The Dallas Fire Fighters Association is extending applications to firefighters with the Houston Fire Department after Mayor Sylvester Turner was re-elected for another term on Saturday. This comes on the heels of the controversial Proposition B that was approved by voters in November 2018 to give Houston firefighters a 29 percent raise, but after several months of back and forth between Mayor Turner, the Houston Firefighters Union and the Houston Police Department, a judge ruled the proposition unconstitutional. "Now that Houston has re-elected a terrible anti-firefighter Mayor all of the @FirefightersHOU are welcome to come to Dallas and join our ranks. Starting pay is $61,367 (more with a degree and FF certs)," DFFA posted in a tweet Monday.  

After two weeks of witness testimony and data analysis, attorneys representing the City of San Antonio and the local firefighters union rested their cases Monday. A panel of arbitrators, who have near-full authority over the union's next labor contract with the City, will likely reach an agreement in mid-January 2020, officials said. Health care and base pay increases remain the stickiest points of contention throughout the on-again-off-again talks. The union's most recent contract expired in Sept. 2014, but an "evergreen clause" keeps most of the terms in place for another decade. The City wants to reign in the swelling health care costs it incurs each year as firefighters and their dependents enjoy premium-free plans.  

It is no secret the city of New Braunfels and by extension Comal and Guadalupe counties have been some of the fastest-growing areas in the country in recent years. The city of New Braunfels was ranked as the second-fastest growing city in the nation in 2018 with a growth rate of 8% from the previous year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. According to bureau estimates, New Braunfels surpassed a total resident population of 80,000 for the first time in 2018, and the city will be home to more than 105,000 residents by 2024. In response, area first responders and emergency service providers are preparing for the challenges that additional residents will bring, New Braunfels Chief of Police Tom Wibert said. "Our main challenge is having enough people on the street to keep up with phone calls and to be able to respond," Wibert said.  

Weatherford College Fire Academy celebrated its 20th anniversary on Sunday, along with a graduation ceremony for 16 fire safety students. The fire academy started at the Mineral Wells campus and was staffed mostly by department and volunteer firefighters, WC Public Safety Director Stephen Malley said. In 2004, the program moved to Weatherford because of growth and because the majority of students were coming from Weatherford and the east. The fire academy classes are semester-long, and Texas firefighters also have to attend EMT school, which is another semester, Malley said. To be a firefighter, students have to pass four components, such as hazardous materials operations and hazardous materials awareness.  

Fire investigators believe sparks from a welder caused the fire at Globe Life Field on Saturday afternoon, but damage from the blaze won't put completion of the ballpark behind schedule. The new stadium for the Texas Rangers caught fire just before 2:30 p.m. Saturday. No one was hurt but the flames did cause plumes of smoke and some damage to the fifth floor sub-roof. Firefighters say the sparks caught fire on cardboard, wood and construction supplies staged below. "The damage from the pictures, it looks significant but it's a small area. And in their words, this could've been a lot worse because it was contained within 30-40 minutes," said Lt. Mike Joiner, Arlington Fire Department. The Manhattan Construction Company said the ballpark would still be ready for March despite the fire damage.  

Police are on the lookout here in Corpus Christi for some stolen ambulances. Three ambulances were swiped from a private ambulance company sometime over the weekend. It happened at Express Care Ambulance on the 5200 block of South Staples. The theft was discovered by an employee this morning.  

Firefighters jumped into action when an industrial facility went up in flames in Southwest Philadelphia on Monday night. They performed a high-risk move, shutting off a valve within feet of the flames. It happened around 6:45 p.m. at the Point Breeze Terminal located along the 6300 block of Passyunk Avenue. Fire crews responded to a report of a fire showing from an area between two ethanol storage tanks. The fire reached two alarms with the flames burning at approximately 1,000 degrees Kinder Morgan Terminals, which oversees the site, handles petroleum, gasoline, ULSD, ethanol, biodiesel. Roughly eight tanks sit on their 26-acre property in Philadelphia. The company said after the fire broke out, the facility was immediately shut down and all personnel was evacuated.  

The Dallas Fire Fighters Association is hoping to recruit Houston firefighters days after Sylvester Turner was elected to his second four-year term as mayor. Houston's Proposition B, the voter-approved pay parity plan for Houston firefighters, has caused turmoil between HFD and the city of Houston. The union group took to Twitter saying, "Now that Houston has re-elected a terrible anti-firefighter Mayor all of the @FirefightersHOU are welcome to come to Dallas and join our ranks." The stance is a show of support for the Houston firefighters' union, and does not necessarily represent an official stance position of city leaders. The tweet went on to mention the Dallas Fire Department's starting pay, which is $61,367, according to the DFFA's tweet. Turner won the mayoral race by a double digit margin over challenger Tony Buzbee, who had broad support from Houston firefighters.  

Alexandria acting fire chief Corey A. Smedley will step up to the role for good, becoming the first black permanent fire chief in the Virginia city's history. On the heels of what Alexandria City Manager Mark B. Jinks described as a nationally competitive recruitment effort, the city announced on Monday it opted to promote Smedley from his current role as acting fire chief — a position which he has held since the retirement of chief Robert C. Dubé in early July — to lead the city's fire services permanently. Smedley's long career saw him serve in various firefighting roles at the Prince George's County, Maryland, fire department for over two decades before coming to Alexandria in 2015 as deputy fire chief for emergency preparedness. Initially, his responsibilities included updating response plans and working with regional partners on risk assessments.  

Scranton Fire Chief Patrick DeSarno gave notice Monday he will resign from his position effective Jan. 3, Mayor Wayne Evans said. DeSarno accepted a job offer in another field, the mayor said. The decision was not unexpected, Evans said. "I appreciate his doing this and of course I wish him well in the future and thank him for his service," the mayor said. DeSarno, 59, who has been with the Fire Department for 30 years, was appointed as the city's fire chief in 2014 by then-Mayor Bill Courtright. "Since May 26,1989, it has been my honor and privilege to serve the citizens of the best city in the world as a member of the best fire department in the world," DeSarno wrote in his resignation letter. "To have had the opportunity to be the leader of that department for the past six years has been an even greater blessing."  

Mark Hatch said it started four years ago with a simple idea scrawled onto a Post-it note: Make a wall of fame plaque honoring the paramedics of the Burbank Fire Department. The battalion chief's idea became a reality on Thursday when the agency formally unveiled its Paramedic Wall of Fame to a crowd of about 50 former and current members of the department's emergency medical services division, along with their family members. The plaque, painted fire engine red and featuring shoulder patches worn by the paramedics, was adorned with roughly 120 names of everyone who has been a member of the division, with the oldest members dating back to 1975. "We wanted to honor those who started and built the [paramedic] program, those who are currently going through it and then inspire future paramedics who want to get their name on that wall and serve their city," Hatch said.