The City of Plainview Fire Department Interim Fire Chief Bobby Gipson recently announced the promotion of Chris Chandler to Fire Marshal. An eight-year veteran of the City of Plainview Fire Department. Chandler most recently served as an Equipment Operator / Paramedic. As Fire Marshal, Chandler will be responsible for building and fire code inspections, fire investigations, building plan reviews and business property fire education. "Chandler is a valuable member of our department, and I am pleased to have him step into his new role as the Fire Marshal," said Interim Fire Chief Bobby Gipson. "Myself, along with our department staff look forward to working with him in his new role."  

The Round Rock City Council unanimously voted to approve a one-year extension to the meet and confer agreement between the city and Round Rock Firefighter Association June 24. The resolution for this extension states that firefighters covered by the agreement will receive a 3% increase in pay. No terms of the agreement are set to change as part of the extension, City Manager Laurie Hadley said. The city has a similar agreement with the police department. The meet and confer is a form of employment contract, which Mayor Craig Morgan said the city renegotiates every three years between its police and fire departments. Hadley said Round Rock Police Department's meet and confer was extended in 2020 due to the pandemic and will be coming to an end and revisited in 2021.  

A woman was arrested in Longview for arson after entering another person's house. Priscilla J. Calcote went into a house on 3910 Judson Road on Wednesday for an unknown reason, according to the Longview Fire Department. The homeowner saw her enter the residence, and Calcote reportedly grabbed items from inside the house, then took them to the yard and set them on fire. Calcote entered the home without permission and the owner did not know her, said Longview Fire Department. She was also arrested by the Longview Fire Marshall and booked into the Gregg County Jail. Her bond was set at $25,000. Calcote has been detained many times for offenses such as criminal trespass, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, and possession of drug paraphernalia.  

A Cisco Volunteer Firefighter was killed in a crash Wednesday. Ian Leker, who has been a reserve firefighter since 2018, was killed alongside a family member. Fire Chief Walter Fairbanks released the following statement in light of Leker's death: "Today the Cisco Fire Department was notified that it lost one of its own. Cisco Volunteer Firefighter Ian Leker was killed yesterday along with another family member in a car accident. Ian served as a volunteer firefighter and a reserve firefighter since June of 2018. Please keep the Leker family in your thoughts." Details on the fatal crash have not been released.  

The Hill County Emergency Services District (ESD) 1 Board of Commissioners met Thursday, June 17, and continued discussions on the need for new volunteers in the county. A growing population and aging departments have highlighted the need for additional manpower, and Board President Ken Goins said that paid firefighter positions are likely to become a reality in the future. Peoria Volunteer Fire Department gave commissioners an update on the progress of its new building. The project is expected to be completed by the end of July. Commissioners approved a motion to require departments to send a copy of their monthly meetings along with their required reports to the ESD. With the February 2021 SAFE-D conference being canceled due to COVID-19, the annual statewide conference is offering meetings in September of this year and February of 2022.  

A camper was destroyed in a fire that broke out early Thursday morning in Wichita Falls. The Wichita Falls Fire Department said at 2:23 a.m., a witness spotted a fire on Kenesaw Avenue. Crews got there to find a camper behind a house that was on fire. Officials with the fire department say two garage apartments close to the camper also caught fire. It took roughly 20 minutes for the fire to be knocked down. Everyone who was inside at the time of the fire were able to get out safely. The fire department said the camper was destroyed, while roughly $5,000 to $7,500 in damage was done to both garage apartments. No one was hurt. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

PHOTOS: It was quite a sight to see the Fireboat John D. McKean arrive at Pier 25. On one of the most beautiful days of the year, there were bagpipers from the FDNY to welcome it on the pier, and its (her?) cousin, the John J. Harvey, which is docked in Hudson River Park at Pier 66 Maritime, gave a water display as a welcome. The scene resembled some sort of fireboat mating ritual (which is weird now that I already said they were cousins): the Harvey fired up all its water cannons as it sailed down the middle of the river. The McKean then chugged over towards it and did a 180 in front of the boat — and at one point, was perfectly lined up in its shadow with the spray as a backdrop. Then the McKean launched its own water cannons — and at one point snuck over so close to Pier 26 that they doused the folks on the end of the pier, much to the pleasure of the rest of us watching from 25.  

The abrupt, deadly collapse of part of the Champlain Towers South apartment building in Surfside, Fla., is prompting new calls for enhanced oceanfront construction safety protocols and inspections. "Buildings like this do not fall in America," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told Fox News' Tucker Carlson Thursday night. "This is a third-world phenomenon, and it's shocking." He said the "disturbing" collapse was reminiscent of the fall of the Twin Towers in New York City following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, as far as the way the structure crumbled in moments. Video shows two wings of the 12-story high rise tumbling out of the sky without warning around 1:30 a.m. Thursday. It's not immediately clear what caused the collapse, and Miami-Dade officials said they did not expect to have answers any time soon.  

AT&T and the FirstNet Authority announced the addition of 19 deployable assets to the dedicated FirstNet fleet of mobile LTE vehicles, with Communications Vehicles and Micro SatCOLTs providing different operational features and flexibility than was available previously. Fred Scalera, AT&T's associate director for FirstNet, said he believes the new deployables will help AT&T—the nationwide contractor building the FirstNet nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN)—deliver "next-level" communications support to public safety during emergency-response efforts. This announcement is just the latest step in the evolution of the FirstNet deployable offering, he said. "We're working on new technologies into the next year already," Scalera said during an interview with IWCE's Urgent Communications.  

Doctors at UPMC are trying to raise awareness about the benefits of napping for first responders. KDKA's Meghan Schiller found out this new napping study applies to everyone looking to make informed decisions about rest but especially applies to first responders, police officers, firefighters, pilots, train operators and other high-risk jobs. Research shows their ability to stay awake and make decisions with a clear mind directly impacts people's safety. "We call it a safety nap. When they can get a safety nap in, it's a really good idea to do that. Any deposits into the sleep bank is important for these guys because they might be up for the entire night," said Greg Porter, assistant director of the Ross/West View EMS. When lives are on the line, Porter expects his paramedics to feel rested.  

President Joe Biden may have already conceded that the U.S. will fall short of reaching his July 4 goal to have vaccinated at least 70% of the adult population against COVID, but the stakes for advancing the nation's vaccine drive remain high as the Delta variant—the highly transmissible and concerning strain of the virus that first emerged in India—swiftly makes inroads across the country. In an analysis of genomic surveillance data released by the Centers for Disease Control last night, the Delta variant now accounts for 20.6% of America's COVID cases, up from 9.5% in the previous two week period. The "variant of concern," as the CDC declared it last week, is the cause of nearly half the new COVID cases in the Midwest and Upper Plains regions, according to CDC data.