Ground was broken Wednesday on improvements to an East Texas fire station that has been in need of renovation for years. Longview's fire station 5 is the site of new construction made possible by a 2018 bond election. "This particular building was built back in 1985; it was woefully inadequate for Longview west-side today," said Longview city councilman Ed Moore. Station 5 will expand to twice its current size. "It's had some renovations over the years, but what's happening here is what's held here. It'll be a little more than double its size, maybe triple its size. And better living accommodations for the firefighters," says City of Longview public information officer Shawn Hara. Expansion has long been on the fire department's radar because of inadequate space and other problems they ran into over the years.In 2016 the facility was shut down because of the discovery of mold at the station. Firefighters were temporarily housed in portable units.  

A state district judge on Wednesday struck down a key portion of Houston's landmark pension reform package that applies to firefighters, a move that likely would upend the system — and the city's finances — if upheld. In an order siding with the Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund, state District Judge Beau Miller wrote that the legislation passed in 2017 to overhaul the city's troubled pension system prevents the firefighters' pension board from determining "sound actuarial assumptions." Pension fund officials argued in court filings that the plan's 7 percent assumed rate of return on investment strips them of their ability to control the fund's cost projections. By codifying the rate in state law, they argued, city officials gained a role in that process when the Texas Constitution says only the pension fund should be able to set the assumed rate of return.  

Thanks to the COVID 19 pandemic, many events and activities have had to go online. Here is another one ... The El Paso Fire Department holds an annual fundraising event known as "Fill The Boot" to help raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. During their donation drives, area firefighters assemble at intersections all over the city with their boots in hand so that drivers may drop money into them. That money then goes to the Muscular Dystrophy Association for use in finding treatments and cures for muscular dystrophy, ALS, (aka Lou Gehrig's disease), and other related diseases that limit strength and mobility for people of all ages. "Every day, children are born with muscular dystrophy, and adults are diagnosed with ALS and other life-threatening diseases that take away their most basic freedoms - like walking, talking, eating, hugging, and ultimately life itself."  

A retired College Station Firefighter is warning others to stay on guard while fighting the coronavirus. While he misses seeing family and friends in person he's at high risk of complications from the virus. Rodney O'Connor has lots of memories in his scrapbooks. He served as a College Station firefighter for 30 years starting in the earliest years of the department in the 1970's. "I spent most of my life doing what I could to protect the people of College Station," O'Connor said. Now he's spending his days needing protection. He suffers from several illnesses including COPD and congestive heart failure. "In March I was sat my doctor's office the day the first case [COVID] was discovered. I have pre-existing medical conditions, bad ones and the doctor looked me in the eye and said flat out, ‘If you get this you're going to die,'" O'Connor said.  

Rescue crews have recovered the bodies of all three workers killed Monday when a building collapsed in west Houston. Firefighters will continue the search to make sure there are no more victims, but it's believed all of the workers have been accounted for. The recovery effort was challenging because of the threat of a second collapse inside the 15-story building that's under construction. "HFD crews have been working around the clock, in a very dangerous situation to help bring closure for these families," the Houston Fire Department said in a statement. HFD Assistant Chief Ruy Lozano said they had to cut holes in the roof to get access to unstable planks of concrete that had to be removed.  

A technology company out of Tyler called FIRST iZ creates drones to help aid first responders during emergency situations within a minute's notice. CEO, Phil Burks explains how these drones can benefit first responders. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) also known as a drone, can provide situational awareness for first responders when they head towards a scene and can send visuals before arriving to an incident scene. "We can take this drone, fly it in there, within a minute of 9-1-1 knowing it can take off, get there, get down on the deck, sniff the air, find out do we need hazmat in there first, or what do we need. It's going to save time, save lives, and save money." The UAV's has been in the works for nearly three years and with roughly 1000 test flights. Burks says its completely autonomous.  

A firefighter-paramedic has died after a training incident on Wednesday morning, San Francisco Fire Department officials said. Officials say the firefighter was at a SFFD training facility on 19th and Folsom Street when he fell three stories, causing severe head injuries. SFFD Lt. Jonathan Baxter said the firefighter was transferred to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he died before 11 a.m. Lt. Baxter identified the victim as 42-year-old Jason Cortez. "This is a very trying time," Lt. Baxter said, describing Cortez as a paramedic who had been with the department since 2007 and was currently stationed in the Tenderloin. Cortez was a firefighter-paramedic, advocate for public safety, father, husband and a son of a retired SF firefighter. "He's a friend to all, he's an advocate for public safety, he's a father to two children, a husband to an amazing wife; and a child to a retired San Francisco firefighter," he said of Cortez.  

The city is moving forward with a study of the Fire Department, nearly a year after pledging to review firefighter safety in wake of the line-of-duty death of Lt. Jason Menard. The city said this week it had hired Emergency Services Consulting International of Virginia to study the Fire Department. The consultant is seeking input about the department through survey questions posed to community and business stakeholders in the city. The study will lead to an in-depth internal assessment and strategic plan, the city said in a statement. The surveys aim to help ensure that the resulting strategic plan meets the expectations of the city and its residents. On Nov. 13, a house fire on Stockholm Street claimed the life of Menard at age 39. His was the department's second line-of-duty death in less than a year. A month after the death of Menard, a married father of three, City Manager Edward M. Augustus, Jr. announced his intention to name a task force to look at firefighter safety.  

VIDEO: A massive pallet fire fueled by gusty winds Wednesday burned down an Ohio 101 business and threw up billowing black smoke clouds that could be seen throughout Sandusky County. More than a dozen fire departments from Sandusky and Erie counties dispatched trucks and firefighters to try to contain the blaze, which forced police to shut down Ohio 101 in both directions for several hours. Sandusky County Sheriff Chris Hilton said the fire broke out at Keegan Enterprises, located in the 7400 block of Ohio 101, around 4 p.m. He said two people left the business around 3:30 p.m. and then the fire started 25 to 30 minutes later. "As of the moment, we believe there nobody was in there when the fire started," Hilton said. Hilton said he was sending his on-call detective to the scene and would determine whether the state fire marshal would be called to investigate the fire.  

A technology company out of Tyler called FIRST iZ creates drones to help aid first responders during emergency situations within a minute's notice. CEO, Phil Burks explains how these drones can benefit first responders. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) also known as a drone, can provide situational awareness for first responders when they head towards a scene and can send visuals before arriving to an incident scene. "We can take this drone, fly it in there, within a minute of 9-1-1 knowing it can take off, get there, get down on the deck, sniff the air, find out do we need hazmat in there first, or what do we need. It's going to save time, save lives, and save money." The UAV's has been in the works for nearly three years and with roughly 1000 test flights. Burks says its completely autonomous. "We can click one button and autonomously have them take off, and fly missions, come back, land on their own and then they go back into the port and ready for the next mission."  

Airline passenger travel is down because of the coronavirus pandemic, but industry leaders say cargo flights will become busier once a COVID-19 vaccine is developed and released. "It will be a logistical challenge that the world has not seen before," DHL Global Forwarding CEO David Goldberg said. DHL is already discussing how they will handle transporting the vaccine. According to DHL, 125,000 to 140,000 doses of the vaccine will fit onto one Boeing 747, Goldberg said. 8,000 airplanes will be needed to ship 1 billion doses. 42 vaccines are undergoing clinical trials around the world. It's still not known which state, or country, the approved vaccines will ultimately come from. "I think there has never been a pandemic in our lifetime and there has never been one vaccine that is needed by the whole world in one single time," Goldberg said.