The Converse Fire Department is mourning the loss of one of its own. Captain Bryant Anderson died on Tuesday after losing his battle with COVID-19. Converse Fire Chief Luis Valdez said Anderson had been in the hospital for nearly a month fighting the virus. He said the tragic news was difficult to share with the department. "This is just such a tremendous loss for this department," Valdez said. Valdez said the department is a close-knit family, and losing a beloved member is devastating. "There's a lot of a lot of calls, a lot of things that that these firefighters and paramedics go through," he said. "And you bond through that." Valdez said 45-year-old Anderson was a veteran firefighter, and served with the department for 16 years.  

Rep. Roger Williams (R-Austin) has announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded a $1.8 million grant to Texas DPS to use in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The funding is intended to be used for the distribution of test kits, deployment of personnel to complete various tasks, and testing coordination statewide. The funding will also help provide medical care and transportation by aircraft of COVID test samples to provide test results. "I am pleased to announce this $1.8 million grant for the DPS that will greatly benefit the entire Austin community and our state as a whole. Ensuring Texas is equipped with resources like test kits and emergency personnel is vital stopping the spread of the virus in our communities," said Congressman Williams.  

A massive daylong fire at a Grand Prairie plastics factory that sent a dense column of toxic black smoke over North Texas before fire crews could tame it has been contained but continues to smolder Thursday. There were no reports of injuries from the midnight Tuesday blaze at the Poly-America complex, authorities said. No evacuations were ordered, but people with underlying health conditions were asked to avoid the area. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Grand Prairie officials are continually checking air quality conditions, Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement, urging area residents to heed local officials' advisories and warnings. Fire officials had initially thought the fire would burn into Thursday. By 4 p.m. Wednesday, though, city officials posted a statement that the flames had been contained and that the fire was expected to be extinguished Wednesday night.  

Williamson County deputies helped firefighters evacuate about six homes because of a grass fire burning in the county Wednesday. According to county officials, the fire is located off County Road 462 near Coupland. The call about the fire came in at about 3:15 p.m. The fire grew to about two acres in size. About half a dozen homes were evacuated, but no structures are on fire. There have been no injuries reported either. As of 5 p.m., the fire was contained. Officials say they are currently working on putting it out completely. The responding agencies include the Coupland Volunteer Fire Department, Hutto Fire & Rescue, City of Taylor Fire Department & Taylor Volunteer Fire Department, Weir Volunteer Fire Department, Thrall Volunteer Fire Department, Round Rock Fire Department, Williamson County Sheriff's Office, Williamson County Fire Marshal Office and the county's Office of Emergency Management.  

Temple Fire & Rescue was able to quickly extinguish a fire at an abandoned mobile home Wednesday evening. Around 6:28 p.m., firefighters were called out for reports of a structure fire in the area of Barnhardt Road in southeast Temple. When officers arrived, fire crews found heavy smoke and flames coming from an abandoned mobile home located at 2401 East State Highway 36. The fire also sparked unkempt vegetation, burning the area surrounding the once inhabited residence. Temple Fire & Rescue had the fire under control at 7:30 p.m. The department responded with eight firefighting apparatus and 22 personnel. Also on scene were the Little River-Academy Volunteer Fire Department, Temple Police Department and Temple EMS.  

Arson investigators are trying to determine the cause of a Southwest Side house fire early Thursday morning. The fire was called in around 3 a.m. at a home on Lark Valley Drive, not far from Walnut Valley and Ray Ellison Boulevard. Firefighters said they arrived to find the single story home fully-involved. No one was inside at the time of the fire. Fire officials said the minute they opened their doors at a nearby fire station they could see flames and smoke coming from the roof of the house. Firefighters spent roughly two hours putting the fire out. They had to tear down the walls in order to keep it from collapsing on them, firefighters said. The cause of the fire is not known. A damage estimate was not released.  

VIDEO: More than a hundred residents at a Buckhead apartment complex were displaced after a massive multiple-alarm fire broke out early Wednesday afternoon and quickly engulfed the building. As Chopper46 flew over the Avana on Main Apartments in the 500 block of Main St. N.E., heavy plumes of smoke could be seen billowing from the building as flames raged out of control. Multiple sections of the building's upper level collapsed during the blaze that started as a 2-alarm fire, but was later upgraded to a 3-alarm fire. Investigators are still working to determine what caused the fire, but some residents who evacuated told CBS46's Adam Murphy that at least one air-conditioning unit exploded on the roof of the building. They believe that A/C unit then caught on fire, and caused a chain reaction, setting more HVAC units on fire. Other residents told Murphy they heard a loud bang followed by the sound of multiple explosions.  

A new sense of urgency is emerging to get Seattle firefighters the gear they need at riots and other scenes of violence. Crews are being called upon to take bigger risks to help people who are hurt and this equipment is one way to keep them safe. "We're trying to be able to have every single firefighter be able to be protected," said Debbie Steinhauer, founder and president of the Seattle Fire Foundation. The nonprofit foundation is raising money to purchase specially designed ballistic vests and helmets for fire crews. The protective gear is lined with pockets to carry life-saving medical equipment. It also helps first responders feel a little more safe when there is a gunman on the loose or a riot underway. "This is the right tool to help us provide medical care to someone in need," said Seattle Fire Chief Harold Scoggins. The deadly shootings in Lake City in March 2019 sparked the effort to secure this gear and the fire department now has 70 sets of vests and helmets.  

Alarms were going off for some Chicago firefighters this week. First, there was a COVID-19 outbreak at the Quinn Fire Academy, and now, hundreds are expected to gather in one spot to take a test. As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Wednesday, some firefighters believe their safety is being put at risk, as well as the safety of the public they serve when it comes to potentially contracting and then spreading coronavirus. It is a concern that Mayor Lori Lightfoot does not share. Over the next three days, about 1,000 Chicago firefighters will head inside McCormick Place to take tests determining if they can be promoted. That is not including the 100-plus firefighters who took the chief's test on Wednesday. These are all make-up exams after a technical fiasco caused them to be canceled in January. But some firefighters said giving the tests now is dangerous.  

When American Girl, the maker of American Girl Dolls, announced its "Heroes With Heart" contest to honor frontline workers, one girl knew exactly who to nominate. April O'Quinn, an EMT with the Richmond Ambulance Authority, was nominated by her niece, Lacey. Families were asked to nominate a hero who makes a difference in their lives and goes "above and beyond." Nominators like Lacey had to submit a photo and answer how their nominee was supporting the community by late June. Last month, O'Quinn received an exciting phone call from her niece — letting her know she was one of five heroes who won the contest. "Lacey was on the other side screaming that we had won! I was in shock. I didn't know what to say so instead I cried for her," O'Quinn said. "The excitement and smiles as she opened her hero doll was all worth it."  

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread so rapidly since the first U.S. case was reported Jan. 20 that it's now the third-leading cause of death in the country, Thomas Frieden, MD, former director of the CDC, told CNN. "COVID is now the number 3 cause of death in the U.S. -- ahead of accidents, injuries, lung disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many, many other causes," Frieden said. The CDC says heart disease and cancer are the first and second leading causes of death. The coronavirus has caused more than 170,000 deaths in the United States and has been taking more than 1,000 lives weekly for several weeks, Frieden said. "Last week, Americans were 8 times more likely to get killed by COVID than were Europeans," he said. The number of deaths -- and cases -- in the United States may be undercounted because not enough people are tested, experts have said.