An arson investigator was killed in a shootout with a suspect early Friday morning, the Houston Fire Department confirmed. The suspect was also killed. The victim, identified as 44-year-old Lemuel Bruce, is the first arson investigator in HFD's history to be shot in the line of duty, Chief Samuel Peña said. Bruce was married with two children, ages 8 and 12, and he was a 17-year-veteran of the department, the chief said. "Please keep them in your prayers. It's a tragic, tragic loss," Pena said. "It's senseless. Senseless." The chief and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner spoke outside the hospital later in the morning, confirming the tragic news. "We send our condolences and prayers to investigator Bruce, and his wife and his two children. We are uplifting him, and we are asking the City of Houston to the do the same," Turner said.  

VIDEO: The West Orange Fire Department responded to an abandoned house fire the intersection of Linda Street and Tanglewood Avenue Thursday night. When fire crews arrived, they were met with heavy flames from a single story home. Officials said there was smoke coming from the home and a vehicle in the driveway was also on fire. A neighbor said no one has occupied the house since a recent hurricane, but the house has had several transients going in and out of the house. Crews were ultimately able to put the fire out. No one was hurt, but the house is considered a total loss. The West Orange Fire Department and the Orange Fire Department teamed up to battle the blaze.  

The Gladewater Fire Department will lose eight of its 12 full-time firefighters by Nov. 1, officials say. Fire Chief Cory Crowell said Thursday that the eight firefighters handed in their two-week notices and will be leaving to join Smith County Emergency Services District No. 2. "By Nov. 1, we'll be down to four firefighters," he said. "We're scrambling to keep the doors open." According to a Tyler Morning Telegraph article in November, voters approved the Smith County ESD No. 2's request to raise sales taxes in the county with the aim to raise funds and hire additional firefighters for stations across rural Smith County. The sales tax increased from 6.75% to 8.25%. Smith County ESD No. 2 posted a full-time firefighter position application on its website July 1, stating the starting salary is $46,345.  

A door inside the garage of a Northeast Side home made all the difference when fire broke out early Thursday morning, according to San Antonio firefighters. They say it stopped the flames from spreading into the home. Firefighters received the call that the attached garage was on fire around 4:30 a.m. They raced to the scene in the 4700 block of Emden Hollow and found out that everyone in the home already had found a way out. "Three people, a cat and a dog. Everybody got out OK, safely," said Battalion Chief Brooke Hildreth with SAFD. "The homeowners heard popping, thought it was thunder. Got up. Came outside. Saw smoke coming out of the garage." The smoke also spread into the home, itself.  

The remaining four members of the Longview Fire Department who assisted in the California wildfires returned home Thursday. These firefighters have been in California since Sept. 28, when they were sent to relieve the initial three firefighters who had been battling the wildfires since Sept. 11. The initial trio traveled about 1,600 miles with a strike team to the Sierra National Forest area, just outside of Fresno, California. Members of the Nacogdoches Fire Department also returned home after spending over two weeks in California joining the fight against the wildfires. "We are beyond thrilled and proud to welcome back some of our #cityofnac firefighters from California," the City of Nacogdoches said in a Facebook post. Nearly 200 firefighters from 56 departments across the Lone Star State were deployed to California. The firefighters are a part of the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System (TIFMAS) unit.  

VIDEO: For 43 years Ed Peacher, dispatched life-saving help where it was needed in Lubbock – first with Lubbock Police and then with Lubbock Fire Rescue. He might have been the one to answer when you called 911, and if you ever had a police scanner in Lubbock, Peacher's voice would have stood out from the rest. Monday, October 5 was Peacher's last day on the radio.  

VIDEO: Seven people were taken to the hospital after a boat explosion and fire on the south fork of the New River early Thursday afternoon. One of those patients had to be airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial's burn unit with burns to over 40 percent of the body. Chopper 4 over the burning boat spotted firefighters shooting a stream of water at it from shore as it drifted near a sea wall at 2001 SW 20th Street. The burning boat was just north of the Lauderdale Marine Center. Thick black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky. Those flames shocked people who live nearby. "They were just shooting up into the air with a lot of black smoke. It would go then it would stop then it would just go again," said Antoinette Coffer. Another neighbor, who did not want to show his face, captured video of the boat on fire. He said he heard explosions while he was inside his home.  

VIDEO: One first responder in North Sioux City, South Dakota is using his creative skills to give back to his brothers and sisters in the department. Firefighter and emergency medical crew member Joe Pham got inspired to create his own Thin Red Line flag to hang inside the North Sioux City Fire Department. It's made out of old fire hoses, which he said he painted by hand and strung together, to create the black and white American flag with one red stripe. Pham says the red line represents many of his brothers and sisters. "It represents injured firefighters and line of duty deaths as well. I just wanted to make something, I had that gut feeling that I wanted to make something for the station, something more decorative for around here that shows respect," said Pham. Pham says the flag took about four days and around eight hours each day to make. But he said he did get some help from his fellow first responders with some of the flag-making process.  

When you think about how technology is enabling remote government work, what comes to mind? Online city council meetings, or enhanced portals for renewing your driver's license or paying taxes? What about firefighting? While most emergency responders cannot work fully remote due to the nature of their job, they can access the same benefits of unified collaboration tools to quickly connect with stations and seamlessly communicate with other first responders. Implementing this technology not only slows the spread of COVID-19 and decreases the amount of time required to hold meetings across teams, stations and departments, it also provides real-time situational awareness for intelligent and efficient fire management and fighting – all through a safe and secure platform. We've all been relying on technology to conduct various forms of remote working.  

An 11-year-old girl from Morris Township is showing just how far one small act of kindness can go. It all started as a service project through Callie Danysh's Cub Scouts, a project to honor a local hero. But with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the assignment was put on hold. That's when "Flags of Gratitude" was born. "I though to myself why honor one hero when I can honor all of them," Callie said. Flags of Gratitude was a way to say thank you to all of the health care workers and first responders working to keep the community safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "It makes me feel really good, because I enjoy spreading kindness to people, and it makes me feel like I really appreciate them," Callie said. Callie has designed, decorated and hand-delivered nearly 2,000 flags to people in the community since March. The flags, all unique, include pictures and handwritten notes signed by Callie.  

The National Transportation Safety Board says the U.S. is woefully unprepared to deal with EV fires, which require different strategies than gasoline vehicle fires. 31 percent of fire departments don't train for EV fires, and half say they don't have special protocols in place to deal with EVs after a crash, the agency's report found. Note the caveats, though. There are more than 29,000 fire departments in the U.S. This survey only asked for information from 32 of them. If you have been reading Car and Driver for a while, there's a decent chance you remember the news when a Tesla Model S caught fire in 2013. Or that the NTSB was investigating Tesla fires in 2019. Or when a Porsche Taycan went up in flames earlier this year. You might remember those things, because electric-vehicle fires make headlines.