The Austin Fire Department is warning people to remove dry Christmas trees from their homes after a candle sparked a tree fire in east Austin overnight. Crews were called to reports of a fire at a home on Kocurek Street at about 3:45 a.m. on Sunday. AFD later said that the blaze was caused by a candle that had been placed close to the Christmas tree. On Twitter, the fire department warned the public following the incident, writing, "It is past time for dry trees to be removed from your home." The flames were extinguished by a sprinkler system, but fire and water damage is still estimated at $30,000.  

Officials are investigating after a baby died after being rushed to Fire Station 77 Sunday morning. Firefighters received a call around 1:30 a.m. advising them to wake up because a baby was on the way to the station. When firefighters came out, a van was pulling up beeping the horn while a woman with a baby was screaming and crying. Officials say they tried to work on the baby, who was very pale and in bad shape, for a minute before heading to the hospital. The parents followed firefighters to the hospital, where the baby was pronounced dead. Authorities are investigating the cause of the baby's death.  

A devastating fire ripped through an apartment complex in Bryan on Sunday morning destroying at least 9 apartments and damaging a couple more. It happened in the early morning hours at the Oaks of Villa Maria at 1305 W. Villa Maria Road between Harvey Mitchell Parkway and Wellborn Road. Some of the first firefighters to arrive on the scene tell KBTX the fire was already quickly moving from one apartment to the next before getting water on the flames. Neighbors say all residents were able to scramble to safety and nobody was seriously injured, although firefighters said at least one resident later went to a hospital to be examined. A cat was also found and rescued in one of the apartments.  

Starr County Officials are investigating a house fire that took the life of an 82-year-old woman as a homicide. On Saturday, just after 1 a.m., the Starr County Sheriff's Department received a call regarding a structure fire on Palm St. in La Lomas. Upon arrival, officers informed that they witnessed a trailer home and a residence engulfed in flames. The family members that managed to exit the home informed authorities that the 82-year-old woman, identified as Bartola Davila, was inside the home, according to the release. Officials said deputies and family attempted to remove Davila from the home but were unsuccessful. Grande City Police Department, San Isidro Fire Department, Rio Grande City Police Department, La Casita Fire Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety were at the scene, said the release.  

An investigation is underway after a two-alarm fire tore through at least five businesses in downtown Longview Sunday morning. Firefighters responded around 3:07 a.m. to the blaze in the 100 block of South Center Street, in the downtown area. Right now, fire officials tell us the area is closed off to traffic and asking everyone to avoid the area. City of Longview fire marshal Kevin May says the building was about 75 percent involved when crews arrived. The fire quickly spread to the neighboring units forcing them to call in additional trucks for assistance, according to investigators. Fire officials say it took dozens of firefighters from multiple engines to get the blaze under control. Pig Trail Inn, Desert Tanning Company, Guys and Gals Hair Salon, Clayton Credit, TA & T Finance Corp. all shared a space within the building.  

A busy fire station built in the 50's will be awarded $3.4 million from the City of Amarillo for a complete remodel. Fire Station 5 off of Washington and 32nd is one of the busiest stations in Amarillo and was in need of an upgrade. The station was built in 1953 and is currently vacant as the current crew is temporarily relocated to a different station. "It's run down, it's served its purpose. It currently is empty, the crew has moved to 34th and Western to our old Station 9, they are running out of there," said Amarillo Fire Captain Kyle Joy. "Before they moved out, it was a one company station, it served the Wolfin area and Amarillo College area." Captain Joy says once it is finished, it will be a place the neighborhood can be proud of.  

VIDEO: Karina Figueroa and her family likely lost everything in a Sunday morning house fire that claimed the life of a metro firefighter. Right now they are not thinking about themselves. "We can start over again, the firefighter's family can't. All they have left is the memories," Figuroea said. Officials have identified the West Peculiar firefighter who was killed as 30-year-old Chuck McCormick. The fire started shortly after 11 a.m. at a home near Deer Run Road and 221st Street / Peek Road in Peculiar. Grandview Fire Chief Ron Graham says McCormick fell through the floor near the front door of the home as firefighters entered the home. McCormick fell into the basement and was critically hurt. He was airlifted to the hospital where he died. Officials said McCormick was a husband and father of three young boys, ages 4, 5 and 7-years-old. He died responding to what would normally be considered a fairly routine call.  

When Carol Brown joined the Boulder Fire Department in 1991, she was one of roughly a dozen female firefighters. Today a shift battalion chief, Brown is one of seven. Though Boulder was among the earliest to admit females to its force — the first two women were hired in 1978, according to Brown — the number of women in the city's firefighting force has fallen over the years as older employees have retired. Their ranks have not been refilled due to a dearth of new recruits, leaving just seven females among 99 firefighters. Boulder will have to more than triple that figure if it hopes to reach its goal, recently added to the fire master plan update: that one-quarter of city firefighters will be women by 2030. "Seven percent is not good," said Michael Calderazzo, Boulder's fire chief. "In the '80s we were cutting-edge. Over time, we've sort of drifted backwards."  

In 2009, when Fire Chief Tom Burgasser was told to cut 20% of his budget, he knew exactly what to do. Transporting patients to the hospital instead of handing them over to a private ambulance company seemed like a no-brainer, the chief recalled more than 10 years later. It cut out the middle man. It would decrease the department's spending while increasing revenue. It would save the residents money. The Massillon Fire Department reached its 10th anniversary of transporting patients at the beginning of the year. In a decade, the Fire Department generated more than $7.3 million in revenue and saved residents nearly $2.8 million in EMS fees. "We did everything," Burgasser said. "We treated the patient. We responded to the scene. We did all of those things. The only thing we didn't do is put them in the back of the ambulance and take them to the hospital."  

As he stood in the third-floor corner room that served as his office from 2000 to 2009, retired Hartford Fire Chief Charles Teale reflected on some of the more historic moments that had taken place at the Pearl Street headquarters during his tenure. He recalled firefighters coming into the room after the 9/11 attacks and dumping piles of money they had collected for the 343 firefighters who perished at Ground Zero out onto the long conference table that dominated the room. Teale also remembered the meetings held in the aftermath of the 2003 Greenwood Health Center fire that claimed the lives of 16 people. Investigators concluded the fire was started by a resident with a history of mental illness and substance abuse who had been playing with a lighter in her bed.  

VIDEO: An internal investigation has been opened to look into the procedures and training protocol of the Saint Joseph County Dispatch Center. ABC57 is still following the New Year's Eve tragedy that killed four-year-old James and his sister, two-year-old Natalie Kleven and left mother, Brook, and her 3-month-old son in critical condition. Now the question is did the 9-1-1 confusion cost precious minutes--and possibly lives. Looking into the scanner recordings from that afternoon, you can hear that the first call about a black Toyota minivan sinking into a retention pond on East University Drive in Mishawaka, came into the Saint Joseph County Dispatch Center at 2:46 p.m. Sound from the Saint Joseph County Police and Fire scanner, "Fir and University Drive at the City Center see if a vehicle has gone into the pond Fir and East University Drive at the City Center."