The Jacksboro community is mourning the loss of a local firefighter who officials said "quickly became a positive influence" during his short tenure with the Jacksboro Fire Department. Officials with the Jacksboro Fire Department announced on Sunday, April 2, 2023, in a Facebook post that Firefighter Laramie Fowler died at around 9 a.m. on Sunday morning. According to officials, Fowler was injured in an off-duty motorcycle accident just before 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, 2023. They said he was flown to Harris Hospital in Downtown Fort Worth and admitted to the SICU. Officials said Fowler died of injuries suffered in the accident at around 9 a.m. on Sunday morning, April 2, 2023. According to officials, Fowler joined the Jacksboro Fire Department in November of 2022.  

At Texas A&M, students are bridging the gap between EMS professionals and exoskeleton manufacturers to develop devices that could reduce lower back strain and injuries while on the job. "Bring this technology to the EMTs then it would solve a lot of those low back pain problems," said Oshin Tyagi, PhD Candidate, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University. "It would help with long term, longevity and EMTs would be able to work longer." Tyagi is working with other students to discover how exoskeletons can better serve EMS professionals in the field. "The goal was to understand how we could bring technology into emergency response and emergency response training," said Tyagi. The team of Justin Reed, assistant chief EMS for Cy Fair Fire Department, is helping the students at Texas A&M gather data on range of motion and how the exoskeletons are needed to operate.  

An overnight fire caused more than $50,000 worth of damage to a commercial building on the city's Northwest Side late Sunday night, according to the San Antonio Fire Department. The fire was called in around 11 p.m. at a building in the 140 block of Babcock Road, not far from Fredericksburg Road and Vance Jackson Road. Firefighters said when they arrived, they found flames coming through the roof and in the front left corner of the attic. They got a quick knock down of the fire. Fire officials said it is not exactly clear where the fire started. They also aren't sure of the exact cause. A fire investigation team will try and determine what sparked the flames. The San Antonio Fire Department and the San Antonio Police Department both responded to the call. No injuries were reported.  

U.S. regulators recently signed off on a merger between Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific, two of the country's largest railways, and the merger has some Southeast Texans concerned for their safety. Some Port Arthur residents believe the railroad merger could bring even more trains through their hometown. Following the February train derailment in Ohio, residents are wondering and worried about what trains are hauling through their neighborhoods. In February 2023, Port Arthur environmentalists toured the city. Advocates expressed their concerns about the merger, claiming they feel it will increase the number of trains carrying hazardous materials through the area. Area first responders believe they are ready to respond quickly and keep the community safe in case a derailment does take place.  

A fire that broke out overnight on the grounds of a West Side business spread to a double wide mobile home that was up for sale, the San Antonio Fire Department said Tuesday. The fire was called in around 1:15 a.m. at Titan Factory Direct, located in the 1900 block of Southwest Loop 410, near Marbach Road. Firefighters said when they arrived, they found the double wide at the business in flames. By the time they put out the fire, it had been burned to the ground and became just a burned out frame, fire officials said. Firefighters say when they got there they did not find anyone, so there were no injuries. Authorities said they originally believed the fire to have consumed two mobile homes, but a more clear picture after daybreak changed their opinion.  

VIDEO: It's the comeback no one wanted. A sinkhole that made national headlines 15 years ago for threatening buildings and prompting an extended road closure in the small Liberty County town of Daisetta appears to be growing again. The sinkhole is located a little north of Hull-Daisetta High School and west of FM 770 on the edge of the DeLoach Oil and Gas Waste Well. A view from SkyEye on Monday shows visible cracks in the earth. Some tanks, buildings, and other structures appear to be leaning and sliding into the water. "We just never thought it would start again," Linda Hoover, who lives right next to the sinkhole, said. "When we bought our house a few years ago, we were under the understanding that it was stabilized."  

A massive three-alarm fire broke out Tuesday morning, authorities said. The blaze is at the Johnson Motor Lines warehouse on Lehigh Drive. Hazmat crews are on the scene because there are chemicals in the building. County officials also say there are no problems with air quality in the area. Northampton County Emergency Management Services is at the scene and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will be at the site performing air quality tests. Northampton County officials later said there was no shelter-in-place issued related to the fire. "We have not received any readings that will warrant a shelter-in-place or evacuation," a news release from the county said. Nearly 4,000 people were without power, the electric utility Met-Ed reported. That number was below 3,000 after 9 a.m. Tuesday.  

VIDEO: There have been countless stories of selflessness and heroism after Friday's tornado. Among all that hard work, it's important to stop and recognize them. In this case, that wasn't hard to spot— as the source of that selflessness was wearing Little Rock Fire Department badge. "I wouldn't trade you guys for anything," LRFD Chief Delphone Hubbard said. "Good, bad, or indifferent, we're still family, and I'm super, super proud of them." When the storm hit West Little Rock on Friday afternoon, many sprang into action— including the crew at LRFD Station Nine. "At 2:25, we are walking out of an office to a very heavily damaged fire station," LRFD Captain Ben Hammond said. Hammond is the Shift Captain of Truck Nine, based at Station Nine. Like many, he kept an eye on the skies on Friday, which was almost a bad decision.  

Sheriff's investigators in Orange County are working to track down those involved in an incident where a driver did donuts around a fire truck that was responding to a call. The incident, captured on video, happened Sunday morning around 1 a.m. at the intersection of Sand Lake Road and Winegard Road, near the Florida Mall. Orange County Fire Rescue was responding to a call of a car fire at that location. When firefighters arrived, instead of finding flames, they found a big crowd of people hanging out. Firefighters called the sheriff's office, and deputies arrived about five minutes later, the crowd took off. In the video, which was posted to Instagram. you can see an Orange County firetruck being circled by a car doing burnouts in the middle of the intersection. If you look closely, you can see two people hanging outside of the car.  

With jobs as intense as first responders have, some can experience thoughts of self-harm. That's why the president of the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs is now promoting a video aimed at preventing the loss of life for those that protect us on a daily basis. "Thank you for having me. First of all, there's PTSD, which is commonly heard throughout all of our society, but it seems to be on the grow in public safety as a whole, whether that's fire, police, EMS or 911," President of the Georgia Association of Fire Chiefs, David Eddins said. "And ultimately, the worse side effect of PTSD is suicide. And we are seeing that the numbers aren't accurate because it's not being reported as that with public safety. But it only takes to getting in a group of public safety officials from around the state or around the country, and bring that subject up and you'll hear me too."