VIDEO: It is a statistic the San Antonio Fire Department is beyond proud to announce: no firefighter has died from cancer since 2023.

It is a big decrease from the eight deaths reported from 2013 to 2023.

“I was with the hazmat team when I first started out, with the chemicals and what have you,” Lt. Carlos Esquivel said, who has served with the department for 25 years.

Four years ago, Esquivel showed up to the firefighter wellness fair, which offers cancer screenings.

“The fair, it caught my cancer. I had melanoma. I was able to take care of it,” Esquivel said. “It’s one of the quickest spreading cancers, so if you don’t catch it, if we wouldn’t have had this fair, I don’t think I’d have gone to a dermatologist.”

When it was mentioned that the outcome could have been different, he said, “Yes, you’d be talking to my wife.”

In 2018, KSAT interviewed the wife of firefighter Todd “Woody” Woodcock, who died of cancer in 2016. His death prompted changes that KSAT has been covering for the past eight years.

SAFD started changing cleaning and equipment protocols. KSAT even got a look inside the program that swaps out dirty gear after fires. Those big changes became a model for departments in other cities.

KSAT-TV ABC 12 San Antonio

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PHOTOS: Emergency crews said it will be several weeks before they can clean up from a train derailment in Stevens County. The train cars were empty when the train derailed south of Addy Thursday morning. No one was hurt. Stevens County Emergency Management says the rail line was previously damaged in Chewelah and just reopened Thursday, only to have the train derail on this section of track.

KXLY-TV ABC 4 Spokane

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A Lake Forest Paramedic/Firefighter will be trading in her fire helmet for stripes, hockey pads and ice skates after she was named an official Hockey Referee for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy.

Sam Hiller, who has previously refereed Chicago Wolves games at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, was one of 10 females from the United States chosen to work as a hockey official at the Olympics, the city of Lake Forest announced on their Facebook.

“By day, she rushes into burning buildings and saves lives in our community,” the city announced. “Come February, she’ll be making split-second calls on the world’s biggest stage as the best hockey players on the planet compete for Olympic gold.”

The city said Hiller embodies dedication, quick thinking, and composure under pressure that defines both professions.

“Whether it’s a five-alarm fire or a five-on-three power play, she stays cool when things heat up,” officials continued.

Lake & McHenry County Scanner

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Fire Station 39 will include four apparatus bays, a direct-source exhaust capture system, a self-contained PPE storage room, crew sleeping quarters (12 bunk rooms), a kitchen, offices, a fitness facility, and more.

The post Seminole County (FL) FD Celebrates Station 39 Grand Opening appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.

Firefighter Howard Bennett of the Camden (NJ) Fire Department died after falling through ice at Wiggins Park Marina while working on a fire boat.

The post Veteran Firefighter Who Drowned at NJ Marina Is Identified appeared first on Fire Apparatus: Fire trucks, fire engines, emergency vehicles, and firefighting equipment.