The Amarillo Fire Department has announced the passing of retired Fire Chief Curtis Vance Richards on Sunday, Jan. 12 at the age of 87. Chief Richards was an AFD icon having served as Fire Chief for 23 years, from 1973 to 1996, according to release from the department. Funeral services will be on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 11 a.m. at Trinity Fellowship and he will receive full Fire Department honors, including AFD Honor Guard detail, AFD Pipes and Drums, Fire Truck escort and uniformed personnel to honor his service to the department and City of Amarillo. Overall, Richards served the citizens of Amarillo for 42 years (1954-1996) as a firefighter. During his career, he responded to several notable fires including the Capitol Theatre Fire in 1954 and the Amarillo High School fire in 1970.  

Lubbock Fire Rescue has shared an update from Matt Dawson's wife Chanda: Matt continues to stay in a stable condition. CT scans show no negative changes, which is a blessing. Surgery for legs is looking possible, I will update back on that as soon as I know. I got to go over lots of information with the SICU Doctor and he is in such amazing hands! I want to politely add that all accurate updates will come from me and the LFR Facebook page. We are receiving an abundance of calls, texts, and Facebook messages and we are so appreciative of them all, but please know we can only respond so quickly. I am also trying to keep updates through messages and text to a minimum, just to help keep things accurate. The thing we need most is prayers! We feel them, they are working, our God is so good and so much bigger than this!  

After the crash that resulted in the deaths of Lubbock Police Officer Nicholas Reyna and Lubbock Fire Rescue Lieutenant Eric Hill, and left Firefighter Matthew Dawson with critical injuries, representatives from various First Responder organizations across the country are asking drivers across the country to "pay attention and move over." A release from the International Association of Fire Chiefs says the greatest traumatic risk to our first responders is getting struck on a roadway. Firefighters from across the nation are now urging motorists to respect the move over laws and use caution when approaching emergency vehicles on interstates and roads. Since 2013, the State of Texas has implemented a "move over/slow down" law, saying if drivers see emergency or TxDOT vehicles on the side of the road, motorists must move out of the lane closest to the emergency vehicle when possible or reduce their speed to 20 miles per hour below the posted limit.  

An arrest has been made after a male student was shot and killed at Bellaire High School on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The Houston Fire Department and Bellaire Police Department responded to the shooting around 4 p.m. Police said the shooting happened in the school's courtyard, which is an outdoor area on the property. Emergency crews were seen performing CPR as the student was being transported on a stretcher and into an ambulance. The Houston Independent School District later confirmed the student had died. The cause of the shooting is unknown. Students told KPRC 2 that the victim was shot during 7th period. Officials said it was not an active shooting situation. The suspect ran from the scene but was later caught and arrested by Houston police officers at 8900 Chimney Rock at Caversham near a Sunny's store Tuesday night. It is unknown if the gunman was a student at the school.  

A former fire chief in Upshur County has plead guilty to the charge of misapplication of fiduciary property - over $30,000. According to court records, James Wilson Burks, former fire chief for the East Mountain Volunteer Fire Department, plead guilty to the charge in the 115th District Court on Monday. He will be sentenced at a later date. According to a press release from the Upshur County Sheriff's Office, the East Mountain Volunteer Fire Department contacted them on May 23 and reported an internal theft of property that valued more than $30,000. In a previous press release the sheriff's office reported the fire department had filed a criminal complaint that alleged a member had misappropriated departmental funds.  

Firefighters in Port Arthur fought a fire at a historic property along the Port Arthur seawall for several hours Tuesday afternoon. Crews were called to Eddingston Court in the 3300 block of Procter Street just after noon when a caller reported that the building was on fire according to Fire Marshal Paul Washburn of the Port Arthur Fire Department. The fire was burning in one of the four multi-story apartment buildings and at least 25 firefighters were working to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings. The property consists of a house and four apartment buildings that were built in the thirties. 12News spoke with a local historian on Tuesday about its history. It was built by sea captain Ambrose Eddingston, who came to Port Arthur from the Cayman Islands. It was originally built to house teachers, and ultimately housed dozens of other locals.  

VIDEO: Dozens of people at seven schools in the Los Angeles area were treated for minor injuries after a plane with mechanical issues dumped a load of jet fuel while returning to LAX for an emergency landing on Tuesday, officials said. The incident was initially reported shortly before noon at Park Avenue Elementary School in the 8000 block of Park Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Thirty-one patients at the school complained of minor injuries after Delta Air Lines Flight 89 dropped fuel over the playground, officials said. The patients were triaged on the campus, which is about 14 miles east of Los Angeles International Airport. Seventy county firefighters and paramedics responded to what was described as a multi-casualty incident.  

The town of Wiscasset has been fined $1,000 after its fire department violated air quality rules and created a public safety threat when it burned the old Huber's Market on Route 1. In a memo dated Jan. 3, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection said the Wiscasset Fire Department failed to remove waste material prior to the burn, did not investigate if asbestos or lead paint was present, did not have a written training plan and created a "nuisance and public safety threat" during the demolition of the Huber's Market building. The memo states that fluorescent light tubes, light fixtures, small appliances, aerosol and paint cans and other items appeared to have been burned inside the building in violation of state law. Billowing smoke from the fire also disrupted traffic on Route 1, creating a nuisance also in violation of state law, according to the document.  

First responders in Augusta County are working with county officials to come up with an insurance plan that offers better coverage for volunteer firefighters. Volunteer and career firefighters are held to the same standards of training and certifications but do not receive the same coverage if they are hurt or fall ill on the job. Full time firefighters are fully covered, but volunteers are only covered up to $100,000. The first phase of choosing a new plan is to layout official job descriptions for volunteer companies. The hope is to have a recommendation for the Augusta County Board of Supervisors for the budget process of Fiscal Year 2021. With an average of 16,000 emergency calls per year in Augusta County, the risk first responders face is high. "Most challenging job I've ever had, but I'll tell you, it really, truly is the most rewarding as well," former Swoope Fire Chief Kevin Wilkes said.  

Sue Gormly stood outside her father's house on Mitchell's Lane on Monday morning, surrounded by sweeping fields, and complained of the lack of fire hydrants in the immediate vicinity. Gormly questioned what her family would do if her father's barn were to catch fire and the Middletown Fire Department's tanker truck wasn't available to respond "because they don't have the manpower to use it," she said. The Middletown Fire Department has the smallest shift size on Aquidneck Island. Each shift has five firefighters, a shift captain and a civilian dispatcher, but one firefighter is often off on vacation time, out sick or otherwise unavailable, and so it's often four firefighters on duty; the department has 27 firefighters plus the chief, The Daily News reported previously.  

After the crash that resulted in the deaths of Lubbock Police Officer Nicholas Reyna and Lubbock Fire Rescue Lieutenant Eric Hill, and left Firefighter Matthew Dawson with critical injuries, representatives from various First Responder organizations across the country are asking drivers across the country to "pay attention and move over." A release from the International Association of Fire Chiefs says the greatest traumatic risk to our first responders is getting struck on a roadway. Firefighters from across the nation are now urging motorists to respect the move over laws and use caution when approaching emergency vehicles on interstates and roads. Since 2013, the State of Texas has implemented a "move over/slow down" law, saying if drivers see emergency or TxDOT vehicles on the side of the road, motorists must move out of the lane closest to the emergency vehicle when possible or reduce their speed to 20 miles per hour below the posted limit.