A Fort Worth firefighter was injured while rescuing a fire victim in the back of a home in East Fort Worth shortly after noon on Tuesday, April 13. It happened in the 2600 block of Wilkinson Avenue at Beach Street. Firefighters found light smoke showing from the rear of the home, went inside a detached garage and found a small fire. Crews were quickly able to contain it, the Fort Worth Fire Department said in a news release. As crews searched the structure, they found a woman and brought her out. During the rescue, one firefighter suffered injuries yet despite those injuries, continued to provide medical care to the victim. FWFD crews began immediate care to the victim who sustained burns and respiratory injuries and she was rushed by CareFlite to Parkland Hospital in critical condition. Medical care was then started on the injured firefighter by crews on scene.  

Austin voters will decide on eight propositions on the May ballot, and one of them would change how the city and the Austin firefighters' union negotiate at the bargaining table. Here's the wording you'll see when you vote on it: "Proposition A: Shall the City Charter be amended to give the Austin Firefighters Association, Local 975 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, the authority to require the City to participate in binding arbitration of all issues in dispute with the Association if the City and the Association reach an impasse in collective bargaining negotiations? In other words, a "yes" vote on the proposition means the Austin Firefighters Association could force the city into arbitration if both sides can't reach a deal at the bargaining table on issues like hiring, promotion, discipline, pay wages and working conditions.  

A fire at Big Bend National Park that has burned for nearly a week has grown to at least 863 acres. The National Park Service, which oversees the park in Far West Texas, said Monday that much of the fire is located in the "sky island" in the high Chisos Mountains. The blaze has "left a patchy mosaic of scorched, burned, slightly singed, and untouched areas across the South Rim to Emory Peak, and into the lower Boot Canyon drainage," officials said, adding that about two-thirds of the fire became stagnant after reaching rocky terrain or the edges of cliffs. On Sunday, Diablos Firefighters contained the fire on the western edge and Mount Taylor Hotshots secured flames at Emory Peak, officials said. A helicopter was also brought in to drop buckets of water. The fire extended east and reached the summit plateau of Toll Mountain by Sunday evening, officials said.  

Electric cars are better for the environment but can pose a hazard for firefighters. El Paso Fire Department Captain Manuel Maldonado said electric cars are not necessarily more dangerous, but require a different approach when trying to put out fires caused by a crash or any accident. He said that the initial extinguishing of the fire is the same: the firefighters wear the same protective equipment to extinguish the flames, but they take one additional step after. "Once the fire is extinguished, we're going to locate the battery," said Maldonado. Each make and model of an electric or hybrid vehicle may have the battery positioned differently. Some vehicles can have the whole bottom part designated for a lithium battery. Maldonado explained that because of the thermal runaway and stranded energy, the battery will keep heating up and potentially igniting over again until it is properly and promptly cooled down.  

In the age of the pandemic, future first responders may still be training to be on the frontlines; yet at the same time, the way they're learning parts of the job is changing. As the latest class of Corpus Christi Fire Department cadets practice their skills trying to save a life, it's a race against time when every second counts. In a simulated drill, the cadets work as quickly as they can as the so-called patient goes into cardiac arrest. It's all part of Del Mar College's E.M.S. program where cadets spend a year training to be both firefighters and paramedics. Training for both has changed since the pandemic began. "We're gowning up, wearing goggles, making sure that we are safe," Samuel Dean, one of the cadets told us about how part of the curriculum has changed. "We've got to make sure we're safe and all the guys are safe."  

Lufkin police dispatch received a call of a dog stuck under his owner's truck in the 1400 block of Sue Drive around 10:25 a.m. The dog — a 2-year-old German Shepherd named Booger — apparently got scared during overnight storms and climbed into the undercarriage, according to a press release from Jessica Pebsworth, communications director for the city of Lufkin. Booger's owner Roger Grimes said he realized what had happened when he saw his dog's tail sticking out from under the truck. Officer Zane Anthony responded to the call and requested the help of Lufkin Fire and Animal Control. Lufkin Fire Capt. Eric Parrish, along with Capt. Jason Stuck and firefighter Desmond Garcia, worked together to free the frightened canine, Pebsworth said. They first had to remove the front driveshaft and sway bar.  

VIDEO: Two years ago, the Orange County Fire Rescue Division created an Apparatus Committee with the expectation of taking a look at its current apparatus, and specifically its fire engines, in order to find ways to become more efficient. The results were recently revealed in impressive fashion. "Efficiency and safety were our two main goals when we went to redesign the engine," said Battalion Chief Brian Beechner. "We put out a survey to the entire department, all 1,200 members, asking specific questions about what we can do to increase efficiency." "When firefighters are riding around all day in the cab, they don't want to be subjected to the potential carcinogens on some of the equipment stored there," explained Beechner. Knowing what it needed, the department went to work designing the new engine, which features lower hose beds – with different hose loads and sizes – to make it more efficient to deploy them.  

VIDEO: Electric cars are better for the environment but can pose a hazard for firefighters. El Paso Fire Department Captain Manuel Maldonado said electric cars are not necessarily more dangerous, but require a different approach when trying to put out fires caused by a crash or any accident. He said that the initial extinguishing of the fire is the same: the firefighters wear the same protective equipment to extinguish the flames, but they take one additional step after. "Once the fire is extinguished, we're going to locate the battery," said Maldonado. Each make and model of an electric or hybrid vehicle may have the battery positioned differently. Some vehicles can have the whole bottom part designated for a lithium battery. Maldonado explained that because of the thermal runaway and stranded energy, the battery will keep heating up and potentially igniting over again until it is properly and promptly cooled down.  

A federal appellate court said Tuesday that prosecutors can retry a man whose conviction in the 1995 deaths of three firefighters in the East Hills was overturned. In a 19-page opinion, the three judge-panel from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the federal retrial of Gregory Brown Jr., on a single charge of malicious destruction of property by fire resulting in death, does not violate his double jeopardy rights. Just after midnight on Feb. 14, 1995, Pittsburgh firefighters responded to a home on Bricelyn Street. Several entered the basement. Marc Kolenda, 27, Patricia Conroy, 43, and Capt. Thomas Brooks, 42, were killed when a stairwell collapsed. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated and said gasoline was found in the basement. They ruled the fire arson and offered a $15,000 reward for information on the case.  

PHOTOS: When firefighters arranged to conduct search and rescue training on a vacant house in memory of Dominic "Bama" Hunt, who died in a Sylvania Township house fire in February, Mr. Hunt's fiancée Teresa Laney wanted to be there. "We had to be here as part of the healing process," Ms. Laney said. Through Fireground Training Bureau, area firefighters participated in training all weekend. Working in a smoke-filled house in Rossford to rescue plastic mannequins and dolls simulating real victims, firefighters took turns on different exercises that were designed to replicate a real-life situation as much as possible. "It's the beginning of realistic training," said Pvt. Barrett Dorner, founder of Fireground and a firefighter with Toledo Fire & Rescue Department. While fire training programs have facilities where drills can take place, Private Dorner said it's difficult to make those areas feel like a real house. Being able to train in a realistic setting is an invaluable experience, as firefighters learn how to navigate around furniture and how to feel the difference between different types of floorings.