Canyon Fire Department Chief Mike Webb has announced his retirement after 35 years with the City of Canyon, which has begun a nationwide search to find his replacement. According to city officials, Webb has served with Canyon FD for 33 years and has been the Fire Chief since 2009. "I have enjoyed working for the city and am very proud of the accomplishments that the department has made during my tenure as Chief," said Webb. "I have been fortunate to have worked with very dedicated staff members and volunteers." "Chief Webb has served on the City of Canyon Fire Department with dedication for the past 35 years," said Canyon Mayor Gary Hinders. "We owe a debt of gratitude to Mike and his force of largely volunteer firefighters. They serve with excellence. We will miss Mike and we wish him well in his well-deserved retirement."  

Texans are using prescribed fire more than ever to manage land and mitigate wildfires. Now there is data to support this. A recent statewide survey found that 402,017 acres were treated with prescribed fire in Texas during 2018. That's up by nearly 50,000 acres from the previous year for two reasons – Texans are using prescribed fire to manage their land in one of the most successful and cost-effective ways, and they are also doing a better job at reporting that use. "In a state as vast as Texas, no one agency has the sole responsibility of conducting and reporting all prescribed burning," said Andy McCrady, Texas A&M Forest Service Fuels Coordinator. "We take a collaborative approach to land and fire management."  

The owner of Watson Grinding and Manufacturing issued his first statement since the deadly blast last Friday. "It's heartbreaking to see our neighbors struggle," John Watson said. "Who is at fault and who will pay for damages...cannot be determined at this early stage." In the meantime, investigators are at the blast site in northwest Houston digging through debris trying to figure out what caused the explosion that killed Frank Flores and Gerardo Castorena. The explosion at Watson Grinding and Manufacturing at 4500 Gessner was heard and felt across the city at about 4:24 a.m. Friday. It caused significant damage to hundreds of nearby homes and businesses and left a debris field that stretched at least two miles. The early-morning blast has many people nervous about what could be lurking next door to their homes.  

The Austin Fire Association is leading a two-day tour of some of the most wildfire-prone areas in Austin. City council members, neighborhood leaders and firefighters from California were in attendance to tour River Place, one of the city's most vulnerable neighborhoods. CoreLogic recently released a wildfire risk report that ranks the Austin area as the 5th highest risk in the nation for a major wildfire incident, with 53,000 plus residents at an extreme risk. Back in September, KXAN told you that the Austin Fire Department was in the process of adopting a Wildlife Interface Code, or "WUI." The code would implement new requirements for building materials on new construction, making them more fire-resistant. This would be near areas that have more fire-prone trees and brush.  

Remember the good ‘ol days when kids collected and traded baseball cards? A few folks at the Amarillo Fire Department remember those days too. But they're version of trading cards features their fire engines and trucks. These cards are helping highlight our local heroes and connecting them with our local kids. Amarillo Fire Department Community Liaison Jeff Justus says, "So I used to ride a fire truck with one of the retirees, and he always carried around Fire Department fire truck trading cards, they weren't our trucks, but they were just generic, borrow trading cards to give the kids and I always thought it'd be cool if we had some for our fire trucks." Actually, Jeff Justus thought the trading cards were a really cool idea. So when he started handling community relations for the Amarillo Fire Department he brought the idea to life.  

The City of Midland met Tuesday and approved two new fire stations and three new fire trucks. The fire stations are currently out for construction bids. "It's going to really help our department give the citizens of Midland and the citizens of Midland County much better service on that part of town," said Midland Fire Chief Charles Blumenauer. "It's been a need that we saw coming due to growth and city council has been very supportive and getting us to this point so that we could have this for the citizen and make sure that our department stays up with the growth of the city and county," said Blumenauer. Fire Station 5 was a 50-plus-year-old station that was demolished last month. The new Fire Station 5 will be rebuilt on the same lot on the corner of Garfield and Gold Course Rd. It will be a two-story structure, totaling over 11,000 square feet.  

When Ed Parkinson was named the acting CEO of the First Responder Network Authority in October of 2018, his assignment related to public safety broadband that has represented a full cycle from a committee policy staffer to overseeing the program he helped legislatively create. During the fifteen months after the new post, he manages a program with a federal budget of $81 million as monitor of a contract with AT&T. Ed gained the trust of first responders and his colleagues across the industry as FirstNet partners with AT&T to deliver dependable communications solutions to police, fire, and EMS officers around the country. Ed has been part of FirstNet since its inception. As a staff member of the House Homeland Security Committee prior to the passage of the legislation, Ed was instrumental in writing draft legislation and bringing attention to the need of public safety broadband.  

The Sunbury Steam Fire Engine Co. Number 1 is facing a 60-day shutdown because the firefighters need more training, city Fire Chief Brad Wertz said. Wertz told City Council that he decided to pull the company, located at Center and Penn St., out of service because he discovered that six of the eight volunteer firefighters were not properly trained. Wertz said the department is working on getting the proper training and he is personally helping get them back in service. "I decided it was a liability at this time to keep the department running," he said. "For now it is just safer for everyone until they receive the proper training." Wertz said the company would show up at scenes but he would have to send them away because they were not allowed to perform certain tasks. "I appreciate the people that want to help and become volunteers but we just need to get everyone trained properly." Wertz said no one at any scene was in any danger of being hurt.  

As legislation continues to move swiftly through the Florida Legislature to allow increased governmental use of drones, Florida's fire chiefs are seeking to get on board. On Tuesday the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee took up, and swiftly approved, HB 659, which would allow use of drones by Florida wildlife and forestry officials for two purposes: to monitor invasive species encroachment on public lands, and to help manage and fight wildfires. The latter purpose came by way of an amendment introduced and tacked on Tuesday. The provision is identical to one added to the Senate counterpart of the bill in a Senate committee hearing on Monday. At both stops, the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association spoke up with an "us too" request, citing the same rationales for drones' use in structure fires that had been cited for the wildfires amendment: that the aerial camera devices could help firefighters understand what is going on with the fires, and that the drones could help improve safety for firefighters at the scene.  

Chris Owens turned the key but the engine in the fire truck would not start. It wasn't the first time. The Town Creek Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department's equipment has fallen into disrepair as the department faces significant financial challenges. "We'll jump that truck first," said Owens looking at the pumper truck which still bore the Sipsey name from it's former home. "Then we'll use that truck to jump this one and then we'll be out of here...time is of the essence" Jumping the trucks can often take 10 minutes, longer than it can take a mobile home to be destroyed in a fire. On Saturday, the department resorted to asking for donations to pay for new truck batteries. Owens said they have requested $35 in fire dues last year from the more than 500 residents which they serve. Only 25 voluntarily paid according to the chief.  

VIDEO: Remember the good ‘ol days when kids collected and traded baseball cards? A few folks at the Amarillo Fire Department remember those days too. But they're version of trading cards features their fire engines and trucks. These cards are helping highlight our local heroes and connecting them with our local kids. Amarillo Fire Department Community Liaison Jeff Justus says, "So I used to ride a fire truck with one of the retirees, and he always carried around Fire Department fire truck trading cards, they weren't our trucks, but they were just generic, borrow trading cards to give the kids and I always thought it'd be cool if we had some for our fire trucks." Actually, Jeff Justus thought the trading cards were a really cool idea. So when he started handling community relations for the Amarillo Fire Department he brought the idea to life.