On May 5, 2020 the Corsicana Fire Department and Prosper Fire Department received the award and designation of "Recognized Best Practices Fire Department" from the Texas Fire Chiefs Association Best Practices Recognition Program. Begun in 2013, the Recognition Program evaluates a Fire Department's compliance with over 117 Best Business Practices for Fire Departments in the State of Texas. These Best Practices were developed by Fire Service professionals to assist agencies in the efficient and effective delivery of service to communities. These Best Practices cover all aspects of Fire Department management and services including but not limited to Administration and Organization, Emergency Medical Service, Fire Prevention, Risk Reduction, Community Outreach, Safety and Health and Professional Standards and Conduct.  

VIDEO: College Station's new fire chief, Richard Mann, was sworn in today by College Station Municipal Court Judge Ed Spillane III during a swearing-in and promotion ceremony for multiple members of the College Station Fire Department. Mann was named the city's new fire chief after serving 32 years with the Houston Fire Department. Monday was his first day on the job.  

Authorities said an apartment fire on Sunday morning in Amarillo has an estimated damage of $500,000. An Amarillo Fire Department news release said on May 10 about 7:12 a.m., fire crews were called out to a structure fire at Axiom Apartments, located at 1550 Bell St. An automatic second alarm was called out because of the number of possible people in the apartment complex. About 7:17 a.m., crews arriving on scene found fire showing from the floor of the third story. Firefighters found fire in the floor and ceiling space between the third and second stories. Crews were sent to the second floor to help fight the fire while other crews evacuated apartments in the area and check for where the fire extended to. AFD said the location of the fire in the floor and ceiling space made it difficult for crews to access.  

Funeral arrangements for Madisonville firefighter Cory Heidler have been announced to the public. Heidler died Friday night on Highway 105 in Washington County when his pickup truck left the highway and crashed. Troopers are still investigating the cause of the accident. The viewing will be held at Madisonville Funeral Home on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 from 5 P.M. until 7 P.M. The funeral services will be also held at Madisonville Christian Fellowship at 2 P.M. on Thursday May 14, 2020 with graveside services following at Madisonville City Cemetery. Apparatus procession line up will begin at Madisonville Christian Fellowship at 1 P.M. If any citizens would like to pay their respects, you are being asked that you line the streets from Buc-ee's all the way down to Dairy Queen.  

Two neighbors helped rescue an East Side man from his burning home after they heard an explosion late Sunday night, San Antonio firefighters said. The fire was called in around 9:40 p.m. at a home in the 1700 block of East Highland Boulevard, not far from Rigsby Avenue. Firefighters said when they arrived, they found the home fully engulfed. Residents reported hearing an explosion shortly before the fire occurred. A young neighbor who lives across the street and another person helped pull a man out of his house shortly after it caught fire, fire officials said. The man was taken to an area hospital by EMS with extensive burns. Fire officials said a gas leak likely caused the fire and that CPS Energy will have to dig up the gas line to cap it.  

Two people were rescued from a fiery crash in west Houston, firefighters said. Firefighters said the accident occurred in the 11600 block of Katy Freeway at Kirkwood at around 4:40 a.m. The crash caused the road to be shut down. Firefighters said two people were trapped in the vehicle that caught fire. According to authorities, no children were involved. Authorities said the victims were transported to a nearby hospital, where they are in unknown condition. The scene is still active.  

In the middle of a pandemic that has taken the lives of 26 firefighters, the nation is losing more firefighters. COVID-19 related budget cuts -- in communities large and small – have resulted in the layoff or furlough of at least 935 fire department employees, including front-line firefighters, EMTs & paramedics. This new data comes from an International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) survey that also projects as many as 30,000 fire department jobs lost this year and next. "The same firefighters the country considered essential in battling COVID-19 are suddenly told they're no longer needed," says International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) President Gary Ludwig. "With almost 1,000 firefighters and support personnel missing from the front lines at this early stage, it's clear these cuts will be deep and long-standing. Significant and meaningful federal funding is essential to prevent the largest cuts to fire and EMS since the Great Depression."  

The Olathe Fire Station is the first EMS departments in the country to begin remotely monitoring coronavirus patients. The department has teamed up with a global tech company, Masimo SafetyNet. "There have been some hospital systems using it, but we are the first EMS agency," Olathe Fire Department Medical Director Dr. Jake Ruthstrom said. "It's very humbling. We appreciate the partnership, and we are excited to use it." During the COVID-19 pandemic, some consider this device groundbreaking. As hospitals scramble to find rooms for patients, this new tool is meant to save space. "It helps keep people out of the clinic and the hospital for ongoing follow-up because they have an extra source of security as far as how they are doing, how their symptoms are doing, how they are breathing," Olathe Fire Department nurse practitioner Whitney Venegoni said.  

A New Jersey Assembly panel advanced a bill that would help first responders and their families financially in the event that they are disabled or injured by COVID-19. Local law enforcement officers, state troopers, firefighters, and emergency medical responders enrolled in one of the three retirement systems associated with these professions are eligible for accidental disability benefits if they sustain a permanent and total disability resulting from a traumatic event that occurred on the job. Similarly, their named beneficiaries are eligible for accidental death benefits if they lose their lives in the line of duty. Bill (A-3945) would extend eligibility benefits to first responders who become disabled or die as a result of their exposure to COVID-19, as long as their job involved interacting with the public or supervising other personnel who interacted with the public during the COVID-19 crisis.  

Some of the names are written in small, cropped print, others in swooping cursive. A few are flanked by hearts, and some accompanied by short notes scrawled in permanent marker. Each name written on the Berea Fire Department's pink truck is different, and each one has its story. "Stories of hope and courage," they're called by Assistant Fire Chief Alan Myers, whose own name appears a few feet above the truck's pump discharges. The signatures are a part of the department's On Fire for a Cure Initiative, and each represents another person's fight against cancer. While the names spanning the sides of the truck are written by hand, the dozens on its cab are printed in bold, uniform letters, a different colored ribbon by each one. That space is for current and retired members of the Berea Fire Department and their direct family.  

Fort Lauderdale and Broward fire-rescues' newly released numbers confirm what many have suspected: More people are afraid to go to the hospital and, as a result, are dying at home. Records released Monday from Fort Lauderdale Fire and Rescue and Broward County Fire and Rescue found twice as many people were already dead when responders arrived at their home in April than a year earlier, and the pattern appears to be continuing in May. In addition, 911 calls have dropped, and the number of people the Fort Lauderdale paramedics have transported to the emergency room fell by nearly 1,000 in April compared to the same month in 2019. "It is taking a toll on our paramedics who go there to save lives," said Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan. "They are calling so late in the game they are not able to help them. They are already so far gone they are not able to recover."