The City of College Station has announced the hiring of a new fire chief. In a press release Monday, the city named Chief Richard Mann as the new leader of fire and emergency medical services for the College Station Fire Department. Mann is currently a 31-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department. City Manager Bryan Woods announced the selection of Chief Mann to the department and the entire organization Monday morning. "Chief Mann brings the right combination of experience, leadership, priorities and perspective to College Station," said City Manager Bryan Woods. "He's inheriting a stellar department that will benefit from his vision. We're eager for him to get started." Chief Mann will begin his new role on May 11.  

An East Texas fire department is looking into two fires they are calling suspicious. Sunday, April 19, Longview fire responded to a call at the corner of Louisiana Street and East Marshall Avenue where a building was on fire. Longview Fire Marshal Kevin May said its origin is suspicious. "We believe that fire is going to be intentionally set," May confirmed. That fire was put out quickly and didn't spread to a nearby building. No one was living there at the time of the fire. Not far away another suspicious fire burned Alpine Laundry on April 12. He says firefighters: "Did a really good job getting the fire put out pretty quickly; left a lot of good evidence for the investigator. We did determine that this fire was intentionally set. Through our investigative efforts we were able to find some surveillance video," May said.  

Lubbock Fire Rescue Chief Shaun Fogerson spoke at Monday's live news conference, hosted by the City of Lubbock, discussing what the department is doing to help flatten the curve and to protect the public and first responders from COVID-19. "Our goal during emergency medical calls is to only expose the amount of personnel necessary to provide appropriate emergency medical care," Fogerson said. He says the response begins with EMS dispatch - going through a list of COVID-related questions. That information is the passed onto first responders. "When we respond to these medical calls, we're using a one-in three-out approach, front porch assessments and social distancing, to limit exposure. And of course, we use full PPE or personal protective equipment on all medical calls, and every fire call as well."  

Two local groups came together to help low income and homeless veterans on Monday, April 20. Amarillo firefighters teamed up with the organization, Brothers-Sisters Of Our Military Adventures, or ‘B.O.O.M. Adventures', to assist them at the V.A. Hospital in providing food for low-income and homeless veterans. Jeff Justus, the Community Liaison for Amarillo Fire, said it felt good to give back. "This makes us feel really good. To be able to give back to anybody, when everyone is giving so much to us. So we care about this community and everybody in it, and this gives us an opportunity to reach out and help people that need the help right now more than we do," said Justus. The two groups teamed up to donate upwards of five hundred dollars worth of food for the V.A., while also helping out those that work there.  

A fire destroyed a home in Ingram, displacing a family and four dogs. Firefighters arrived at the house fire about 3:45 p.m. Sunday after receiving a report of the blaze at 3:40 p.m., said Ingram Volunteer Fire Department Chief Ray Lynch in a text message. No one was home at the time and no one was hurt, and the four dogs recovered from the property were not injured, he said. But the house was a total loss. Firefighters left the scene about 10:40 p.m. Red Cross volunteers were on scene to provide assistance to the fire departments and to the residents displaced by the blaze. Walmart, Taco Casa and Dominos Pizza provided drinks and food for first responders, who included about 35 firefighters and some officers from the Ingram Police Department and the Kerr County Sheriff's Office.  

The owner of a local manufacturing company has decided to halt his business production to create something that would better help in the fight against COVID-19. On a typical day, Texas Pocket Springs in Keene produces a patented belted pocket spring module used to make innersprings for companies in the bedding and furniture industries. During production, non-woven fabric is wrapped around the modules to add stability and longevity to the assemblies. The same fabric is used to make surgical gowns. With a priority on serving the medical community, the supplier temporarily halted shipping to Texas Pocket Springs. Martin Wolfson, owner of Texas Pocket Springs, wanted to make use of the fabric he had leftover to create surgical masks for health care providers, rescue workers and other essential personnel.  

New York City will throw the "biggest, best" ticker-tape parade for its health care workers and first responders once the city reopens from the coronavirus pandemic, the mayor announced Tuesday. "We will honor those who saved us," Mayor Bill de Blasio said. "The first thing we will do, before we think about anything else, is we will take a time, as only New York City can do, to throw the biggest, best parade to honor these heroes." "This parade will mark the beginning of our renaissance," he added. "But it will also be, most importantly, a chance to say thank you to so many good and noble people, so many tough, strong people." De Blasio also said the city will assemble its own strategic reserve. "We have learned the hard way that we cannot depend on the federal government in the future – I hate saying that, but it's quite evident – we certainly cannot depend on the global market," he said.  

Pickaway County first responders now can have peace of mind about preventing the spread of COVID-19, thanks to the county's new decontamination station. The makeshift, multiroom station is set up at the Circleville Police Department. The whole setup cost a few hundred dollars to make from items at a hardware store. The decontamination station is available for use by all Pickaway County first responders, including those at the sheriff's office and volunteer fire departments, said Circleville Police Sgt. Phil Roar. "Our focus has been to stop the spread, and on the safety of our families," Roar said. First responders who are exposed to someone who is suspected of or confirmed as having the novel coronavirus may come as soon as possible to the police department, Roar said. Officers trained in decontamination will clean their vehicle twice with medical-grade disinfectant.  

Precautions to protect vulnerable volunteer firefighters from COVID-19 could lessen some retirement benefits for those going on fewer calls during the pandemic, according to fire officials. Some fire departments are asking older volunteers or those with underlying health conditions — those most likely to suffer serious medical problems or death from the coronavirus — to stay home. Volunteers are required under state law to go on a minimum number of calls to earn retirement benefits in a given year. "We don't want anyone to be penalized because we have a virus that's attacking our elderly," said Commack Fire District chairman Patrick Fazio. Fazio said the Commack fire department chief and the board of commissioners have put firehouses on standby to limit the number of volunteers on duty at any given time as part of social distancing.  

With a nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), Roanoke Fire-EMS has come up with creative ways to provide the same protection to their personnel with reusable materials. They say this including the use of new Frogg Togg coats in place of disposable medical gowns. This new personal protective equipment uses a specific material that is impervious to bloodborne pathogens and other bodily fluids, giving their crew the same protection of a disposable medical gown, according to the department, They say the coat is easy to decontaminate, gives their providers a better range of motion and is reusable, alleviating our need for disposable medical gowns.  

The COVID-19, a global pandemic that caused more than 164,000 deaths and infected more than 2 million people worldwide, make us rethink how governments, organizations, and societies around the world can work with minimum or without physical contact. Today, the frontline warriors and heroes of the nation are doctors, medical staff, local police, and private security guards and refuse collectors. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, GIS and Mapping, Location Technology and autonomous machines are playing a growing role in responding to COVID-19 pandemic. However, in this war against this invisible enemy, drones play a key role by helping authorities and people in different ways to prevent further spread of the coronavirus outbreak. Let's look at how drones are being used effectively to combat COVID-19.