A member of the Madisonville Volunteer Fire Department was killed in a single-vehicle crash Friday night in Washington County. Cory Heidler, 39, had been with the VFD for about 15 years according to the VFD Chief Thom Jones, who confirmed the details of Heidler's death. Jones says he received news of the crash around 1 a.m. Saturday. Heidler was also a mechanic at the Henson Motor Co. in Madisonville. He is survived by two children, his mother, and his sister. Funeral arrangements are pending.  

One person is dead after a house fire in Bryan Friday afternoon. According to Bryan fire officials, a man in his early 30s was in the house in the 300 block of Waco Street when the fire started. Investigators say when they arrived on scene they initiated rescue efforts pulling the man from the home unconscious. Officials say the man was taken to a local hospital and later died from those injuries. According to investigators the fire does not appear suspicious, but it is still under investigation. The home is considered a total loss. Officials say the home did not have working smoke detectors.  

Fellow first responders took time Friday morning to pay tribute to a Medina County paramedic who died suddenly last week. Asante Contreras, 20, was killed in a wrong-way crash in San Antonio on Sunday night. According to police, the driver who crashed into the vehicle Contreras was in near Loop 410 and Interstate 35, was running from officers at the time, and now faces a charge of murder. "It's very tragic and it wasn't his fault. It wasn't in his err," said Diahann Fuentes, who showed up at Medina County Emergency Services District #1 to pay her respects. Fuentes' husband, a volunteer firefighter, works at that fire station in Castroville. Contreras, a paramedic fresh out of training, was assigned there, too. On Friday morning, his fellow first responders and community members stood at attention on both sides of the street in front of the fire station as a procession including fire trucks and police cars slowly drove by.  

Everyone recognizes that firefighters do dangerous work—not many of us would want a job that requires running into burning buildings. Less visible, though, is the danger they can take with them when they return to the station. Assistant Fire Chief Dana Dalby said, "The city took the initiative last year to start buying a second set of gear for all of the crew members as part of the drive to reduce cancer—carcinogenic exposure." This is the outmost layer of protective gear that firefighters wear when responding to a fire. The heavy material provides a level of protection from flames and heat. However, Chief Kenneth Dobson said, "Exposure at a fire scene can come from the toxic smoke or contaminants that cover the outside of a firefighter's turnout gear.  

As Central Texas students continue their education from home, the Austin Fire Department is getting creative by bringing career day online. AFD created a "virtual career day" for kids, with students getting a behind-the-scenes look at firefighters' jobs. "Because of some silly germs, I'm not able to come talk to you guys at your elementary school. So as a result, instead of me coming to you, you're coming to me," said AFD Captain Liz Donelson in the video. The video shows kids around the department's training facilities and gives a good look at the intricacies and life of being a part of the Austin Fire Department. For an escape from the home-classroom you can watch AFD's virtual career day video in their tweet below. Since we can't come to your classroom for "career day", we're bringing our classroom to you!  

Graduation ceremonies for high school seniors may look radically different these days thanks to COVID-19, but the event itself and the milestone it represents remain as significant and as worth celebrating as ever. Kadavion Bush is marking just such a milestone. One of Chapel Hill High School's Class of 2020, he has graduated from high school and will be a freshman at Prairie View A&M in the fall. It's a big accomplishment and deserves recognition. Enter the Jackson Heights and Chapel Hill Volunteer Fire Departments. The two departments joined forces to give Kadavion, who lives just down the street from Jackson Station 1, a graduation parade all his own. They brought out their best units for the event – Engines 1 and 2, Attack 2, Brush 1, and Tanker 2 – and the top brass, including Chief Michael Van Winkle and Assistant Chief Kelcey Trotty.  

Deborah Coughlin was neither short of breath nor coughing. In those first days after she became infected by the novel coronavirus, her fever never spiked above 100 degrees. It was vomiting and diarrhea that brought her to a Hartford, Conn., emergency room on May 1. "You would have thought it was a stomach virus," said her daughter, Catherina Coleman. "She was talking and walking and completely coherent." But even as Coughlin, 67, chatted with her daughters on her cellphone, the oxygen level in her blood dropped so low that most patients would be near death. She is on a ventilator and in critical condition at St. Francis Hospital, one more patient with a strange constellation of symptoms that physicians are racing to recognize, explain and treat.  

Nearly 60 people were displaced after a six-alarm fire tore through a Paterson neighborhood on Saturday night. The blaze was reported around 8:40 p.m. on Beech Street and spread to six houses, according to Paterson Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale. No injuries were reported among the residents, but a firefighter and police officer suffered minor injuries, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office. Arriving firefighters found buildings engulfed in flames. Firefighters from several neighboring communities, including Clifton, Haledon, Hawthorne, Fair Lawn, Little Falls, Passaic, Totowa and Woodland Park responded to help battle the inferno. The fire was brought under control around 11 p.m., but crews remained on scene for hours dousing hotspots.  

VIDEO: What do you get when you combine a lamp stand, a timer and a germicidal bulb? According to a self-admitted "tinkerer", it's another weapon to protect firefighters and the public during the pandemic. Lt. Tom Carano, a veteran firefighter with the Cuyahoga Falls Fire Department, came up with the idea and built five of the devices-- one for each of the city's five fire stations. Carano said the UV bulb-on-a-stand is placed in the back of squads for 20 to 30 minutes in an effort to kill germs. "Just an extra layer of contamination. We're also using that lamp inside the stations after we wipe down the rooms," Carano said. He also modified five plastic totes with reflective insulation and added sockets. The UV bulb is screwed into a tote and cell phones and personal protective equipment, including N-95 masks, are placed inside the glowing containers. "Whatever we put in there can get, with the reflective light ,a 360 degree decontamination," Carano said.  

U.S. regulators have approved a new type of coronavirus test that administration officials have promoted as a key to opening up the country. The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday announced emergency authorization for antigen tests developed by Quidel Corp. of San Diego. The test can rapidly detect fragments of virus proteins in samples collected from swabs swiped inside the nasal cavity, the FDA said in a statement. The antigen test is the third type of test to be authorized by the FDA. Currently, the only way to diagnose active COVID-19 is to test a patient's nasal swab for the genetic material of the virus. While considered highly accurate, the tests can take hours and require expensive, specialized equipment mainly found at commercial labs, hospitals or universities.  

According to a report from The Associated Press, a state agreement allows for the names and addresses of those who test positive for the novel coronavirus to be released to first responders, law enforcement, and paramedics. News Channel 11's Anslee Daniel spoke to the Washington County 911 director, Greg Matherly, who said that the list will be updated daily, with names regenerating every 30 days after testing positive. According to Matherly, this list will warn first responders if they are to respond to a residence that houses people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. "If that's where they were quarantined at, that particular address and the person we actually dealt with is who we would notify the responders of," Matherly said.