Hours after Dallas County announced its first death related to the coronavirus, commissioners rebuked County Judge Clay Jenkins and extended his community restrictions to battle the coronavirus only until April 3. Jenkins, who first put the restrictions in place last week, had hoped the commissioners would extend his orders for a month instead of roughly two weeks. His mandate limits social gatherings to nine people and suspends dine-in service at restaurants and bars. The commissioners' decision comes one day after the Dallas City Council extended its order until April 29 that limits gatherings to 50 people and closes bars, dine-in restaurants, entertainment venues, gyms and theaters. Restaurants can stay open only for drive-through, delivery and takeout services.  

A Red Oak firefighter has tested negative for coronavirus after showing symptoms of illness after reporting to work. Fire Chief Ben Blanton told CBS 11 News that all eight of the man's fellow quarantined firefighters were sent home to their families. "I know that many of you have been praying for our personnel. I want to personally thank you for the prayers for our members during this challenging time," said Blanton. None of the firefighters in quarantine were symptomatic, according to Blanton but since they are the first line of defense on emergency operations, he said set things up to house them at city facilities until the results came back. The department hopes to prevent any further potential contacts and also help to protect their families in doing so.  

Fire officials and police were investigating Friday morning after San Saba's only grocery store was destroyed overnight by fire. No one was injured. The fire was reported at about 1 a.m. Friday at Lowe's Grocery at 1204 West Wallace in San Saba, the only full-service grocery store in town, and the blaze gutted the building and left it a pile of ash. The fire came at a time when shoppers across the region are packing supermarkets and grocery stores to stock up on essentials as they hunker down at home amid the threat of the new coronavirus. A San Saba County Sheriff's Office dispatcher said Lowe's was the only store in town with fresh produce and meat, but there is a Dollar General where some goods are available.  

A Taylor County grand jury Thursday indicted a man accused of trying to burn down a building with a microwave and aluminum foil. Awnwar Hodges, 36, of Abilene, was indicted on one count each of arson and assault on a public servant stemming from a Dec. 22 incident. According to court documents, Hodges told the building manager he was going to torch the structure with everyone inside. He then placed the aluminum foil in the microwave in the kitchen, the documents said, and turned it on. As he was walking away, a fire started, the documents said, but staff was able to extinguish the flames. During a confrontation with Abilene police, the documents said, he was aggressive and confrontational. Hodges allegedly struck an officer in the face with his hand, which was holding a cellphone, the documents said.  

In times of crisis, Texans often rise to the occasion and look out for each other. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Glenwood Volunteer Fire Department in Gilmer is doing just that. The VFD is hosting an emergency canned food drive to help some families in their town that are struggling. Thursday afternoon, Katiland Gray, the chief of the Glenwood VFD, spoke to East Texas Now host Kayla Lyons. Gray said that they had already been helping Gilmer ISD employees hand out meals to students who are out of school when they learned about several families that are "already doing without." She said she and the other members of the VFD pooled their resources to start an emergency food drive to help the families out. "I'm new at this fire chief position," Gray said. "I'm trying to get out there and show people that they're not on their own. It's our job as a fire department to be there for them and get them what they need.  

Knowing that firefighters have to protect themselves to help others, Worthington officials worried about having their 36 full-time staff working together in its single fire station. "We were hearing about these other stations being forced to shut down elsewhere. That would decimate our fire and EMS protection if we had to close our firehouse," said Mark Zambito, assistant fire chief. So in a brainstorming session, he asked about the now-closed community recreation center. With a large, now empty, parking lot, showers, a kitchen and makeshift bunk room, "everything we needed was there," he said. Setting up the station this week, on Highland Avenue, less than a mile from its High Street station, became urgent. "I looked at one of my captains and said, ‘I need you to stock it in two days.'" Capt. Chris Betts assembed beds and living quarters for three firefighters. A kitchen was stocked with supplies and food. A craft/activity room now has three beds.  

"If you see this message — this means your files are now encrypted and are in a non-working state!" That note was discovered on the Bluffton Township Fire District's computer servers on Sunday, which were rendered inoperable by a hacker, according to a report from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. Staff at the fire department discovered they could not log into their computers Sunday and alerted Information Technology staff, who discovered that records, files and email communications had been encrypted. Late Sunday night, they reported the issue to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, S.C. Law Enforcement Division and Cyber Crimes unit for the F.B.I. Personal information on the fire department's servers was not accessed in the hack, and the department's ability to respond to emergencies was not affected, Bluffton Fire Capt. Lee Levesque said.  

Fox's "The Resident" is doing its part to protect the residents -- and other health care workers -- at an Atlanta-area hospital amid the spread coronavirus. Dr. Karen L. Law, who is the program director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Emory University, posted a photo to Instagram on Wednesday showing off a donation of masks, gowns and other supplies made by the team behind the medical drama. A spokesman for Disney Television Studios, which produces the series, confirmed the donation to CNN. "To the entire team @theresidentonfox, thank you for this incredibly generous donation of #PPE from your set, including gowns, masks, gloves, and all the things our healthcare workers need to provide safe care for our community during #COVID19," Law wrote. "Yesterday, I had a serious discussion with the residents about how, though supplies are low, a magical shipment of masks is unlikely to arrive. And yet, a magical shipment of masks DID arrive, in the form of this very generous gesture."  

More than 30 members of the Spokane Fire Department are in self-quarantine in an attempt to stop the spread of sickness amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The firefighters – representing about 10% of the department –were exposed to patients who had symptoms similar to COVID-19. As of Thursday morning, none of them had received a positive test for the novel coronavirus – though one firefighter is in the hospital. Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said the department must take extreme precautions to prevent the spread of the illness. And the department is shifting some operations in partnership with a neighboring fire district to allow firefighters to isolate themselves from family members if they are concerned about spreading illness to their families. Firefighters who normally respond from Spokane Fire Department Station No. 6 on the West Plains have a new home at Spokane County Fire District 10 Station No. 10-1 as Station No. 6 is turned into a quarantine facility for Spokane firefighters.  

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and other public safety and related industry organizations wrote to congressional leaders urging action on repealing the T-Band auction mandate on the nation's largest municipalities as part of any coronavirus emergency stimulus spending package. Read letter (PDF) "We write to strongly urge you to include language that would repeal Section 6103 in Title VI of P.L. 112-96 in any stimulus legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic," the organizations wrote. "Such language will prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from being forced to auction and clear public safety communications from critical spectrum known as the T-Band (470 MHz-512 MHz). "As emergency medical service (EMS), fire department, police department personnel, and others work to keep their communities safe and healthy during the current crisis and in the future, it is imperative that these T-Band users know they will continue to have the resources they need to do their jobs on behalf of the public."