Lubbock Fire Rescue Firefighter Matt Dawson and his family received the keys to their new mortgage-free home on Thursday, August 26 during a dedication ceremony at the home site in Lubbock. Dawson was struck by a vehicle while on the scene of a car accident on Jan. 11, 2020. The conditions were icy. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, along with multiple broken bones throughout his body. Since the accident, Dawson has made progress through physical therapy, but his home was not compatible with his needs. In response at least a thousand volunteers and several community leaders spent ten months building a customized ADA accessible home for Dawson in South Lubbock. "It's basically my dream home, "Dawson said. The house has a rehabilitation pool, shower with support handles and wider doorways.  

A Weatherford firefighter this week was recognized for his bravery and life-saving efforts of a 19-year-old man last month. Weatherford Fire Chief Jonathan Peacock presented firefighter Dakota Stroud with a Medal of Honor and Citation Bar, as his family and those of the man he saved, Jayce Glenn, watched. Calling him a "warrior," Peacock narrated the event on July 10, when Stroud and his wife were on their way to the family ranch and happened upon a wreck in Granbury. "A man had run off the road, and his vehicle collided with a tree," Peacock said. "When the vehicle struck the tree, it spun and landed on the passenger side. The damage to the vehicle was tremendous and a fire started in the engine compartment."  

The Brownsville Fire Department and EMS will host a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and first aid training in efforts to educate the community on these skills. Brownsville Fire Chief Jarrett Sheldon said the training will be a hands-only CPR class and first aid training. He said the event has been held before, but due to the pandemic, it was placed on hold. The event is open to the public at no cost and will be held at the Brownsville Events Center, Saturday, August 28, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Chief Sheldon explained that the skills taught at the training are vital for the community to know. He said in addition to CPR training, first aid training including "stop the bleed" will be provided. The training is not certification training but will teach visitors how to find a pulse and start the CPR process, according to Chief Sheldon.  

Temple Fire & Rescue Station 3 will close temporarily while it is treated for mold, the department said Thursday evening. "For the safety of our crews and staff, personnel will temporally relocate to a nearby facility," Temple Fire & Rescue Chief Mitch Randles said. "We don't anticipate any significant impact to response times as a result of this relocation." According to a release, crews will be staged at the nearby Temple EMS station at 2986 S. Thornton Ln. The city will expedite additional renovations that were scheduled for the building while the crews are out, the department said. Those renovations are expected to take about three months. Crews will be in and out of the station throughout the course of the renovations, the department said.  

The Grapevine Fire Department said the cause of the 3-alarm fire on Wednesday, August 25, was accumulation of grease in the duct work. The fire, that led to a temporary evacuation of part of the complex, was in the vent hood system of one of the first floor restaurants. Smoke and fire travelled through the vent system to the roof and some smoke came out onto the 7th floor of the hotel. The fire was under control at approximately 5:50 p.m. Two firefighters were treated at the scene for heat-related issues and are fine at this time. Three separate medical incidents were report at the hotel and two of the three patients were transported to a local hospital. These were not related to the fire incident. Approximately 50 fire companies made the scene from 15 different cities.  

The Alice Fire Department is saddened to announce that Retired Firefighter David Cisneros has passed away. The department was notified Thursday morning that Cisneros had succumbed to his battle with cancer. Cisneros dedicated 20 years to the City of Alice and retired in 2017. Throughout his career he progressed through the department and earned his rank as a Fire Equipment Operator. He was a mentor to the other members of the department and could be found teaching the younger firefighters on any given day. He is credited by the department for many heroic actions and lifesaving events throughout his career. His experience brought great value to the department and even though he was retired he never stopped loving the career of firefighting.  

VIDEO: Massive flames burned through the roof of a commercial warehouse Thursday night in west Louisville, completely destroying the building that required a large presence of firefighters and first responders. The fire was initially reported just before 8:30 p.m. Thursday in the 3100 block of Del Park Terrace in the Russell neighborhood. That's not far from Interstate 264 and River Park Drive. Louisville Fire Department spokesperson Maj. Bobby Cooper confirmed that the warehouse belonged to a business called Anderson Finishing Solutions. The 80,000 square foot building housed solvents, paint thinners and large volumes of flammable liquids. Cooper said the cause of the fire is unknown, but arson investigators have been called in. The fire department brought in nearly 100 firefighters and more than 20 firefighter apparatus.  

Move over Dalmatians, a little baby pig is taking the spotlight at a firehouse in Brooklyn. Penny the fire pig is three months old and was adopted by FDNY firefighter Darren Harris. Penny spends much of her time hanging with her dad and the other firefighters at Engine 239 in Park Slope. She's become somewhat of a local celebrity, as many people stop by to snap pictures with the cutie and feed her snacks. Harris says Penny will likely be about 50 lbs. when she's fully grown. Her dad and the other firefighters have changed up their diets and are no longer eating pork around the firehouse.  

VIDEO: Every now and then, the internet opens a portal on a weird new trend. Enter the Milk Crate Challenge. You can find a growing collection of videos on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and the like of people stacking milk crates, trying to climb them like a staircase, and taking terrible falls, because believe it or not, piles of milk crates are not structurally sound. On TikTok, videos with the hashtag #milkcratechallenge had racked up more than 10 million views, and #cratechallenge had more than 82 million views before the platform started taking them down. Here's what's going on with the Milk Crate Challenge. The Milk Crate Challenge involves stacking milk crates in a pyramid of sorts so they form steps. People try to climb up one side and down the other as the stacks get increasingly precarious.  

Firefighters statewide have threatened to quit instead of being vaccinated, but, for some local firefighters – it's more complicated than that. They want to know if their job will change if they ask for an exemption. For the past 20 years, Tim Archer has been on the frontlines. He's also the president of the Spokane Firefighter's Union and says he hasn't gotten the vaccine for religious reasons. He will be filing a religious exemption, but wouldn't explain further what belief would make him exempt. "Those that have a religious exemption, or a medical exemption, to pursue those exemptions, which the city is helping us do," Archer said. "But what we do not have is any assurance, is that with that approved exemption, we will be able to work October 19." He argues it's not clear whether firefighters who are granted exemptions will be allowed to work in the field.  

Fire killed 3,700 and injured 16,600 people in 2019. Direct property losses due to fire reached $14.8 billion a year. Firefighters paid a high price for this fire record as well; in 2019, 62 firefighters died on duty. America's fire losses today represent a dramatic improvement from more than 40 years ago. In 1971, our nation lost more than 12,000 residents and 250 firefighters to fire. Acting to stop these tragic losses, Congress passed the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act in 1974, and created the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration (NFPCA), now the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), and the National Fire Academy (NFA). Since that time, through data collection, public education, research and training efforts, USFA has helped to reduce fire deaths and make our communities and residents safer.