A dead-of-night explosion at the TPC chemical plant in Port Neches sent three workers to the hospital, along with at least five others sprayed by shattered glass, and prompted mandatory evacuations and orders for other area residents to not leave their homes. None of the injuries appear to have been serious, plant and local emergency officials said. By 7 a.m., firefighters were able to get water sprayed onto the damaged area, Jefferson County Emergency Management coordinator Mike White said. The goal is to keep the affected area as cool as possible to keep the fire from spreading, he said. "A lot of it is probably just going to have to burn off," White said. Residents not shaken from their beds by the 1 a.m. explosion at a processing unit at the TPC Group Port Neches Operations awoke to an ominous scene: a towering black plume of smoke emanating from the plant, at 2102 Texas 136 Spur.  

Eric Hicks has been appointed as the City of Brownwood fire chief/emergency management coordinator. Hicks' public safety experience spans more than 30 years. He began his fire service career as a volunteer firefighter in 1987. In January of 1989, Hicks was hired by the DeKalb, Il. Fire Department as a firefighter/paramedic, where he served until November 2018, when he retired as fire chief, a position he held for seven years. As fire chief, Hicks was responsible for fire suppression, rescue, emergency medical services, fire prevention, public education, and specialized operations for a 60-member department. In the DeKalb Fire Department, Hicks held the rank of fire chief, battalion chief/shift commander, battalion chief/training officer, captain, lieutenant/paramedic, lieutenant/fire prevention officer and firefighter/paramedic.  

The Texas A&M Forest Service reports a fire at the Petersburg Co-Op Gin is fully contained. That fire started Tuesday afternoon and burned about 55 acres. The Lockney, Floydada, Ralls, Lorenzo, Idalou, New Deal, Abernathy, and Petersburg Fire departments responded that fire. Crews worked to prevent the fire from spreading towards homes or neighboring corn fields. The fire, spurred by high winds, has involved 23-25 modules of harvested cotton so far. Plains Cotton Growers estimates the cost of the modules at $3,000 to $4,000 each on average. But as of now there is no official cost associated with this fire.  

Several people were rescued from a fire early Wednesday at an abandoned South Fort Worth church building, authorities say. A Fort Worth fire spokesman said the fire was ignited on the second floor of an abandoned church annex by a group of homeless people who wanted to stay warm. The fire got out of control and spread, trapping some in the group inside the building. One person managed to leave the building before the other five were rescued by firefighters, the spokesman said. The spokesman said all six refused medical care.  

VIDEO: Bill Dudley, a former Waco firefighter and one-time member of the Bandidos who was placed on indefinite suspension four years ago is fighting to get his job back, but he'll have to wait until January for an arbitrator's decision after an eight-hour hearing Tuesday in Waco. Crowley police arrested Dudley following a traffic stop two days before the May 17, 2015 shootout between members of rival biker groups including the Cosacks and Bandidos at Waco's Twin Peaks restaurant. He was not involved in the shootout. His arrest on May 15, 2015 came after officers spotted a handgun on the seat of his truck and discovered some items linking Dudley to the Bandidos during a search of the vehicle.  

A local community is seeing an uptick in house fires, likely due to weather changes, and it's draining the fire department's resources, officials say. Two homes are destroyed by fire just days apart in November 2019. "We always fear a night when it's getting cold because we know it's a potential for a fire either here or if we mutual aid somebody, so it's always concerning," said Ronald Engelke, Chief of the Bruceville-Eddy Volunteer Fire Department. Engelke says the two major fires they fought on Nov. 10 and Nov. 13, which were total losses, were likely started by heaters. "We think both were electrical in nature, both families were inside the house when the fires started and they were able to get themselves out," said Engelke.  

Easton is closing in on $1 million in overtime in 2019 for its fire department, increasing the likelihood that it will bring in part-time personnel in 2020. Despite adding three new full-timers earlier this year, the city has already eclipsed the $850,000 in overtime pay it expended in 2018, Finance Director Mark Lysynecky said during the city council meeting Tuesday. With two months left to be accounted for, the Easton Fire Department had already reached $993,000 through October, he said. The new additions bring the department's complement to 45, but the three new hires have come directly from the academy and won't be available to begin serving full-time until December, city Administrator Luis Campos said.  

The Portland City Council took what might look like a baby step last week toward more efficient handling of non-emergency 911 calls. In a break from current practice, in which uniformed, armed police officers in squad cars or a truckload of firefighters respond, commissioners approved a pilot project in which a new "third branch" of the first-responder system, staffed by a specially trained firefighter and a contracted crisis worker, would respond to some non-emergency situations. The program starts with just one two-person team. Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, architect of the two-responder pilot project, called Portland Street Response, framed it as a much bigger deal. "This is revolutionary," Hardesty said. "We have not changed our first-response system since the late 1800s."  

Sarah Mackin runs a cotton swab around the inside of a tiny plastic baggie that appears to be empty. She spreads whatever residue the swab picked up onto a test strip that resembles a Band-Aid, then slides the strip into a buzzing machine about the size of a boxed, take-home pie. Then she waits, hoping for information that she can share with Boston's community of opioid users. Mackin is using an MX908, a mass spectrometer initially marketed as a counterterrorism tool. The machine can help military teams looking for traces from biological or chemical weapons, or hazardous material specialists trying to identify materials used in spills or explosions. But now the MX908 has been commandeered in the fight against fentanyl, one of Boston's — and the nation's — top killers.  

You rely on their rapid "first response" to an emergency medical call to 9-1-1. You rely on their training, knowledge, and experience in first aid and ability to stabilize a patient -- possibly a love one -- to rush them to a hospital for more precise care. But how much do paramedics make? Paramedics' salaries vary depending on their state, their training, employer, and a host of other factors. But generally, it is less than you think -- and far less than, say, a plumber. According to ZipRecruiter.com, which has broken down average salaries by state and hourly wage, the average salary nationwide across all 50 states is $40,374.34, or $19.41 per hour. Average salaries range among the 50 states between $25,000 to $63,500, with the majority being between $35,500 and $47,500.  

Even though Boston's Cocoanut Grove fire happened long before she was born, Michele Shapiro learned all about the disaster when she was a girl. Her grandfather, Frank Shapiro, was at a nearby theater with his wife the night of Nov. 28, 1942, when a blaze tore through the swanky Cocoanut Grove nightclub, killing 492 people. The young lawyer helped with the rescue efforts and later represented the survivors and the estates of the victims. "I grew up hearing about this case because it was such a big part of his life," Michele Shapiro said. When she heard a filmmaker was making a documentary about the disaster, she had to get involved. The result is "Six Locked Doors: The Legacy of Cocoanut Grove," a nearly 70-minute film that features interviews with survivors in their 90s, many of whom never before talked publicly.