A shelter-in-place was issued Wednesday afternoon for neighborhoods near a huge recycling business fire in northeast Houston. As of Thursday morning, the fire department said the fire was under control, and the shelter-in-place was lifted after HAZMAT teams monitored the air and water in the area overnight. The fire broke out at Independent Texas Recyclers on Irvington Boulevard near the Hardy Toll Road. Houston firefighters attacked the intense flames with heavy-duty pumper trucks. The thick black smoke could be seen from miles away and the smell drifted into neighborhoods several miles away. Anyone within a half-mile radius of the fire in the 6800 block of Irvington was initially told they should stay inside and keep their windows closed as a precaution.  

A child is in critical condition after falling 20 feet from an apartment complex in Far East Fort Worth. Fort Worth Fire Department units responded to the Landing Apartment Homes, located at 3712 Vaucluse Drive, at approximately 9 p.m. on Tuesday. Firefighters said the 5-year-old fell from a three-story window. The child was CareFlited to Cook's Children's Hospital and remains in critical condition. Officials have not yet determined the circumstances surrounding that fall.  

States across the country have taken steps to ensure first responders and their families are covered if they contract COVID-19, but not Texas, despite some efforts that began as early as March. Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas (CLEAT), said first responders in the state began urging Gov. Greg Abbott to sign an executive order that would classify the novel coronavirus as a presumptive disease. This would qualify police officers, corrections officers, firefighters and medics who get the virus for full coverage of healthcare costs and time away from work. With COVID-19 as a presumptive disease, employers would have to prove the virus wasn't contracted on the job in order to get out of providing coverage.  

Paramedics at the Midland Fire Department are about to have a brand new ride. After ordering six new ambulances, two arrived last week, and the remaining four arrived Monday night. The vehicles are currently being outfitted, and will soon be serving the citizens of Midland out on the streets. "It's always nice to get a new vehicle, and the guys are looking forward to it. These are an upgrade of our previous ambulances. So the guys are just really excited about it," said Fire Chief Charles Blumenauer. The new ambulances will replace older ambulances in the fleet and help reduce repair and maintenance costs going forward. An additional two ambulances are expected to be added to the department's fleet next year.  

A dog who alerted her homeowner that their house was on fire is now missing and a home is destroyed. According to the City of Lufkin, a homeowner on Houston Street called 911 around 11:20 p.m. Tuesday to report her laundry room was on fire. Her home surveillance system and her dog alerted her to the fire. The homeowner managed to get everyone out of her home, including her young child, before it became engulfed in flames. But the woman could not find her dog. Firefighters managed to get the fire under control around midnight and continued to put out hotspots into the early morning hours. The home is likely a total loss but the family does have insurance.  

The Bryan Fire Department has been awarded a $26,782 grant. It was made possible by the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation and Firehouse Subs in College Station. The franchise owners for Firehouse Subs say they're glad they could help and they appreciate everything firefighters do to keep our families safe. Mike McCown, Area Representative for Firehouse Subs, says the Firehouse Public Safety Foundation has raised money for local firefighters since 2005. "The one thing that's really fantastic about our organization is that the money collected right here in the store, the money gets used back in the local community," said McCown. The Bryan Fire Department will be able to purchase one Zodiac Inflatable Rescue Boat, Evinrude motor, and a trailer with accessories with the grant money.  

VIDEO: The wife of a South Florida firefighter died after a fire broke out in their Homestead home Tuesday afternoon, fire officials confirmed Wednesday morning. A GoFundMe created for the firefighter identifies him as Corey Logan. It states Logan has been with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue for over 20 years. On the day of the fatal fire, the organizer of the fundraiser says he and Logan were working an overtime shift when Logan received a Ring notification. The surveillance video showed a neighbor frantically banging on his door. Both men were on the way to Logan's house when reports of a house fire at Logan's address came over the dispatch radio. The body of the firefighter's wife was found by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews after extinguishing the flames which ravaged their home, located in the 1200 block of Northwest 18th Street.  

The FDNY will be ditching its disposable protective coronavirus masks for reusable ones, officials said Tuesday. New elastomeric respirator masks will be distributed to Emergency Medical Service members and firefighters in the weeks to come, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. "This is a substantial piece of equipment, but it will take us out of the supply chain for N95 masks that the whole world uses," Nigro told the Daily News. "The N95 mask is a key piece of protection against the coronavirus, but these masks offer the same protection and there is a great benefit of it being reusable since we will be using them on every call." Emergency medical technicians and paramedics could be sporting the new masks — which look like something a member of a Hazmat team or an industrial painter wound wear — by the end of the week, officials said. FDNY members will still have a supply of N95 masks available to them as a backup.  

VIDEO: Crews responded to what they described as a stubborn fire at an abandoned building in New Haven. Officials said the fire broke out Thursday morning on the 200 block of Winthrop Avenue. The call originally came in around 3 a.m. as a brush fire. First responders arrived and found flames in one of the buildings. The fire was brought under control. One of the challenges that was presented to crews Thursday morning was water. They had to run about 700 feet of hose to get to it. The weather also caused an issue, because the fire chief said the smoke wasn't lifting, which made it dangerous for firefighters. The building was boarded up, which made ventilation a problem. Fire crews used some new technology that helped them in the fight. They had computers at their on-site command station that were hooked up to cameras down at the scene so they can see everything that happened.  

Three first responders were hit while responding to a crash in Frederick County that left a motorcyclist with life-threatening injuries, the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services said Tuesday. First responders were called to the scene of a crash involving a motorcycle in the 12900 block of Stottlemyer Road near Wolfsville just after 4:30 p.m. As they were treating the victim, a second motorcyclist hit a fire engine, ejecting the rider, 19-year-old Wyatt Walker Lewis of Smithsburg. The motorcycle then slid into three first responders and two other bystanders helping at the scene. One of the first responders was flown to Shock Trauma in stable condition, while a second was taken to Meritus Medical Center with minor injuries and later released. The third refused medical treatment.  

As hospitals in the state reach capacity and face dire staff shortages, North Dakota will now allow healthcare workers who have tested positive for COVID-19 to continue working in coronavirus units, officials announced this week. Hospital administrators have asked for the extraordinary action to be taken, Governor Doug Burgum said at a Monday press conference, and interim State Health Officer Dirk Wilke amended an order to allow the new measure to take effect. Now, North Dakota healthcare workers are permitted to continue treating COVID-19 patients, even if they've tested positive for the virus themselves. "This applies only to COVID-positive healthcare workers who do not have symptoms and they are allowed only to work COVID units around patients who already have the virus," Burgum said.