Houston Fire Department and the loved ones of HFD Capt. Tommy Searcy bid their final goodbyes Wednesday morning during a funeral processional and service. They commemorated his life and service to the community with a memorial at Champion Forest Baptist Church. "He was well known, well respected a dang food firefighter," HFD Chaplin Bobby Delgado said. His colleagues and friends shared stories honoring his memory. Searcy, 45, was known for his kindness, his pranks and jokes. But most importantly, he was remembered for the countless lives he saved, many times running into fires to save his own crew members who were trapped. "It's the kind of guy he was," Delgado said. "He would do whatever it took not just for citizens because his crew." Searcy became a firefighter when he was 18 along with his twin brother.  

Several people were injured after two cranes collided at an east Austin construction site on Wednesday morning. Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS crews reported to the site, which is located at 1600 Robert Browning Street, ATCEMS reports. The site is set to be the location for the construction of the Mueller Parking Garage and office project, according to a site development plan. Sixteen people were transported to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. Three patients refused treatment, and three are being considered "no patients" — these are people who were involved in the incident but not injured. ATCEMS says all injuries incurred happened as people attempted to get out of the incident after the cranes collided. The incident was previously reported as a "collapse," however, authorities report it was "crane-on-crane" with no collapse.  

Firefighters don't just fight fires, many are also paramedics, EMTs, and registered nurses. Now, they're also COVID first responders. Firefighters are used to quickly evolving situations. That's why they were able to jump into action once the COVID-19 pandemic hit. "We hope for the best, but prepare for the worst," said Jaime Lopez. Chief of EMS Training Jaime Lopez has overseen the implementation of the newly COVID-dedicated call center. He says the Laredo Fire Department receives around 30 calls a day in a 24 hour shift. That's down by about half since the pandemic began back in March. A team of nurses also evaluates potential COVID patients over the phone just as any emergency room would. "They find out their COVID symptoms, if they have any family members that are COVID positive, how long they've been COVID positive, what their signs and symptoms are."  

Four firefighters from Porter have returned home after spending more than three weeks battling wildfires in California. Brandon Shafer, Joseph Sullivan, Ryan Johnson and Stephen Sever arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport just before 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The crew worked on multiple fires in California, mainly trying to stop them from spreading further. "We were in a lot of areas where we didn't get as much intense fire but we did see some in some of the other divisions and things along those lines," Lt. Shafer said. The firefighters initially drove out west, which took about two days, and quickly got to work. "Pretty much drove until one o'clock in the morning both days, showed up and we got checked into our first fire when we got there," Shafer said.  

VIDEO: An ambulance racing a heart attack patient to the hospital collided with a fire truck en route to a fire in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, leaving the patient dead and a family member seriously injured. The fire truck, Ladder 102, t-boned the ambulance at the intersection of Myrtle Avenue And Throop Avenue just after 12:45 a.m. Thursday. Williamsburg News obtained surveillance video showing the moment of impact. A heart attack patient was being rushed to Woodhull Hospital at the time of the crash. He was pronounced dead. Family members identify him as 59-year-old Jamil Almansouri, known to friends as Mike. His brother tells Eyewitness News Jamil owned a bodega not far from the crash scene. "I just I don't know what to do," said Abdullah Ahmid.  

The International Association of Fire Fighters is moving its Fallen Fire Fighter Remembrance to a virtual platform. The International Association of Fire Fighters, the largest firefighters' union in the U.S. and Canada, will hold its annual Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Remembrance virtually on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 1 p.m. It said the names of 245 firefighters and emergency medical personnel that died in the line of duty will be etched onto the Wall of Honor at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs, Co. According to the Association, the names of the fallen will be highlighted during the virtual event which will be broadcast online. "The International Association of Fire Fighters remains committed to honoring our fallen firefighters and making sure their families know their loved ones will never be forgotten," says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger.  

VIDEO: Crew members on a dive boat say they were never instructed on emergency procedures before a predawn fire swept through the vessel as it was anchored off the Southern California coast, killing 34 people as they slept below deck, according to federal documents released Wednesday. National Transportation Safety Board investigators say the cause of the blaze aboard the Conception remains undetermined but a possible ignition point was phones and other electronics plugged into outlets. One crew member told investigators he saw sparks when he plugged in his cellphone hours before the fire. The boat was carrying 33 passengers on a Labor Day weekend scuba diving expedition last year. The fire broke out on the final night as the Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, about 25 miles south of Santa Barbara, the boat's home port.  

PHOTOS: Diane Stewart is used to the occasional construction noise coming from the work site near her Mueller neighborhood apartment In East Austin. But on Wednesday morning, she heard something that made her pause. "It sounded like pipes falling. It was a loud crash; it made me turn," Stewart said. What Stewart heard was two construction cranes colliding, causing dozens of people beneath the cranes to flee. Medics responded at 9:38 a.m. to the site in the 1600 block of Robert Browning Street, just north of Mueller Lake Park near Dell Children's Medical Center. When medics arrived, they tended to 22 people, with 16 being taken to a hospital. EMS Capt. Darren Noak said none of the injuries was considered life-threatening. People got injured while running from the crane collision, Noak said. He did not know what, if any, debris fell or hit the area near the cranes. Rescuers did not make immediately clear what the extent of the injuries were or whether all the people injured were construction workers.