On Thursday, May 21, Pleasanton City Manager Johnny Huizar announced Mario Escobedo as the new Pleasanton Fire Chief. "He is a knowledgeable, personable and experienced public servant who has prepared himself to head a combination fire department like Pleasanton," said Huizar of Escobedo, who currently serves as the fire lieutenant at the Pleasanton Fire Department. The position became vacant when former Fire Chief Chuck Garris officially retired on Thursday, April 30. Escobedo was selected following a wide search for candidates in the area. Five finalists were chosen to participate in a rigorous interview involving representatives from the City of Pleasanton's leadership team. "I have found him to be an excellent communicator and someone who seeks to find collaborative and inventive solutions to our local challenge," said Huizar.  

A firefighter is recovering after she was hit by a vehicle Wednesday morning, the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said. Officials said the firefighter was parked at the scene of a mobile home fire in the 14000 block of Walters Road and was getting out of the emergency truck when a person came around and hit her. She was transported to the hospital and has since been released, officials said. Precinct 4 deputies said the driver of the vehicle that hit the firefighter has been cited.  

U.S. officials cited the owners of a Southeast Texas chemical plant where November blasts and fires injured three workers and caused widespread damage to the surrounding community. The Nov. 27 blasts at the TPC Group plant in Port Neches, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) east of Houston, prompted officials to order the surrounding communities to be evacuated of about 50,000 residents. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a statement Tuesday that it cited TPC for three willful violations by not developing and implementing procedures for emergency shutdown and not inspecting and testing process vessel and piping components. TPC faces $514,692 in civil OSHA fines. TPC has 15 business days from receipt of the citation and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.  

PHOTOS: Midland firefighters helped extinguish a fire at a small processing area off East County Road 140 on Tuesday. The tank battery fire sent smoke high into the West Texas sky during the early afternoon. County and city fire officials were at the scene at ECR 140 and South County Road 1140, just southeast of the city. Investigator Rusty Winn with the Midland County Fire Marshal's office stated around 3:30 p.m. that the fire has been extinguished There are no reports of injuries.  

More than 80 Sherman Fire Department personnel have now been tested for COVID-19 antibodies. Two came back positive. Fire Chief Danny Jones said the test was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, so it is considered to be 95 percent accurate. "Some people in the department had felt they had contracted the virus early on, or several months back," Jones said. "So we decided to do the tests to see if anyone in the department had the antibodies." According to the chief, a few more tests need to be done to ensure that everyone in the department is checked. Chief Jones said first responders are treating every call as if the person they are responding to may be COVID-positive. Fire stations are cleaned daily and masks are worn throughout the facilities.  

31-year-old Lateisha Thomas was arrested and charged with a second degree felony for arson, according to Temple Fire and Rescue. Temple Fire and Rescue report that Thomas "intentionally set multiple fires" at a house on 906 W. Ave. E. in Temple on April 4. The charge against her came at the conclusion of the department's investigation. Temple Deputy Marshals served the warrant at the Bell County Jail Complex, where Thomas was being held on additional charges unrelated to the arson case. An additional $100,000 was added to her bond. Anyone with any information regarding fire related crimes is encouraged by Temple Fire and Rescue to call the Fire Marshal's anonymous tip line at 254-298-5955.  

A temporary restraining order was filed against the city of Maumee to prevent Mayor Richard Carr from imposing a 5 percent pay decrease for all city employees to offset millions in financial loss because of the pandemic. A complaint was filed Friday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. The plaintiff, Dawn Sniadecki, is the former president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 4536 and a paramedic employed by the city, but Andrew Mayle, Ms. Sniadecki's attorney, said his client filed the complaint as a private taxpayer. In the complaint, Ms. Sniadecki and her attorney argue that per city law, emergency powers do not allow the mayor to order wage decreases. Additionally, the mayor ordered paramedics to take a wage decrease for 32 pay periods, while other personnel were ordered to take a wage reduction for 26 pay periods.  

Tennessee will soon stop providing the names and addresses of COVID-19 patients to first responders, after initially arguing that doing so would protect those on the front line. Gov. Bill Lee's administration decided on the change this week, conceding that the data may have created a false sense of security to those responding to emergency calls. The data sharing will stop at the end of the month. The announcement follows an Associated Press review that found public officials in at least two-thirds of states are sharing the addresses of people who tested positive with first responders. A small handful of those states, including Tennessee at the time, also shared the patients' names. Supporters argue that the information is vital to helping them take extra precautions to avoid contracting and spreading the coronavirus.  

With a loud whir and a whoosh, a fixed-wing drone slingshots out of a medical warehouse, zips through hazy skies at 80 mph, pops open a belly hatch and drops a box of medical supplies. Slowed by a little parachute, the box drifts downward and lands with a plop, less than 8 minutes after launch. For North Carolina Department of Transportation's Basil Yap, it is a eureka moment. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the deadly consequences of fractured medical supply chains. Drones, said Yap, may be part of the solution. Proponents say they eliminate the need for delivery trucks and avoid human contact. For more than a year, North Carolina — where modern aviation was born, at Kitty Hawk — has been the site of tests of drone deliveries, in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA usually requires that drones operate within sight of their operators, which limits the distance they can fly; for these flights, an exception has been made.  

Doctors, scientists and epidemiologists have made strides in their research to learn what they can about SARS-CoV-2 and the illness it causes, COVID-19. Multiple vaccines are in different stages of development as institutions scrutinize the effectiveness of existing drugs to treat coronavirus patients in clinical trials. Social distancing restrictions and lockdown measures have flattened the curve in parts of the country, and states have begun reopening in phases. These are the top 10 questions we hope to have answers to in the next 100 days. But experts say that there's more to learn about the virus, and as the United States surpasses 100,000 deaths, many wonder if that learning curve is just too steep. Let's take a moment to honor the lives of those we have lost, and begin to comprehend the wound they leave behind.  

The New York City Fire Department Pension Fund, with an assets-to-liabilities ratio of 63 percent, has enough money on hand to pay beneficiaries for 10.1 years, according to a new ranking of public retirement funds from the Wirepoints website. The retirement system ranked 32nd on a list of 148 state and local retirement funds nationwide with at least $2 billion in assets, the website reported. The list, which includes pension systems in every state except Vermont, lists pension funds from fiscally weakest to strongest. The New York City Fire Department Pension Fund has plan assets of $13.27 billion and yearly payouts to beneficiaries of $1.31 billion. The numbers are based on 2018 data, the most recent year for available data, according to Wirepoints, a website that focuses on economic commentary and Illinois government research.