighbors -- all without any fire protective gear. The blaze broke out shortly before midnight inside Peter Orlowski's home in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, authorities said. More than 200 firefighters responded to the scene and battled the fire for four hours as it spread into a neighboring home at 74th Street and 13th Avenue. Orlowski, who has been a firefighter in Brooklyn for five years, was among those who jumped into action, video from the scene showed. He helped save his parents, his sister and his dog, and as the flames began to spread next door, Orlowski went inside and carried out his elderly neighbor.  

A rural fire chief and several of her volunteer firefighters in Oregon lost their homes and station house to the Holiday Farm Fire as they battled the blaze over the last few days. Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Chief Christiana Rainbow Plews is among thousands of first responders who have been combating the fires that have ravaged the West Coast for weeks. She got a call Monday night about a downed power line, and the resulting brush fire spread faster than anything she had ever seen. Within an hour or two of having left her home to respond, Plews said, she had issued a level 3 evacuation order — for residents to leave immediately — for the McKenzie River area in Lane County in western Oregon. Her family left their home about 20 miles downriver from the fire's origins, able to bring a few of the animals on their property.  

Gunfire early Sunday morning rocked a section of the West Rogers Park neighborhood that has long been known as a quiet place to live. As CBS 2's Jeremy Ross reported, the bullets went flying in all directions on California Avenue between Rosemont and Granville avenues. Booze bottles and trash littered West Ridge Plaza on the west side of California Avenue on Sunday. The scene tells a story. The debris supports what neighbors describe as a party – with some perhaps drinking shots and then firing shots. "Like 30 rounds, like, ‘Ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta!'" said Joe Pedro. That is what Pedro said woke him up around 6:30 a.m. Sunday. The gunfire startled other neighbors as well, including firefighters working at Engine Company 71 at 6239 N. California Ave. Bullet holes and evidence markers were seen at their building. A source told CBS 2 some Chicago Fire Department first responders were outside at the time and had to duck for cover.  

Cleveland Fire Fighters Union President Tim Lally and the Ohio Association of Professional Fire Fighters hopes a new study on dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center attack will provide some answers for those still suffering 19 years later. The study, which started on Sept. 1, is being conducted by Dr. Loren Wold, Assistant Dean of biological research at The Ohio State College of Nursing, and Dr. Mitchell Cohen at New York University. Dr. Wold said his team is exposing lab rats to re-aerosolized dust from the World Trade Center collapse, hoping it will lead to treatments for thousands of first responders who are now suffering from heart and lung disease, as well as symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. "We want to help to determine some of the long term effects, and how we can help them therapeutically," Dr. Wold said.  

Bernie Bierman rubbed his smoke-reddened eyes and managed a grin of relief. It was just after 4 a.m. on Sept. 24, 1936, and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football coach was standing across the street from the Florence Hotel in downtown Missoula as it went up in flames. Bierman was out his watch, hat, shaving kit and key ring, all left back upstairs in his haste to escape. Now came word that all 43 of his players, coaches and support staff were unharmed and accounted for. Safe too were the sportswriters and VIPs in the travel party, including the mayor and a state senator from Minneapolis. "Some of the boys lost their personal belongings and a few have tender feet from running around on the pavement but they are all safe, and that's all that matters to me," the coach said. There is no modern equivalent to those Gophers. For one thing, no big-time college football team since has won a third consecutive national championship as they were on their way to doing that season.