Hopkins County Commissioners Court approved a number of items during the regular 9 a.m. session Monday. A deadline for volunteer fire departments to return signed contracts, appointed a county fire marshal and homeland security director, an agreement with the hospital for reimbursement of the Local Health Authority Nurse's pay and an increase in indigent cremation fees were also approved at the Nov. 9 meeting. The Commissioners Court approved requests for Hopkins County Fire Chief Andy Endsley to be appointed as County Fire Marshal, Emergency Management Coordinator and director of Homeland Security for Hopkins County. Endsley explained that when HCFD was established 21 years ago, the department started not with a chief but a fire administrator. That carried over into the second top HCFD official's time in office, then was changed to fire chief.  

Three Brazos County first responders have received awards from the 100 Club. Deputy Jayson Lyday with the Brazos County Sheriff's Office has been named Officer of the Year. Firefighters Bryan Cohen and Joseph Valdez with the College Station Fire Department have been named Firefighters of the Year. The awards are designed to recognize the outstanding service, selfless devotion and bravery of law enforcement officers and firefighters. An awards banquet is traditionally held in Houston, but because of the pandemic, the celebration looked different this year. On Monday, J.J. Ruffino hosted a private event for the deputy and firefighters in College Station. Ruffino is part of the 100 Club's Executive Board of Directors. During the event, the first responders received their awards and were able to take pictures with leaders and colleagues from their agencies.  

When Bradley Wilson was an emergency medical technician in Wimberley in the early 1990s, he said responding to calls looked a lot different. The city's population was much smaller, meaning fewer calls. No one was living in the station, which caused delays in response times, and the closest hospital was in San Marcos, which meant trips took up to 45 minutes each way, he said. While a few medical clinics have popped up around the area, Wimberley's emergency medical service crews are still needed more than ever, and the city is answering that demand with an upgraded EMS station. Wimberley EMS Director Ken Strange said the facility will provide more space to house 14 paramedics, five emergency vehicles and office staff — space that he says has been desperately needed to properly care for patients. The upgraded station, which has stood in the same location since 1995, is doubling in size, he said, growing from about 4,100 square feet to about 8,000 square feet.  

Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner for thousands of people will have to change after a fire at the Greenberg Smoked Turkeys meat processing plant in Texas. It was on the evening of November 6 when emergency crews were called out to the shipping facility in Tyler, a city about 100 miles southeast of Dallas. More than 78,000 turkeys were destroyed in the fire. When Tyler Fire Department firefighters got to the scene they found debris in the roadway, fire in several commercial buildings and smoke in the air. The area hardest hit was a building used largely for storage and according to first-responders contained a number of large freezer units. The blast and fire was so intense that the company has had to cease production. In a social media post Saturday the company said, "We have temporarily suspended customer orders due to a fire at our facility and we appreciate your patience as we continue evaluating the situation."  

The Huntsville Fire Department is comprised of 19 full-time and 30 volunteer firefighters, who make up most of the ranks. Fire Chief Greg Mathis explained how being a volunteer firefighter works, with each person receiving $12 per call and retirement in the Texas State Firefighters' and Fire Marshals' Association (SFFMA). "Without these 49 men and women, we could not function and provide the types of service we do. Everyone hired for the position is trained to SFFMA standards, up to and equal to the certification levels of the career staff," Chief Mathis said. "Personnel can be members of the specialty teams, and are trained to operate all apparatus." Chief Mathis said there is a hiring process, with some required training necessary before being an active member. "If someone is interested in becoming a volunteer, I suggest they attend one of our training sessions on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 6 p.m. at Station 1, off of Veterans Memorial Parkway," Chief Mathis said.  

