A homeowner is asking for the community's prayers after her brother-in-law, 86, was pulled from a burning home and is now suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Lydia Watson, 61, said she came home Wednesday morning to the home's smoke alarms going off. "I ran in there to get my brother-in-law, and when he got up, I had him by the elbow," Watson said. "He went back in, and after that I wasn't able to get him out." Watson said she doesn't know why her brother-in-law went back inside the home, but she said he is deaf and did not have his hearing aids with him when she tried rescuing him. San Antonio firefighters were able to rescue the man when they arrived. He was then rushed to the hospital. Watson said she learned from her nurse that he has a tube down his throat, and he is suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. "I am afraid he is not going to make it," Watson said through tears. "I don't know. I tried to do everything I could."  

Earlier this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered coronavirus testing for all Texas nursing home residents and staff. In Corpus Christi, testing is going to be done by paramedics over a two-week period, according to Nueces County Health Director Annette Rodriguez. Corpus Christi Fire Chief Robert Rocha says his department is working with the health department and Christus Spohn hospital to coordinate that testing effort. There are 16 nursing homes in town and three have already been tested. That leaves 13 of those facilities to be tested by local paramedics.  

There were flames and heavy smoke when firefighters arrived at the home in the East Side shortly after 10 Wednesday morning. They were told that an elderly man was inside the burning home on Lakefront. "Crews made an aggressive push inside the house and did locate one individual who was rescued from the structure. That person was transported Priority 1 to the hospital with what appeared to be some serious smoke inhalation," said San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Joe Arrington. A shiny belt buckle helped firefighters locate the man in a smoke-filled bedroom. The man in his 80's was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center. Firefighters also found a dog, but were unable to save it.  

The City of Midland held a groundbreaking for the city's new fire station Wednesday. Fire Station 11 will be off Briarwood, near the new housing developments off Holiday Hill Road. The land was donated to the City of Midland five years ago. The city has been hoping to put a fire station there ever since. Midland Mayor Patrick Payton, the fire chief and some city council members took part in the groundbreaking ceremony. "The city is dedicated to the future and growth and this station specifically, is being built with that in mind," said Charles Blumenauer, Midland Fire Chief. This new station will help reduce response times for homes in that area to less than five minutes. Officials say the station should be completed in a year from now in May 2021.  

Two Corpus Christi firefighters are in isolation after treating a COVID-19 positive patient from a nursing home. Tuesday, medics took a man from a nursing home to Christus Spohn Hospital Shoreline, according to a city release. The nursing home was not disclosed in the release. "While in the ambulance treating him, the paramedics lifted their goggles to start an IV and were exposed to active coughing by the patient who had removed his mask," the release reads. "Last night, hospital staff notified the fire department the elderly man had tested positive for coronavirus." The two firefighters were placed in isolation at a secure fire department facility while awaiting COVID-19 testing results, the release states. No other information was released.  

Multiple departments responded to a house on fire in South Tyler early Thursday morning. According to officials with Smith County ESD2, the fire started around 4:30 a.m. on CR 136. We're told two people inside the home were able to safely escape. Officials told our reporter at the scene the fire caused significant damage to the inside of the house and the back porch. No word on what caused the fire. Smith County ESD2, Flint, Bullard and Noonday all responded to the call. The Smith County Fire Marshal will lead the investigation.  

When the first U.S. case of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, was confirmed on Jan. 21, it appeared to be contained — the patient was a man living near Seattle who had recently returned from Wuhan, China and immediately isolated himself, and the local health department had conducted contact tracing to make sure that anyone he had encountered was now quarantining at home. But as more people returned to the U.S. from China, and then Italy, the site of the second major outbreak, the number of cases started to tick upwards. And due to the nature of the virus — which is highly contagious but can present without symptoms for many people — it began to spread in communities where there were no known cases and no testing measures in place. From there, the number of cases soared — up to 1,000 by March 26, and to 1 million by April 28. That spread can be seen in the above graphic, which shows how the virus circulated through the country over the last few months.  

Police Chief Eric Clifford fears the city could again become addled by gangs, drugs and double-digit homicides if the department is forced to lay off about 40 cops because of a deepening fiscal crisis brought on by the coronavirus. "Quite frankly, we go to the bare bones minimum of what we do – protect life and property – and we have to start scaling back on what we do as a department," he said. "What I see is that the long-term effect is that we might start seeing a rise in gangs, a rise in the dealing of drugs, a rise in crime, and that's unfortunate because we put in a lot of good work over the last seven to 10 years stamping that down." Fire Chief Ray Senecal could find himself down about 33 firefighter/paramedics as well, which he recently said would make the already dangerous job of battling blazes even more perilous and hamper the department's ability to carry out other critical potentially life saving duties.  

Minneapolis' police officers and firefighters deserve a "significant portion" of emergency federal COVID-19 aid, union officials said, arguing that an infusion of potentially millions of dollars is needed to avoid cutbacks or layoffs. In a letter to lawmakers, the unions made their pitch for a bigger cut of funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act — with Minnesota receiving $2.2 billion in aid, roughly $700 million of which is going to first responders. They argue the proposed funding boost would come in handy as Minneapolis stares down an anticipated $100 million to $200 million budget shortfall. "Given that the Minneapolis Police Department constitutes approximately 9% of sworn law enforcement officers in the State and the Minneapolis Fire Department employs roughly 20% of all full-time licensed firefighters, we believe that Minneapolis should be in line to receive a substantial portion of the funds dedicated to assist police and fire departments," said the letter, signed by Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll and Mark Lakosky, head of Local 82, the firefighters union.  

The opioid epidemic is getting worse, and the COVID-19 pandemic could be to blame. For many folks who may be struggling, times of social isolation drive feelings of stress, anxiety and depression, and drug abusers use opioids to relieve this stress. Sara Goldsby, the director of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, says they have seen about a 30% increase in EMS response to overdose in the last few months. They say these are numbers that are similar across the entire United States as well as in South Carolina. "We know that people's routines have been altered," Goldsby says. "In fact, we see an elevated number of overdose incidents during the weekdays now, compared to we are used to seeing them over the weekends, so we know some things have shifted and changed with the social isolation and the circumstances."  

VIDEO: One artist is using his talent to create a reimagined version of iconic American images to honor essential workers amid the coronavirus pandemic. Scott LoBaido is popular for his murals of the American flag across the country. For more than 25 years, he's painted renditions of the flag on police stations, homes, cars, veterans buildings and more in all 50 states. LoBaido has now partnered with the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation for "Sunrise: A Tribute to First Responders." At 5 feet by 6 feet, the artwork is influenced by the iconic images of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima during World War II and firefighters raising the flag at ground zero on Sept. 11. In another touch to the image, LoBaido included a flyover of U.S. military aircraft in a nod to the recent America Strong flyover by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds, which was in honor of essential workers on the coronavirus frontlines.