VIDEO: Corpus Christi Fire Chief Brandon Wade was officially sworn into office Tuesday over at Corpus Christi City Hall. Wade joins the Corpus Christi Fire Department from Austin, where he previously served as assistant fire chief for the Austin Fire Department. 3NEWS spoke with Wade following Tuesday's ceremony. "The fire department belongs to the community and the fire department here in Corpus Christi has served the community for many many years, and they have done it at the highest levels. For me, I look to continue that effort," he said. When asked whether the fire department will see any immediate changes, Wade said his first order of business is to listen. He was joined by his family during Tuesday's swearing in ceremony.  

PHOTOS: The long-awaited grand opening of the City of Cleveland's new fire station was a major event on Friday, May 5, bringing together members of the community, local politicians, and representatives of firefighting from Liberty County and neighboring communities. Fire Station 2, located at the entrance of Grand Oaks Reserve near the crossroads of SH 321 and the SH 105 bypass, was constructed on land donated to the City of Cleveland by McKinley Development, the developer of the Grand Oaks Reserve neighborhood. The two-story, three-bay fire station is approximately 12,000 square feet and cost the City roughly $5 million. Designed with a brick veneer and board-and-batten siding was the inspiration of BRW Architects, Inc. The building, which broke ground in January 2022, was constructed by N & T Construction, Inc., of Beaumont.  

A fundraiser for beloved 24-year-old Jarrell firefighter Jake Owen, of Lorena, who is battling brain cancer was a huge success bringing out more than 500 friends and family and raising more than $100,000. "Jakefest" was held Saturday at Big's Mayberry Tavern in Lorena to raise money for medical expenses after Owen was diagnosed in January with a complex and cancerous brain tumor. "It was amazing," said Jake's aunt, Kristi Kane. "It was mind blowing, honestly. The love and support for Jake and his family was so evident between all the firemen and local people." The event included live music all day, food, and a silent and live auction. The silent auction included items donated by businesses from across Central Texas and raised more money than organizers expected. "We had 150 silent auction items, and they went for way over their values," Kane said.  

The Kyle Fire Department is looking for new firefighters and will soon add another fire station as growth in the city continues. "So we have watched it (Kyle) grow from 5,000 and we are approaching 90,000 in this area," said Mark Schultz, who moved to Kyle as a volunteer firefighter in 1999. With more people moving to Kyle, calls to Kyle Fire have increased significantly over the years. "We were running 500 calls when I first started volunteering," said Schultz. "Now we are going to run about 6,800 calls this year." In January Kyle Fire averaged about seven and a half minutes for a response, but right now they average about 6 and a half minutes. One resource that has helped is a system that helps fire engines get through intersections much easier. "It is the opticom system," said Schultz. "It controls the lights for us through our siren system."  

On May 9, 2013, a massive truck fire erupted on the ramp of Route 22/322 in Dauphin County. The fire caused many headaches for motorists and people around the area. According to abc27 media partner Lancaster Online/LNP, reports said that the truck was heading northbound when it flipped over on a ramp to Route 22/322 westbound. The bridge required emergency replacement due to the blaze. The construction required much of the span to be replaced and was done by High Steel and PennDOT.  

Tuesday, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) announced the launch of the modernization effort to develop a new, interoperable fire information and analytics platform, known as the National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS), for the American fire and emergency services. This effort is being carried out as a partnership between USFA and the US Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate (S&T). The goal of NERIS is to empower the local fire and emergency service community by equipping them with near real-time information and analytic tools that support data informed decision making for enhanced preparedness and response to incidents involving all-hazards.  

PHOTOS: I am betting there are many out there that would agree that there's something kinda cool about a shiny new fire engine. After all, isn't that why toy companies have been marketing toy versions of them to kids for the better part of the last hundred years?! As cool as a shiny new fire engine might be, it's even cooler when it's customized for the town it's going to serve, and even cooler still, when that customization comes at the hands of one of the fire department's very own! Meet Orono Firefighter, Dennis Bean. Having served as a full-time firefighter with the town since 1996, Bean's also been dabbling in a bit of a side hustle for the department, since then, too. While fighting fires is his main job for the town, according to the Orono Fire Department Facebook Pag Bean also has another skill set that he lends to the community: Bean's a pretty amazing artist.  

VIDEO: A newer safety feature on iPhones is creating an unexpected challenge for first responders. Crash detection technology automatically alerts 911 if you're in a crash. But it's also leading to false positives - emergency runs, with no emergency. That happened two times in two days last week in Johnson County. 911 dispatchers received a call and this automated message: "The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone." The distress call came through crash detection. That feature is on iPhone 14s and calls for help on your behalf if it senses you've been in a wreck. "It can measure pressure from the air bag going off inside the car, velocity, sound. So it kind of calculates all these things and says, 'Hey, you've had a severe crash here,'" said Bargersville Deputy Fire Chief Mike Pruitt.