More than four decades into his career, Paris EMS Director Kent Klinkerman is set to retire later this month. A reception in his honor is set for Nov. 30, at City Hall from 2 – 4 p.m. His career started as an ambulance attendant with McCuistion Regional Medical Center after graduating from Prairiland High School in May 1979. Four months later, he transitioned to the City of Paris. In 1981, he transferred to an EMT-Advanced from an EMT-Basic and became a full-on paramedic in 1985. Over the past 40 years, he helped to start initiatives such as Think Child Safety, Think Senior Safety, Fill the Boot, Project Graduation and Outreach CPR, among others. City Manager Grayson Path will work to find an interim EMS director while the search begins for a full-time replacement. In addition to finding a new EMS director, Path is working to find a new police chief and a new fire chief, along with a city engineer.  

A member of the Easton Township Fire Department was killed in a crash Sunday night while he was on his way to a fire, according to an official with the Leavenworth County Sheriff's Office. Johnny Ivison Jr., 23, rural Leavenworth County, was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash was reported at 10:07 p.m. Sunday south of Easton on 231st Street, according to Leavenworth County Undersheriff Jim Sherley Ivison apparently had been on his way to a structure fire in Easton at the time of the crash. "While on scene of the fire Easton (Township) was notified that tragically one of our members was killed in the line of duty in a traffic accident while responding to the fire," the Easton Township Fire Department stated in a message posted on Facebook. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the firefighter and to the other members of the department as we are one family." The Easton Township Fire Department is an all-volunteer department, according to its Facebook page.  

Alameda Fire Department's (AFD) Seagrave Model 760 pumper is approaching an important milestone. Dec. 20 marks the 100th anniversary of AFD placing the apparatus in service as Engine No. 2. Seagrave's creation was one of a pair of triple-combination pumpers that the department purchased in the wake of the Jan. 7, 1920, fire that devastated Park Street in the neighborhood of Webb and Lincoln avenues. The fire came within a whisker of burning Fire Station No. 1 that stood on Webb at that time. Some seven weeks after the blaze, on March 19, 1920, AFD purchased the pumpers. Each boasted a three-fold system that consisted of a water tank, a pump to deliver the water and hoses to disperse the water onto a fire. Seagrave built the pumpers at its Columbus, Ohio plant. The city paid the then-39-year-old company $23,750 for the apparatuses, some $312,000 in today's money. On Dec. 20, 1920, Seagrave delivered both pumpers to the city.  

Fighting fires comes with many risks. But new research shows there's a new one to consider: increased exposure to fires appears to raise the likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation, or AFib, an irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other problems. Researchers found the more fires a firefighter fought, the higher the likelihood he or she would report having been diagnosed with AFib. The work will be presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions, which begins Friday and is being held virtually. The research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. Lead researcher Dr. Catherine Vanchiere, an internal medicine resident at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, said she wasn't surprised to find a link because there was so much anecdotal evidence of "otherwise young, healthy patients who were firefighters coming in to see cardiologists."  

VIDEO: No injuries were reported Monday after fire destroyed the Rainbow Motel in the town of Pamelia. Volunteers from several fire departments were called to the motel on Route 12 at around 1 p.m. The black cloud could be seen a mile away. The heat was so strong, it could be felt across the street, hundreds of feet away. It took more than an hour to bring the blaze under control. "We're trying to get accountability for all of the people that were staying here. There's 28 rooms here and there was 13 rooms that were occupied so we're trying to get everything confirmed at this point," said Director of Fire and Emergency Management Joe Plummer. Fire officials later said everyone renting a room was accounted for. Officials said some firefighters were treated on the scene for "heat issues." Firefighters were also faced with the added challenge of bringing their own water to the scene.  

Throughout the U.S., hospitals and health care workers are tracking the skyrocketing number of new coronavirus cases in their communities and bracing for a flood of patients to come in the wake of those infections. Already, seriously ill COVID-19 patients are starting to fill up hospital beds at unsustainable rates. U.S. hospitalizations overall have nearly doubled since late September. As of Monday more than 56,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized around the country, approaching the highs of the midsummer and spring surges. "We have legitimate reason to be very, very concerned about our health system at a national level," says Lauren Sauer, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins University who studies hospital surge capacity. The spring and summer waves of COVID-19 hospitalizations were concentrated largely in a handful of cities in the Northeast and parts of the South.