Houston Fire Captain Leroy Lucio died from complications due to COVID-19, Fire Chief Samuel Pena announced on Monday. He's the first Houston firefighter to die from coronavirus complications. Lucio had been battling the virus and had recently taken a turn for the worse. Pena asked people to keep Lucio's family in your thoughts and prayers. Lucio was a 29-year veteran of the department. He was being treated in the ICU of a San Antonio hospital. Lucio was Captain of HFD Station 103 and HFD said his will be classified as a "line-of-duty" death. Details of Lucio's memorial service will be announced as soon as possible.  

According to the Sweetwater Fire Chief, Grant Madden, COVID-19 has added obstacles when it comes to receiving the equipment it needs during a busy fire season. "We have a new brush truck approved and ordered, however, due to the COVID shut down, they are not currently making the chassis we need for the truck. The current delivery date is leaning more toward the infinity sign. Our current trucks are 1988, 2006, and 2008. They are coming back from these fires more and more tired. Our 5 ton is currently down." Madden says in a social media post. Madden says they have also seen an abundance of calls for those who claim they are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, but luckily their new ambulance should be ready in the next week.  

Some Houston Fire Department members are complaining to union officials that the department is taking a week or longer to notify them if they were potentially exposed to COVID-19. First responders often don't know the COVID-19 status of patients they treat while they're at scenes. Local hospitals later confirm cases and notify city health officials. From there, timely notifications are supposed to be made to any HFD employee who had contact with the citizen who tested positive. But the Houston Professional Firefighters Association said it's received complaints about a lag in some cases. "There was anywhere between a seven and 10-day delay," said HPFFA President Patrick "Marty" Lancton. Lancton said any delays in exposure notification puts many others at risk, from other crew members to employee families and the general public.  

A funeral service will be held for Kyle Coleman, Bexar County's Emergency Management Coordinator, who passed away after having been diagnosed with coronavirus. The service will take place 9 a.m. on Friday, July 24, at Freeman Coliseum, according to Bexar County officials. A procession will begin around 7:30 a.m. at Olinger-Saenz Mortuary, located at 6614 South Flores. Coleman's body will be taken to Freeman Coliseum after passing by the Fire Marshal's Office, the County Courthouse in downtown and the county's Emergency Operation Center. Attendance requires a RSVP and will run as a drive-up style service with no one being allowed outside their vehicles. Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, the county fire marshal and Coleman's relatives will give brief remarks will speak at the funeral.  

A fire broke out at a building housing several businesses on the 2000 block of E. Price Road in Brownsville on Monday afternoon, sending black smoke billowing into the air just across the street from the BISD administration building. Multiple businesses are housed in four buildings on the property where the fire broke out. The building closest to Paredes Line Road, which housed Farmer's Insurance, Salazar Insurance, Ana Lab Corps, and Cupcakes by Cory, were directly impacted as the fire spread. The extent of the damage is not yet known. According to Brownsville Fire Department Chief Jarrett Sheldon, the fire started at about 4:00 p.m. "It was reported that there was a fire coming from the roof on the back side of the building. When we got here, there was a lot of smoke and fire coming out of the roof area. Right now we have about seven fire engines, a ladder truck, and several command staff on the scene still fighting the fire," said Sheldon at around 5:30 p.m. on Monday.  

The San Antonio Fire Department responded to a fire on the city's southwest side. The fire was reported around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 1700 block of Mayfield Boulevard near Pearsall Park. SAFD said a heavy fire was on the front of the medium-sized apartment building. Fire crews said they were able to attack the flames, putting it out within a few minutes. SAFD says the fire appears to have started on the outside of the front building. At least ten people were displaced and damage is estimated at around $50,000. Arson was called to the scene to investigate.  

The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday adopted legislation sponsored by Bainbridge Township GOP Rep. Dave Joyce to ensure that families of first responders who die from or are disabled by the coronavirus get Public Safety Officers Benefit program payments for firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians who are killed or disabled in the line of duty. The bill, cosponsored by Rocky River GOP Rep. Anthony Gonzalez and Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge, passed on a noncontroversial voice vote. It passed the U.S. Senate on May 14, so it will become law after President Donald Trump signs it. Their "Safeguarding America's First Responders Act" creates a presumption that if a first responder is diagnosed with the coronavirus within 45 days of their last day on the job, the Department of Justice will treat it as a line of duty incident and provide the payments.  

VIDEO: Massive flames ripped through a farm in South Jersey overnight, killing nearly 300,000 chickens. The blaze broke out around 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Red Bird Egg Farm on the 100 block of Cemetery Road in Pilesgrove, Salem County. Crews battled the four-alarm fire all night and remained on scene Tuesday morning putting out hot spots. No humans were injured but fire officials say nearly 300,000 chickens have died. About 200,000 of the birds died in the fire while another 80,000 died in a neighboring building that lost power which stopped the fans from blowing. With the hot weather and heat from the fire, the chickens did not survive. The Mannington Fire Department chief says the major issue was getting water to the scene.  

Two more injured firefighters from an explosion in downtown Los Angeles in May have returned to active duty. A total of 12 firefighters were injured in the fire that broke out in the Toy District on May 16. More than 230 firefighters responded to the scene. As firefighters were responding to the blaze inside the building at 327 East Boyd Street, the site of a butane honey oil supplier called Smoke Tokes, there was a "significant explosion," said LAFD Captain Erik Scott. There are now three total firefighters back on the job after the incident. One firefighter remains hospitalized in the burn unit but is expected to return to duty at some point. The remaining firefighters are still recovering at home.  

By the time the EMTs reached my hotel room in Austin, Tex., I was already unconscious on the floor. Moments earlier I had dragged myself to the phone and called for help as chest pains began to overwhelm me. I later learned those first responders resuscitated me more than once as they used their medical training to keep me alive until we arrived at the hospital. That's where doctors and nurses and a lot of machines took over. I had suffered a major heart attack. The care I received at that medical center was extraordinary. But not for the immediate care I received from that small team of EMTs, I never would have made it. That was back in 2017. I've since recovered and feel great, often thinking about those heroic first responders, whom I was lucky enough to meet and personally thank a year later. I especially think of them and their colleagues today as COVID-19 creates huge budget problems for local governments that threaten their jobs and our nation's ability to respond to this and future crises.  

As the U.S. approaches 4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, local health officials are reporting more cases per day than at any previous point. The virus is concentrated now in states that had relatively few confirmed cases not long ago. On June 22, there were seven states with at least 100,000 cumulative confirmed infections. As of July 20, there are now 10, with several more on pace to hit that threshold within a week. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on confirmed COVID-19 cases, as reported by local and state government health agencies since the outbreak began, to determine the states with the highest number of confirmed cases per capita. We calculated the total number of COVID-19 diagnoses per 100,000 residents since the start of the outbreak in each state using one-year population data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2018 American Community Survey. Data is as of July 19 for all states except Oregon, for which data is as of July 17.