Water poured through an east-side street as firefighters hosed down one of the original Church's Chicken restaurants. The fire crawled through the roof, sending a cloud of smoke into the early morning sky. SAFD officials said the restaurant is a total loss and the cause of the fire is unknown. The fire is also causing a problem for another church about 10 minutes down the road. Alvin Smith is the lead pastor at St. James AME Church. He said their Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless is next week. "When you look at the premise of our faith and what we believe, it's really about helping others," Smith said. Church member Susan Henry has been planning the special meal all year. Last year, 230 people showed up. "So many smiling faces, so many people who were grateful. It was overwhelming, it really was," Henry said.  

A multi-agency training exercise Saturday morning helped prepare local firefighters to keep their communities safe. Volunteer fire departments from Dodge, Riverside and Thomas Lake Road came together to learn new techniques for putting out fires in rural communities. After a bit of classroom work, attendees were taken to the Trinity River to practice swift water training, with instruction from South Montgomery Fire Department No. 2 battalion chief Michael Johnson. "In the rural communities we live in, it is highly unlikely that we will have access to fire hydrants, so we must find alternative ways to cycle water through our trucks," Riverside VFD president Larry Miller said. "It is always good to show the taxpayers where their money is going and to show them that we are working hard to keep them safe."  

VIDEO: A former Victory Outreach church on the west side was destroyed in a fire early Tuesday morning, the San Antonio Fire Department said. The incident took place around 2 a.m. in the 1000 block of South 39th Street near Castroville Road. Fire crews arrived to the heavy fire coming through the roof. Arson was called to the scene to investigate, but the cause of the fire was not reported.  

A new piece of apparatus will help the Bartlett Volunteer Fire Department to serve their community even better going forward. The fire crew used money from a grant to replace a slip-on unit, which will help them tackle wildfires. "We appreciate the new slip-on unit that will be used to fight grass, hay and wildland fires in our immediate rural area and during mutual aid calls that extends to parts of three counties," Bartlett VFD Senior Captain Scott Mason said. "The unit has foam capability and a 340-gallon water tank that increases the amount of water that we are able to take when we get a rural call." Bartlett VFD covers a 105 square mile area between Austin and Waco.  

It was an exciting morning for a mother, baby and firefighters with Station 67. Around 1:52 a.m. Monday, the baby boy made his exciting entry into the world in a van parked along the North Freeway near Gulf Bank in north Houston. "The engine and the ambulance were dispatched," said Joshua Ream, with the Houston Fire Department. "While we were en route, we were getting status updates that the patient was actively giving birth." When firefighters arrived, they found a white van on the shoulder of the freeway where a woman had just given birth in the front passenger seat. Firefighters said the new family was remarkably calm as they assisted the mother and newborn into the ambulance. "We found mom and baby in the front seat and baby was wrapped up," said Joseph Leon, with the Houston Fire Department.  

Lake Highlands Women's League member Jana Boswell delivered hundreds of homemade cookies and brownies baked by fellow members Friday to paramedics and firefighters at Station 28. The treats were part of the league's regular service to the community, but to Boswell the trip was anything but routine. In January, her 30-year-old daughter, Lindsay Casey, suffered cardiac arrest while home preparing her toddler for Sunday services. Husband, Scott, performed CPR until heroes from Station 28 arrived to save her. "You just can't imagine the impact you have on people's lives," Jana told the sheepish first responders. "Thank you." Battalion Chief Clint Conway accepted the goodies – and the praise – on behalf of the men and women of Station 28.  

It was the beginning of a hero's sendoff. Worcester fire officials promised Tina Menard and her three children a hero's sendoff for Lt. Jason Menard. It's a promise no fire department wants to fulfill, and one Worcester firefighters have had to deliver eight other times in the last 20 years. Firefighters, police officers and paramedics from across Massachusetts lined up outside Mercadante Funeral Home in Worcester on Sunday afternoon, paying their respects to Menard, who was killed in a four-alarm fire early Wednesday morning at 7 Stockholm St. Menard, 39, has been called a hero by fire officials and residents alike - as flames overtook the third floor of the building around 1 a.m. Wednesday, Menard pushed fellow Ladder 5 firefighter Chris Pace out a window to safety.  

The firehouse on Foulkrod and Darrah streets in Philadelphia's Frankford section has been without its engine for a decade, leaving some neighbors feeling vulnerable. "Because of all the families that are around here, all the people around here, they need the engine to save lives," said Sylvia Pickens, who lives across the street from the firehouse. During the recession in 2009, the Philadelphia Fire Department made cuts to save money, eliminating engines from firehouses in Frankford, Roxborough, Old City and South Philadelphia. "It really was a terrible time in the fire department because when you lose an engine, when you lose any kind of firefighting asset, it affects the whole community," said Deputy Commissioner Craig Murphy. "In my 32 years, a company that was decommissioned has been recommissioned."  

A recent report on the Durham Fire Department's response to the April 10 gas explosion downtown could bolster the department's request for 75 more firefighters. The Fire Department has about 385 people who fight fires. Having more would improve response times and on-scene efficiency, reducing injuries and property loss, according to a presentation the department gave the city in March, about a month before the explosion. The City Council approved an initial three new positions at a cost of $248,011. A six-year plan to hire all 75 firefighters would cost $4.8 million. "I am very interested in seeing their request come back to us, and I am sure we will look at it favorably," Mayor Steve Schewel said in an interview Monday.  

Corporations can be held legally responsible for the state's costs in investigating and fighting fires that are carelessly started or spread by corporate employees, a state appeals court ruled Monday. There has been no dispute that corporations can be required to pay compensation for deaths, injuries and property damage from fires caused by their employees, the source of at least $18 billion of the debt that drove Pacific Gas and Electric Co. into bankruptcy. But corporate responsibility for the state's firefighting expenses is a separate issue governed by state laws, whose meaning is a subject of disagreement among appellate courts. A state appeals court in Sacramento ruled in 2017 that the laws did not authorize the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, to recover costs from corporations whose employees may have negligently caused wildfires.  

Capt. Shawn Campana needed an escape. The stress and pressures of working in Miami-Dade Fire Rescue were beginning to weigh on her. Enter Charlie, a 3-year-old Greyhound she adopted in 2015. "There's light again," Campana said of Charlie, "and there hasn't been in some time. He was the only thing that made that happen." Four years later, she stood next to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and County Commissioner Sally Heyman as the trio announced the expansion of the K9 Response Program. The program, which Campana started in 2016, is designed to help first responders cope with occupational stress and victims in crisis situations. As a former firefighter, this program holds special place in Gimenez's heart. "I know firsthand how tough it can be to see the loss of life that we often have to face," Gimenez told reporters Monday at Haulover Park in Northeast Miami-Dade. The program, a leader across the nation, has two functions.