The lives of two children were claimed when a fire engulfed their Sulphur Springs home early Thursday morning. At about 3:50 a.m. on Jan. 20, the Sulphur Springs Fire Department responded to a structure fire on South Moore Street. When crews arrived on the scene, the residence was found to be fully engulfed. "It was later learned that two small children were unable to escape the fire and are deceased," said SSFD Fire Chief/Marshal David James. The fire's investigation is ongoing.  

PHOTOS: The El Paso International Airport showed off the newly completed renovations to the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighter (ARFF) station on Thursday. The AAFF station is responsible for aircraft emergencies that occur at the El Paso International Airport. The City said project improvements include upgraded heating and cooling systems, electrical and lighting systems, a new backup emergency generator, expanded storage areas for equipment and supplies, new private restrooms with showers, renovated sleeping quarters with new bed-workstation combination furniture for each firefighter, and a redesigned physical training room. The cost totaled $1.7 million and was paid for with Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) funds and airport enterprise funds.  

VIDEO: A malfunction in a CPS Energy electrical meter caused it to explode, leading to a house fire, the San Antonio Fire Department said. The incident happened around 2:30 a.m. Friday in the 1500 block of West Wildwood on the city's north side. Firefighters were able to get inside the home's attic and stop the fire from spreading. CPS Energy crews were called to shut off the power and handle the fried meter. The family will be displaced until the meter is repaired.  

New research from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), shows firefighters face a higher risk of a cancer diagnosis than the general public. Here in the Rio Grande Valley, McAllen Fire Department Deputy Chief James Farrell said cancer awareness is huge. "Unfortunately in the McAllen Fire Department, we've lost some firefighters to cancer that have been retired but we've also lost some that were still on duty," he said. According to South Texas Health System's Family Medicine Specialist, Dr. Chris Casso, toxic agents that are present in fires pose a threat to firefighter health. "During the combustion of the material that is burning, they are exposed to very toxic agents such as carbon monoxide or asbestos or benzene, and so these agents are known to cause cancer," she said.  

The Rolling Pines Fire is 70% contained as of Thursday, January 20 evening. Fire crews were out in Bastrop County making sure to extinguish any hotspots that flared up. Smoldering ashes and charred pine trees fill the landscape scarred from this week's wildfire at the Bastrop State Park. "Please if you are driving in that area please use caution we want to make sure everyone goes home at the end of the day," said Alex Bregenzer a Texas A&M Forest Service spokesperson. Firefighters continued to gain the upper hand despite a change in winds. "Those containment lines held due to the overnight work from the crews and the cold they continued to patrol and continue to mop up," said Bregenzer. More than 800 acres of the once green and lushes pine trees are now filled with destruction.  

PHOTOS: Flames are out after emergency officials responded to a structure fire in Navasota early Friday. Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell confirmed the home caught fire in the 9800 block of South Business 6. The road was blocked in both directions in the area but both lanes are open again. Sowell confirmed that the Navasota Fire Department was called to the blaze. Sowell had no more details at this time.  

VIDEOS/PHOTOS: An empty building at 141 E. Marietta St. is likely a total loss after a fire on Thursday that the building manager said was probably inevitable. Building manager Bill England said the building was empty and boarded up, but they have had a lot of trouble with homeless people breaking in and building fires for warmth, which he thought could have caused the fire. "Homeless guys keep breaking in and starting fires in the fireplace in this apartment up here," England said, gesturing to the upper floor of the building. "I'm assuming that's what happened." The building and several nearby houses are all owned by the same person, he said, and all need extensive remodeling to make them habitable. The Marietta Street structure was boarded up repeatedly in attempts to keep people from breaking in, but England said they kept finding ways inside anyway. They stripped the insulation off wires to fuel their fires, based on evidence he has found in the past.  

Fatigue caused by extended periods of work and insufficient rest can impair job performance, situation awareness and decision-making capabilities, even when it's needed most. Specifically, in safety-critical environments, such as responding to wildfires, fatigue has been associated with a two-fold increase in the risk of injuries and errors, and a four-fold increase in safety-compromising behaviors during emergencies. To mitigate these outcomes, researchers at Texas A&M University are evaluating how the impact of fatigue-causing performance declines in safety-critical workers, such as firefighters, nurses and emergency room (ER) doctors, can be delayed through the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a wearable and noninvasive brain stimulation technology that uses weak electrical currents to stimulate certain parts of the brain.  

Have you ever wondered how many calls Escambia County EMS answers? Escambia County EMS has launched a new information dashboard that includes: EMS calls dispatched by Emergency Communications (updated daily); Transports to local hospitals by EMS (updated daily); On-scene cardiac/respiratory arrests (updated weekly); On-scene overdoses (updated weekly); ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI/Heart Attack) events (updated weekly); and Motor-vehicle crashes (updated weekly). "This dashboard is an opportunity to further educate the citizens about the services provided by EMS and Emergency Communications," said Escambia County Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore. "Every day, the men and women within our Public Safety department dedicate their lives to the safety and wellbeing of Escambia County citizens, and we believe this dashboard reflects that effort while also educating the general public to the extent of our services."  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: In a scene that has tragically played out across the United States yearly, a Christmas tree starts a fire inside a building, but this scenario created by the Bellows Falls and North Walpole fire departments was just a training exercise to prepare firefighters for real-world events. Bellows Falls Fire Chief Shaun McGinnis helped orchestrate a live-fire training at an abandoned building that allowed the fire to be controlled by members of his department while the training was playing out. Before the call went out to a team of firefighters that was staged at a local fire department, Bellows Falls Fire Department's Lt. Ben Masure and Deputy Tony James placed Christmas trees into an elevator shaft and other parts of the building. Then the call went out that a person was "trapped" in the building. McGinnis talked about the training that he and his team were running.  

VIDEO: Tahlequah firefighters can make a lot of spaghetti after a TikTok video landed them nearly 800 jars of Ragú sauce. Ragú recently began a new series of commercials under the catchphrase, "Cook Like a Mother," one of which featured firefighters. The Tahlequah company decided to replicate the commercial as a team-building exercise, featuring firefighter Anthony Margarit. The Tahlequah Fire Department plans to use its pallet of pasta sauce as part of a fundraising spaghetti supper for the community in the spring, which will benefit Professional Firefighters Local 4099 tragedy fund.