Three people have died after a fire at an apartment complex in Friona early this morning. According to the Friona Police Department, crews responded to the fire at an apartment complex on Walnut Street around 5:00 a.m. One apartment in the complex was engulfed with fire spreading to the apartments on each side. One adult and two children died as a result of the fire. Their identities have not been released pending notification of family. No other injuries have been reported at this time. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

VIDEO: Houston firefighters said their final goodbyes to one of their own Saturday. Senior Captain Kevin Leago passed away Dec. 12 after battling occupational cancer. On Friday, Captain Leago received full line-of-duty-death honors during the visitation at a funeral home in Baytown. There was a firefighter march Saturday morning before his memorial service at Memorial Church of Christ in Houston. Captain Leago passed away at 40 with his family by his side.  

VIDEO: Taylor Fire Department Chief Daniel Baum has reported that the fire at the Durcon Manufacturing plant has been completely extinguished and no injuries have been reported. There is no current threat to the public. The fire began around 7:50 p.m. Saturday night at the manufacturing plant located at 206 Allison Road in Taylor, Texas. Fire units arrived on scene and saw the roof of the plant was on fire. Firefighters were able to put out the exterior fires but had difficulty reaching the fire inside of the plant. The fire was completely extinguished around 1 a.m. Sunday morning. Several units responded to the scene including the Round Rock Fire Department, Georgetown Fire Department, Hutto Fire Department, and Pflugerville Fire Department.  

The Smith County Fire Marshal is investigating two structure fires that his office has deemed "suspicious." Fire Marshal Jay Brooks said the fires destroyed two homes in the Enchanted Lakes subdivision in northern Smith County near Mineola. The two homes were in the 23000 block of Dogwood Trail. One home was occupied and the other vacant, according to Brooks. Firefighters from Lindale, Mineola, and Van fire departments responded to a call of a structure fire at about 7:30 p.m. Friday. When crews arrived, they found a second house in a very early stage of fire down the street from the originally reported fire. "Fire crews had to split into two teams to fight both fires and water supply in that area is already a challenge," Brooks said.  

Authorities are investigating a fire that could have possibly been a case of arson in Rusk County. The fire happened at Shell Temple C.O.G.I.C. located at 11258 FM 225 in Laneville. According to Patrick Dooley, Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator for Rusk County, the fire happened around 6:40 a.m. Saturday. He said the state fire marshal and the Rusk County Sheriff's Office are investigating the possible arson. Laneville VFD, Mount Enterprise Fire, and Henderson Fire all responded.  

Firefighters went to several homes Saturday, but they weren't responding to any dangerous emergency calls. Instead, they were decked out in holiday cheer to deliver smiles and good tidings to families in the Victoria and Port Lavaca areas. Operation Firefighter is in its fifth year of bringing gifts and food to families who just need a little help. Project chair Toni Stithem and her team visited 13 apartment complexes throughout the week to serve a total of 31 families. The Victoria Apartment Association, the Victoria County Fire Marshal's Office, the Victoria County Fire Department and the Port Lavaca Fire Department have been working together to collect and deliver the holiday items. "Each child gets five gifts," Stithem said. "They get a box of food and then they get a complete Christmas dinner, down to the pan to cook it in."  

A nine-foot tree outside Fairfax County's Public Safety Headquarters is not only celebrating the holidays but honoring those who served. "The cumulative impact of stress from being a first responder starts to creep up on you," said Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler. Two years ago, stress caught up with the Chief after some of his friends died in the line of duty and by suicide. "I was ashamed to talk about it until 2017," the Chief said. To honor the fallen, the Fairfax County Police Association put up the tree, which was donated by the Merrifield Garden Center. The tree has 330 blue ornaments and 176 red ornaments to represent the number of suicide and line of duty deaths nationally in 2019 among law enforcement and fire and rescue. A gold and silver ornament represents the suicides by 911 dispatchers and call-takers.  

As the city continues to stay mum on the plan to encrypt tens of thousands of police radios in New York City, yet another group is expressing concerns that they will also be shut out of the NYPD feed — volunteer firefighters and ambulance companies. Dozens of volunteer ambulance groups currently respond to help New Yorkers around the city, and they monitor police radios to provide assistance. Those radios will likely go silent should the NYPD proceed with its plan to encrypt all police radios in 2020, as reported Wednesday in amNewYork. The NYPD, while not explicitly denying the amNewYork report, said in a statement Tuesday that the department "is undergoing a systems upgrade that is underway for the next 3-5 years." "Part of that upgrade includes ensuring radios can support either encrypted or non-encrypted use," said Sergeant Jessica McCrory, a spokesperson for the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.  

Mike Berthiaume, 31, a Franklin firefighter, was transferring a patient at the hospital when he suddenly felt pain in his knee. The injury would cause him to miss work, his one true passion, for the next year. "I basically just twisted my knee the wrong way, it was like a compression and twisting injury, and from there it just escalated," said Berthiaume. He was injured in March 2018 and quickly learned he would need surgery, which would take him out of his beloved job as a firefighter for a year. "I enjoy working, so I think that was the hardest part, it was looking at the rehab being a year-plus, it was hard," said Berthiaume. "I had one thought in my mind — to get better." Berthiaume's surgeon, Dr. Kai Mithoefer of Boston Sports and Shoulder, recommended an innovative treatment called MACI that uses a patient's own cells to repair knee cartilage damage instead of using traditional metal or plastic devices.  

One community is getting into the holiday spirit in an unconventional way. Grayson firefighters saw a video of a fireman in New York, dressed as Buddy the Elf, starting pillow fights with random people. They said it looked like too much fun not to try themselves. When people see the Clark Griswold car approaching blaring music from the National Lampoon Vacation films, it's only a harbinger of the surreal Christmas experience that's about to literally strike them. Wednesday night, firefighters drove around town, stopping at gas station and grocery store parking lots, where Lt. Travis McHenry, a Will Ferrell doppelganger clad as Buddy the Elf, challenged unsuspecting victims to pillow duels. "You have a 6-foot tall Buddy the Elf jump out and throw pillows at adults or kids or whoever, it really puts a smile on their faces," said Assistant Chief Kyle Morgan. This is the second year the fire department has done this.  

Interstate 485 drivers caused a traffic jam while gawking at and videotaping an overturned car, emergency responders said in a lengthy rebuke on Twitter Saturday night. "Please put your phones down and keep your eyes on the road," Matthews Fire & EMS tweeted earlier in the day with two photos from the wreck scene, including one of an overturned car. Three people had to be extracted from the wreck and were taken to hospitals, according to Matthews Fire & EMS. The wreck just before 11 a.m. closed I-485 Inner Loop between John Street and Providence Road, according to another Fire and EMS tweet. On Facebook, emergency responders said their response efforts "were further hampered by motorists who did not yield to emergency vehicles, motorists who attempted to circumnavigate traffic by using the emergency/breakdown lanes and several motorists who abandoned their vehicles to talk to other drivers or to get a better look at the accident."