An El Paso firefighter died after collapsing during physical training at a fire station, the El Paso Fire Department announced late Tuesday night. "It is with a broken heart that we announce the passing of one of our brothers, FST Eduardo Ramirez," the Fire Department said in a tweet. Details on when Ramirez died and what station he was assigned to were not immediately available late Tuesday. "Rest In Peace FST Eduardo Ramirez. Thank you for your service. Please keep the family and friends of FST Ramirez in your prayers," Eastridge-Mid-Valley city Rep. Henry Rivera said in a tweet.  

The Holcombe Road Fire in Crockett County has now moved into Val Verde County and has burned more than 17,000 acres. As previously reported, on April 19, firefighters with the Texas A&M Forest Service were called in to fight a wildfire along with Crockett County firefighters near Holcomb Road at around 7 p.m. According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, on the first day, fire behavior was very active with short runs and torching juniper. The local VFD was accompanied by a dozer and a UTV from Fort Stockton. A dozer and a type six engine from San Angelo were also called in. Now that more resources have arrived they have set up a perimeter around the fire in hopes of stopping the spread. Extreme weather is expected in the area in the next few days. With that, officials with the TAMFS are hoping to contain the fire before the storms move in.  

The next leader of the College Station Fire Department acknowledges one of his first challenges as the new fire chief will be possible cuts to the agency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The city of College Station is asking all departments, including police and fire, to submit budget proposals for the next fiscal year that include a possible 10% cut. Richard Mann begins his new job as the chief of the College Station Fire Department on May 11. "This is definitely a challenging time to come in, especially with the budget crisis," said Mann. "I've already looked at an overview of the budget and it will difficult to shave 10% off, but every department is being asked to look at those challenges and see where some of the deferments can be made until later."  

A San Antonio fire station where six firefighters tested positive for COVID-19 will remain closed until the quarantine period is over for 41 personnel, SAFD Chief Charles Hood said Tuesday during a special City Council meeting. Hood said that in addition to the six firefighters infected for the coronavirus, a few family members have also contracted the disease. Fire Station No. 14 has been cleaned professionally, and work is pending on air conditioning ducts and other station maintenance issues, Hood said. Remaining personnel have been deployed to other fire stations, Hood said. The fire chief also informed Mayor Ron Nirenberg and council members during the video conference that SAFD has made 568 COVID-19 contact calls from March 24 to April 20. During that time, 326 people were transported to hospitals for evaluation and treatment.  

Roma Volunteer Fire Department received an excess military truck from the Department of Defense Firefighter Property Program and a grant through the Rural Volunteer Fire Department Assistance Program. According to a news release, the grant was used to help purchase a slip-on unit converting the vehicle into a tanker for firefighting. Both programs are run by Texas A&M Forest Service. "One of the stipulations in accepting this military truck was that it be painted a nonmilitary color," said Roma Fire Chief Alfredo Garza. "The department did all the sanding and painting on the truck and a local welder did the metal work, building a roll-over cage and front end protection that will allow us to get into the brushy areas without damaging the truck."  

While people are trying to honor and help out first responders, the Corpus Christi Fire Department is turning the tables. Instead, they're showing their generosity by helping others while off duty. The Corpus Christi Fire Department stays busy putting out fires and responding to health emergencies. Tuesday, firefighters took time to respond to a different kind of call. A crew transported important items in one of their units to the Coastal Bend Food Bank. "They cleaned out their lockers, bring stuff from home," said Battalion Chief Tony Perez. "We filled up a fire truck, and we filled the bed of a pickup truck." The first responders formed a human assembly line and unloaded nearly 1,000 pounds of food to the Coastal Bend Food Bank. "As hard as food is to get right now we think that it was a good idea," said Perez.  

St. Albans firefighters and EMTs carry a lot of heavy equipment around to help keep people safe. Now they have a much lighter tool to work with as well. "When we do a treatment ‘is your pain better or worse, the same?' and I thought ‘that's not good enough' we have to have something that we can use to communicate more effectively," says Lt. Chris Collins with the St. Albans Fire Department. So Collins was brought on board to help develop the "EMT communication card" that will help those who may be deaf, hard of hearing, have and intellectual disability or maybe autism communicate with first responders. "A lot of times they can't verbalize their symptoms, but they can point to a picture easier than they can verbalize what's going on with them we found using pictographs is a more effective way of communicating with those folks as well," Collins adds.  

A technique that zaps airborne viruses with a narrow-wavelength band of UV light shows promise for curtailing the person-to-person spread of COVID-19 in indoor public places. The technology, developed by Columbia University's Center for Radiological Research, uses lamps that emit continuous, low doses of a particular wavelength of ultraviolent light, known as far-UVC, which can kill viruses and bacteria without harming human skin, eyes and other tissues, as is the problem with conventional UV light. "Far-UVC light has the potential to be a ‘game changer,'" said David Brenner, professor of radiation biophysics and director of the center. "It can be safely used in occupied public spaces, and it kills pathogens in the air before we can breathe them in." The research team's experiments have shown far-UVC effective in eradicating two types of airborne seasonal coronaviruses (the ones that cause coughs and colds).  

For one Good Samaritan group in southern Georgia, good things come in threes. The coronavirus has sickened 19,398 people in Georgia and killed 774 people as of this writing, straining the resources of first responders. The Community Warriors, a volunteer group known for its benevolent deeds in and around Columbus, Ga. have stepped up once again to help its neighbors and provide relief for first responders. The group of mostly veterans has answered the call to assist 911 and the Columbus Fire and EMS by dispatching three person teams to respond to nonemergency calls. "Because of the pandemic, his staff [interim fire Chief Greg Lang's] is getting stretched a little bit more," Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson said. "I tell you those guys [The Community Warriors] are exactly what they bill themselves as," Henderson added.  

Governor Janet Mills' administration announced Tuesday the launch of a new volunteer phone support service, the FrontLine WarmLine, to help Maine health care workers and first responders manage the stress of serving on the front lines of the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The FrontLine Warmline serves health care professionals, such as physicians, nurses and counselors, as well as emergency medical services personnel, law enforcement, and others who are directly responding to the pandemic in Maine. The line is staffed by volunteer professionals activated through Maine Responds, including licensed psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, social workers, and nurse practitioners, who can help callers to deal with anxiety, irritability stress, poor sleep, grief or worry and, if needed, connect them with additional supports.  

The shortage of PPE is getting worse, with hundreds of medical professionals and first responders paying the ultimate price. But if the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it's that people are resourceful. Scientists at a crime lab in Kansas, for example, deduced a method to use evidence drying cabinets to decontaminate N95 masks for multiple uses. Now, an engineering team from Michigan Tech University has Macgyvered a refrigerated shipping container, commercial-grade baking sheets and modified oven into a prototype mobile sanitation unit. The team, which includes the family unit of Dan and Amy Barnard and cousin Andrew, is actively working with a team from the FDA to get approval for Emergency Use Authorization so they can make the design and licensing widely available to communities and healthcare facilities. The design and technology behind the idea is simple, yet ingenious.