A captain with the Fredericksburg Fire Department and EMS died in a car crash in West Texas last week, according to media reports. Captain Stacy Kuhlmann, a lifelong Fredericksburg resident, died on Friday at the age of 53. The Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post reported that Kuhlmann was involved in a one-vehicle crash near Ozona. A procession escorting his remains to Fredericksburg took place on Tuesday evening. A funeral service will be held on Monday at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fredericksburg. The family is asking anyone who wants to give contributions to make them to the Paige Kuhlmann College Fund at Security State Bank and Trust, Fredericksburg Volunteer Fire Department and EMS, or the charity of their choice.  

There has been a rise in train derailments nationwide lately. To be ready to respond to similar cases like what we've seen the past few months, crews from across the U.S. are in East Texas training. It's run by the Longview Fire Department, which is one of just a few training courses in the nation to educate workers. "Trinity Industries is one of the largest tank car manufacturers in the world, and they have two manufacturing plants in Longview…so that kind of puts us as a unique school," said training section chief for the Longview Fire Department Andy Parker. This week's class has 30 students comprised of railroad workers, firefighters and first responders from East Texas and other parts of the country. They're specifically working with tank cars to learn how they're put together, and how they'll react in a derailment.  

The Killeen Fire Department recently found an egg-cellent way to engage some local homeschool students, by leading them in a fun science experiment. Students scrambled to create all kinds of special devices to try and keep their eggs from breaking during the experiment as firefighters dropped them from one of their truck towers. The students made sure not to put all their eggs in one basket however, hatching plans using everything from balloons, kites, parachutes, shoes, bubble wrap and popcorn to keep their eggs from cracking under the pressure. Firefighters began by dropping the eggs from 20 feet in the air, but once the students proved that their designs weren't going to go over easy, the Battalion Chief raised the stakes, and the tower, even higher, up to 50 and even 90 feet.  

This is a story we've been following since January when Beeville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bill Burres told us more volunteer firefighters were needed. Burres said there have been 121 calls so far this year, the number from January to April of 2022, much lower at 63 calls. "We've had pole fires, electrical fires, gas leaks, fire alarm calls, assist EMS calls," Burres, the Fire Chief of the Beeville Volunteer Fire Department, said. Lieutenant Gregory Garcia said being a volunteer with the increase in calls is tough. "We get calls sometimes 1 to 6 times a day. It ranges from gas leaks to grass fires, to structure fires, you know, electrical lines down," Lieutenant Garcia said. "Then we have our freezes and frost, and you have the dead grass, and that is what contributes to the fire starting early the season," Fire Chief Burres said.  

PHOTOS: Firefighters were called to fight a fire at an abandoned tavern in North Portland on Wednesday night. The call came in at about 7:30 p.m. The fire was at The Barn Tavern at 7421 North Denver Ave. According to Portland firefighters, the building was on their "unsafe building list" and there have been eight fires at the location in the last 12 months. "Even though we have a history with it, we know it is a very dangerous building, and it presented unsafe conditions for first responders, " said Rick Graves, spokesperson with Portland Fire & Rescue. Flames engulfed the building and because of the unsafe conditions, firefighters took up a defensive stance on the fire, pouring water onto the building from above. It was not immediately known whether anyone was inside at the time of the fire, but people have lived there in the past, Graves said.  

An Atlanta city council member is fighting to protect first responders who get hurt while choosing to respond to emergencies while off-duty. Earlier this month, Atlanta News First highlighted how long-time Atlanta firefighter and paramedic, Lieutenant Mark Quick, witnessed a car crash in January while off duty and stopped to help, but he was hit by a car in the process. Quick said the next thing he remembered was waking up in ICU at Grady Memorial Hospital with severe injuries all over his body. But Quick is not getting any workers' compensation or extended pay leave and it's all because he was not on duty at the time of the incident. After working with the Atlanta Firefighters Association and seeing our report, District 10 Council member Andrea L. Boone on Monday introduced legislation aimed at protecting first responders who are hurt while choosing to respond to an emergency while off-duty.  

VIDEO: The City of Bryan says they have no problem keeping up with emergency calls with the help of a new program. Community paramedics are emerging across the country. It's something that caught the eye of Chris Lamb with the Bryan Fire Department. "Every year the call volume increases more and more and more. In the past, it was always trying to throw ambulances at the problem, you know, and we really had to sit down and come up with innovative ideas and ways to handle certain situations," Lamb said. Lamb worked to identify frequent callers, people using the emergency number for non-emergencies or issues that could be treated from home.  

VIDEO: The Appleton Fire Department hosted a bell dedication ceremony on Wednesday morning to celebrate Station #1 receiving a new firefighter's bell. Officials say that throughout history, the life of a firefighter has been closely associated with the ringing of the bell. As firefighters began their tour of duty, it was the bell that signaled the start of a shift. Throughout the day and night, each alarm was sounded by a bell that summoned the firefighters to duty. When the call had ended, and the alarm was complete, it was the bell that signaled to all the completion of the distress call. In addition, when a firefighter died in the line of duty, officials say it was the mournful toll of the bell that solemnly announced a firefighter's passing.