Two people are hurt after their home exploded Monday night in Lamar County. State investigators are trying to figure out what caused it. "We had a lot of first responders there really quick. We got the victims out really quick, which I think helped their chances of survival a lot," said Lamar County Emergency Management Coordinator Quincy Blount. Blount said just after 9 Monday night, several fire departments responded to a call about a house explosion. It happened on County Road 35460 in Chicota near Pat Mayse Lake. A nearby neighbor says she was sleeping when she thought she heard a bomb go off. She ran over to find the house flat and a woman trapped inside screaming "help me," so she called 911.  

VIDEO: Two students have been charged following the firework explosion inside Klein Forest High School that sent the campus into a panic. According to authorities, the two students were arrested and charged with arson after the intentionally ignited a firework that was placed inside another container in the cafeteria Tuesday. "This was a very serious incident that occurred inside one of our schools, and we are fortunate the injuries sustained were minor," said Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie L. Christensen. "I'm proud of our partnerships with Klein ISD Police, local law enforcement, and the District Attorney's Office. Our officers were able to quickly identify the suspects, obtain confessions, and file charges." According to Klein Independent School District Police Department, this incident happened in the cafeteria during fifth period causing panic among students and teachers.  

Smith County is moving forward with a new way to alert citizens during an emergency. The new system is called Rave Mobile Safety and replaces the previous system, CodeRED. County officials said they're impressed with the new system and think it will work better than the previous one. "This could be used in anything from an active weather event to an evacuation due to a chemical spill," Fire Marshal Jay Brooks said. "It could even be used in an active shooter event. It's vital to us in getting information to our citizens." Most East Texas counties made the system switch on January 1, 2020. Rave is being funded by a grant from the East Texas Council of Governments. County officials plan on releasing information to the public about how to sign up for alerts in the near future.  

Austin firefighters say nine people are lucky to be alive after escaping a fire at a duplex in southeast Austin early Wednesday morning. Fortunately, no one was hurt. In a 3:26 a.m. tweet, the Austin Fire Department said crews saw flames coming through the roof of the duplex when they arrived. They were able to contain the fire to where it started. The fire forced nine people from their homes, but firefighters say it could have been much worse. "Big thing tonight is we were very lucky," said AFD Battalion Chief Thayer Smith. "It does not appear there were any working smoke detectors on either side of this duplex, so we're extremely lucky that somebody did wake up and saw the fire and were able to alert the occupants on both sides.  

Firefighters in Longview hope they can learn from the fire that destroyed a series of businesses in the downtown area early Sunday morning. A fire broke out in the common attic of a shared business building in the 100 block of South Center Street around 3 a.m. Sunday. Longview's fire marshal said by the time fire crews arrived, the building was nearly engulfed in flames. While crews could do little to save the building, Fire Marshal Kevin May said he hoped to use what remained of the building as a tool for his team to learn by, especially considering how old the building was. "This building is well over 100 years old. It's been remodeled, it's been added on to," said May. "There's a lot of the old-school type construction during this -- pre-code. "These types of buildings are a good tool for us to use to learn, and hopefully never have to fight another downtown Longview building fire. But if we do, hopefully, we'll be more prepared for it."  

Monday afternoon, over half a dozen agencies fled to a Grayson County neighborhood, within minutes of the report of a grass fire, that was quickly spreading to a nearby home- where a wheelchair-bound man was inside and unable to get out. "You know, another three to four minutes and that structure would have been engulfed," said Locust volunteer fire fighter Mark White. Officials said the man looked outside his window to find his yard on fire, and heading towards his bedroom. "Got the hose, stopped the fire from going towards the building, and then put the fire out, and cranked the tender up and got the hot spots, and the home was saved" said White. John Weda, the Grayson County fire marshal said this particular grass fire most likely started from a cigarette.  

As California Governor Gavin Newsom continues cracking down on the state's oil industry, local officials say that a move away from oil may carry some unintended consequences. If Kern's oil industry took a hit, so would it's economy. And that would manifest itself in many ways, one of which being property taxes. Kern collects property taxes based on the value of oil and gas reserves within county lines. So if the value of everything collected is gone, that could mean trouble. "Property tax is the primary funding source for the fire department, any changes in the evaluation of lands, especially our oil lands, will have a significant impact to that budget," said David Nelson, the President of the Kern County Firefighters Association, a union that represents the Kern County Fire Department.  

New Cedar Falls Mayor Rob Green wants the city council to review the city's controversial Public Safety Officer program. The city has been slowly replacing firefighter positions with Public Safety Officers, or PSO's, which are police officers cross-trained as firefighters. The move has angered firefighters and was a big issue in the election where council member Green defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Brown. "There are aspects of it I like. There are aspects of it I don't think are in the best interests of the city," Green told KCRG TV. Just 15 fulltime firefighters remain on staff in Cedar Falls which is down from 30. Many left, saying they don't feel safe working with PSOs. Firefighters endorsed Green for mayor, hoping he would bring changes to the program. Now less than one week in — Mayor Green says he does not want to cut any more firefighter positions, but he stopped short of promising to reverse the program.  

The Superior Fire Department rung in 2020 with a new building, a new chief, a new fire truck and new technology that will take their work into the digital cloud. It's a young crew heading into the new year. Half the department has been there five years or less. Firefighters in their 20s outnumber firefighters in their 50s by 10-to-1. "The most senior person is not 50 years old — that has never happened in the history of the fire department," said Fire Chief Scott Gordon, 49. The loss of experience is a challenge, he said. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the department lost a cumulative 80 years of experience when former Fire Chief Steve Panger, Battalion Chief Steve Edwards and Captain Dave Johnson retired. It's also an opportunity for change. Seven years ago, Panger inherited a veteran command staff. Gordon's command staff has a cumulative three years of experience in administration.  

If your house catches fire, your husband has a heart attack or your cat gets stuck in a tree in Reno this year, you might find yourself the unsuspecting star of a new "COPS"-style reality TV show that airs in real time. At its meeting Wednesday, the Reno City Council will decide whether to sign a contract with A&E's "Live Rescue" that would allow television production crews to embed with firefighters responding to calls. Created in 2019, "Live Rescue" is a spin-off from the popular "Live PD," which has roiled communities across the country with the way it depicts it citizens interacting with police. Under the contract, "Live Rescue" crews would be allowed exclusive access to film Reno firefighters for the next year in exchange for a licensing fee of $500 a week. The footage would be aired "almost live" as a panel of in-studio personalities provide commentary.  

The Toledo Fire & Rescue Department (TFRD) is rolling out a new way to recruit with a focus on the community. Fire Chief Brian Byrd has assigned a specific team to recruit even more diverse candidates. They will work with community leaders like Toledo City Council members and Toledo Public Schools to fill the 50 open spots for the next class. "The fire department, and people have heard me say this before, is 150 years of tradition unimpeded by progress," Byrd said. "We need some progress. We need to do some things differently." Byrd says the time for change is now. He announced Tuesday morning that there will now be a full-time team of at least two people dedicated to finding the right recruits. "First of all we're looking for people who want to help people. That's what we do. We're out there for one purpose. That's to serve the community and help people."