Officials with the Amarillo Fire Department announced that its deputy fire chief will soon retire after serving 30 years with the department. According to a news release from the department, Deputy Fire Chief Sam Baucom has served with the department since April 1993, serving in various roles including program manager over rescue, emergency preparedness and training, as well as the deputy chief over the support and operations decisions. The department will host a retirement celebration at 3 p.m. Friday at the hospitality room of the Amarillo Civic Center Complex, the release said. "Chief Baucom`s contributions to the Amarillo Fire Department, the Amarillo Community, and the great state of Texas will be greatly missed," the release said. "We wish him and his family the best in his retirement and thank him for his distinguished service."  

VIDEO: The fire at Valero's west refinery did not produce any "offsite concerns," plant officials said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. The release also states that no injuries were reported. A black plume of smoke was seen in the air on Corpus Christi's Northwest side beginning at around 9:45 a.m. Shortly after, Valero officials confirmed a fire on its property to 3NEWS. CCFD fire chiefs -- including new department chief Brandon Wade -- made their way to the scene. While he also said no injuries had been reported to his department, one of CCFD's medic units was there as a precaution. Wade said Wednesday morning that four CCFD trucks and one of its HAZMAT companies were outside the Valero refinery, and a command post had been established.  

Waterloo Park in Denison sees at least 30,000 people every year and the 7 mile walk and bike trails lead through dense woods. In the event someone needs medical attention, Denison Fire Rescue is ready to jump into action. "Today we did a wildlife search and rescue," said Denison Training Chief Roger Virgin. Virgin waited in the woods with a dummy patient who sustained injuries, "a mountain biker fell off his bike, hit his head and we sent out four hasty teams." News 12 followed along with Captain Jamie Robinson who successfully located the biker, "walking down through there, we were able to locate the patient about 50 yards off into the brush." Robinson's next action was to inform his team and give them direction on how to find the biker's location, "still being able to have radio contact and then modern technologies, phones, we can drop pins where we are."  

VIDEO: It's been seven years since a 14-year-old had to be rescued by Waco Fire Department from the flooded waters of Harris Creek off U.S. Highway 84. Dylan Ostlund was playing near the creek with his friends in March of 2016, when he suddenly slipped and was stuck in a culvert. "Once I was stuck, I just screamed for help and my friends came and saw that I was stranded in there and helped me out a little bit," the now 21-year-old Baylor student recalled, "They just held my head up above the water, but yeah there was definitely just a moment of panic and I was scared. I thought I was gonna die for sure." Ostlund was submerged up to his nose in the creek and that was even with people holding him up. Scott Salmans, who lives very close to the creek, was at the scary scene in a matter of seconds after hearing Dylan and his friends screaming for help.  

A Mercer County neighborhood was evacuated Thursday morning after a warehouse fire. The fire broke out around 12:30 a.m. at the warehouse on Whitehead Road. Video from the scene showed flames were spilling out from windows. Smoke was billowing above the buildings after 6 a.m. Chuck Hector, who works at a building across the road, said the fire sparked explosions and jets of flame were shooting up into the air. "The flames went literally, 100 feet up in the air," Hector said. "There were large embers that were just going up and going on the roofs." Some embers landed on his business' roof, but he said the damage was minor. The warehouse belongs to a company that buys out liquidated items, then stores them and resells them. The building was "packed stem to stern with thousands of different items," Hector said.  

PHOTOS: The Paintsville Fire Department has welcomed the artistic contributions of local students and others to help bring some color into Station 1. According to PFD Firefighter Ryan Barker, the culmination of a three-year project has led to an exercise in community togetherness, celebrating the artistry of local students and others as they have, in turn, shown their support for local firefighters. Barker said ceiling tiles throughout Station 1 have been taken down and sent to both Johnson County and Paintsville Independent School Districts, where students have painted the tiles with fire-themed works. Barker's inspiration for starting the project came from a well-known and similar project that took place at Papa John's in Paintsville.  

"Before I begin, let me say one thing I said to the families of the two deceased officers. All of you who've lost someone know that no matter how much you take pride in recognition of what they did when they were lost, it still brings back everything like it happened that moment. And I just say to the families, as I said to them personally at the time when I met them and now, it takes a lot of courage to do what you're doing. And thank you. Thank you, thank you. Attorney General Garland, thank you for your leadership. And today it's my honor to award nine brave Americans the Medal of Valor, the highest award this country can bestow on a public safety officer. The award is given for actions above and beyond the call of duty and exhibiting exceptional courage, extraordinary decisiveness, presence of mind, and unusual swiftness in action, regardless of his or her personal safety, in an attempt to save or protect a human life."  

Chris King has been working towards his 2023 debut at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals for almost two years. The full-time Chicago firefighter will be back on track in his Howards Cams/Competition Products Dodge Charger Funny Car this weekend for the first time since his last race in 2021. King will be competing in six NHRA national events this season, but he is most excited about getting the season started in front of his hometown friends and family at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet. "Racing Funny Cars in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is something I think about every day," said King. "I love my job as a firefighter and running King Training Innovations LLC, a firefighter training company, but getting the chance to race at over 300 mph is a rush you can't explain to a lot of people."  

VIDEO: On May 17th, 1923, the deadliest fire in the history of South Carolina, the Cleveland School fire, shook the community. The fire was at a small school in Camden, and it led to the state rewriting the state's fire code laws to prevent such a tragedy from ever taking place again. "She was incoherent and kept repeating, 'I see Jesus, Jesus help me.'" Those are the words Linda Rodgers read from her aunt Clara Wooten's journal about the night of the Cleveland School Fire. "77 people lost their lives, much of which, if you can imagine in 1923 ... There was no fire service out here, so there were no firefighting efforts, so the fire essentially burned until it was done burning," Camden Fire Chief John Bowers said. Around 41 of the people who died were students.