A bittersweet day for the Abilene Fire Department. On Friday, Captain Jerry Medley retired after a 47-year career, the longest tenure in AFD history. Medley joined the department on February 5, 1973. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on April 7, 1981, and then to Captain on July 10, 1984. Medley was firefighter for 32 years. He spent the last 15 years as Asset Management Logistics. Mayor Anthony Williams dedicated Friday as as Captain Jerry Medley Day. Friday morning, each station wished the captain best wishes. The department said "Captain Medley is an irreplaceable asset that will be missed tremendously ... Congratulations Captain, we will take it from here." In retirement, Medley plans to spend more time with his wife of 52 years and their three children.  

A cavalry of firefighters and response crews had to go into defensive mode as they battled a massive fire at a southwest Houston business that went to three alarms and destroyed an HFD ladder truck. Explosions continued to erupt hours after the fire broke out some time before 10:30 a.m. Friday in the 7800 block of Westpark Drive near Hillcroft. A Shelter-in-Place order was issued for residents in the area bordered by Westheimer, Hillcroft, Harwin, and Gessner. The order was lifted just before 5 p.m. Officials cautioned people nearby may continue to see smoke until the fire is fully extinguished. Two firefighters were also sent to Memorial Hermann hospital for evaluation of heat exhaustion. They were stable, HFD said. Crews sprayed water from above with ladder trucks and on the ground with engine crews for the first few hours before turning off the hoses due to environmental concerns about the runoff, according to Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena.  

A longtime Houston firefighter died Monday morning due to coronavirus complications, Chief Samuel Peña confirmed. Jerry Pacheco had worked with the department for 17 years. He was assigned to Station 101 in Kingwood. Peña mentioned the Pacheco's son is also a firefighter with the Houston Fire Department. It's the second HFD death related to COVID-19 to be announced. The news comes about a week after HFD Captain Leroy Lucio was laid to rest. Lucio had been admitted to an intensive care unit at a San Antonio Hospital after being diagnosed. He died from COVID-19 complications after hard-fought battle in July. Lucio was a 29-year veteran of the department. HFD has been heavily impacted by the coronavirus as employees respond to the pandemic. In early July, Peña confirmed at least 300 firefighters had been quarantined.  

Dallas Fire-Rescue has now had more than 100 people within its ranks test positive for COVID-19 since March. DFR said those infected include some firefighters and employees. About 40 firefighters and employees are in quarantine because of possible exposure from other employees who recently tested positive. Jim McDade, head of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, said only three members have been hospitalized out of the 101 people who have tested positive. During the pandemic, Dallas Fire-Rescue, which has about 2,000 employees, has continued to do their job, coming in contact with different people every day. All of the first responders wear masks and other PPE when interacting with the public.  

Gun Barrel City emergency responders rescued two people from the water Thursday night after a boating accident that injured both. According to the Gun Barrel City Fire Department, police and fire dispatch received a call at about 9:46 p.m. from a boater who said their boat had collided with an island on Cedar Creek Lake near the Eastwood Island subdivision. The caller said one of the boaters had been ejected from the boat and that both of them had serious injuries. Gun Barrel City Fire and Police Departments were dispatched to the scene along with EMS units from UT Health and Careflite. The Gun Barrel City Rescue Boat was launched and located the boaters south of Eastwood Island in approximately two feet of water with both of the victims inside the boat.  

Three siblings are mourning the loss of their father: a U.S. Army veteran and longtime San Antonio paramedic. He died on June 26, 2020 from COVID-19. "I would hope they would remember him as a warrior and as a hero," Alex Cardenas' daughter Lisa Cardenas said. "He always wanted to be there for everybody," Alex's son Luis Cardenas said. "He had the soul of a warrior," Alex's son Marco Cardenas said. All three are appropriate descriptions for Alex Cardenas. His children reflected on all their father had accomplished in his 59 years. He served in the U.S. Army Special Forces as a medic for 20 years, joining when he was just 18-years-old. He was a green beret and most recently a paramedic working with Superior and Apollo on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

VIDEO: A cavalry of firefighters and response crews had to go into defensive mode as they battled a massive fire at a southwest Houston business that went to three alarms and destroyed an HFD ladder truck. Explosions continued to erupt hours after the fire broke out some time before 10:30 a.m. Friday in the 7800 block of Westpark Drive near Hillcroft. A Shelter-in-Place order was issued for residents in the area bordered by Westheimer, Hillcroft, Harwin, and Gessner. The order was lifted just before 5 p.m. Officials cautioned people nearby may continue to see smoke until the fire is fully extinguished. Two firefighters were also sent to Memorial Hermann hospital for evaluation of heat exhaustion. They were stable, HFD said. Crews sprayed water from above with ladder trucks and on the ground with engine crews for the first few hours before turning off the hoses due to environmental concerns about the runoff, according to Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena.  

Josie Harris Robinson and her husband are both front-line shift workers in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. She's a nurse and her husband, Aaron Robinson, is a Wilmington firefighter. They both had to scramble, with just six days notice, to figure out a new way of life when a required shift change took effect for firefighters on July 1. City firefighters have transitioned--against their will after losing the latest legal battle in an appeal to the Delaware Public Employee Relations Board--to a 24/48 shift. The shift requires them to work 24 straight hours and then have 48 hours off. They used to have 72 hours off. Local 1590 leader Joe Leonetti Jr. called the new shift change "exhausting." "I don't think a month gives you enough time to have a fair assessment, but our guys are working around-the-clock because now that we're being forced to work 48 hours a week, a lot of guys aren't working the voluntary overtime."  

A smartphone app that tracks COVID-19 symptoms has collected information from more than 4 million people worldwide, and is giving doctors a closer look at the different symptoms patients are experiencing. The variety of different symptoms people are exhibiting with COVID-19 is startling. "I've seen more varied presentations of COVID that anything I can think of in my career so far," said Dr. Troy Pennington of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. The app, called the COVID Symptom Study, was created by doctors and scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, King's College London and Stanford University School of Medicine, working along with ZOE, a health science company. Users can input their own health information and get statistics on those also participating around their area.  

The FDNY has formally prohibited the use fire hoses to disperse unruly crowds, following several weeks of civil rights protests and rioting across the city that left several police officers and civilians injured. "While the vast majority of these (protests) in NYC have not involved the response of the FDNY, there is the potential for civil unrest, or acts of violence causing immediate danger to our members," reads an order obtained recently by the New York Post. In 2011, firefighters came to the rescue of two police officers outnumbered in Mariners Harbor, in a scene so chaotic that members of the FDNY's nearby Engine Co. 158 employed a truck-mounted deluge gun -- a water cannon -- to fend off the large group of teens. That incident aside: "It has been the Department's longstanding practice that hoselines should not be used in any offensive or defensive manner against people," the FDNY memo reportedly reads.  

VIDEO: The Duxbury Fire Department has become the first in the country to have its firefighters wear biometric rings. The rings can monitor vital signs, including pulse, temperature and sleep cycles. They could help detect early warning signs of coronavirus. They are also designed to withstand the rigors of a tough job. "It's pretty durable. It's waterproof. They can be worn under gloves. Wristwatches are kind of expensive – they can take them off, they get damaged. The department bought 38 of them and offered them to the members on a voluntary basis. About 90% of the members took advantage of it," said Duxbury Fire Chief Kevin Nord. Each individual firefighter can monitor his or her information through a smartphone app.