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The funding was contingent on criteria including that the structures meet certain standards of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. G.W. Mitchell & Sons won the contract with a bid that was about $327,000 lower than the highest.

Construction is now set to begin in October and last about a year. By accepting the stimulus money, the city will be able to reprogram $4 million in certificates of obligation — bonds that don’t require voter approval — originally set aside for the fire station projects.

Fire Chief Charles Hood told the council the new station’s personnel and equipment, including the city’s second technical rescue team, will still come online in October as originally scheduled.

“All of those resources will be deployed in (District on Oct. 1,” he said. They will be temporarily located at Fire Station 47, on I-10 near the Dominion.

Councilman Reed Williams lauded the project, pointing out the station’s cost is not far beyond the original estimate — before the plans were upgraded to meet the federal green standards.

“We’re really only about $300,000 over our original budget,” he said.

Fire Station 51 won’t be the city’s first LEED-certified building. By the time it’s functioning next year, the city will have already opened the Parman Library in District 9.

The council is also expected to approve a construction contract later this month for Fire Station 50, which will serve District 3. It too will be LEED-certified.

Also, the Police Department plans two projects, including its new headquarters, as green buildings.

Councilman Justin Rodriguez extolled the Fire Station 51 project. “This is a good example of leveraging those federal dollars and putting them to good use,” he said.

The fire was inside a tower referred to as a coal vat. Responding firefighters initially flushed the tower with water to extinguish the flames, said Deborah Foster, public information officer with the San Antonio Fire Department.

Following that initial flush, they flooded the vat with CO2 to extinguish any remaining embers, Foster said.

Damage was minimal since it was contained within the coal vat itself, she said.

The possible changes would allow the department to accept recruits who have used drugs when they were juveniles and who have more driving violations than currently would disqualify them, according to fire department officials.

Fire Department Assistant Chief Noel Horan Jr. said the department regularly reviews the recruitment process. “Our rules are always being evaluated,” Horan said. “We’re looking at the entire hiring process. We just want to apply common sense to the rules.”

A committee that included representatives of the city manager’s office and human resources department worked with fire officials to review the rules.

Firefighter employment eligibility is governed by local and state laws. The Fire Fighters’ and Police Officers’ Civil Service Commission ultimately decides what changes can be made to the local codes that govern both the police and fire departments.

The department declined to release a copy of its full final draft of the proposed changes because it had not been approved by the civil service commission. The commission will get its first look at the proposal today.

Currently, for both the police and fire departments, applicants are deemed unsuitable if they have used hallucinogenic drugs, illegally used or abused prescription medicines or illegally used anything listed in the Texas Controlled Substances Act, like cocaine or heroin, regardless of age of use, according to officials.

But under the proposal, Horan said, fire department applicants under 17 would be eligible to apply five years after the most recent date of use for those same drugs. The rules would also increase the number of hazardous moving violations an applicant can have before he or she is deemed unsuitable, he said.

Few applicants are disqualified from employment because of drug use, he added. The most common reason is because applicants simply don’t follow the necessary instructions, like showing up at a specific time.

Both Horan and Fire Chief Charles Hood said they do not believe the proposed changes would incur any additional risk and said the department still would have some of the most stringent standards in the state

The Midland Fire Department has responded to a call on State Hwy 158 at 1:08pm. Greenwood, Northeast and Midland Fire Departments are all on scene. They are currently trying to contain 3 grass fires in the area that look to be spread over 8 acres.

No structures are threatened at this time. It is thought to have started on the side of the road. Law enforcement is also on scene to control traffic.

The flames burned up grass and discarded railroad ties but no homes or buildings were in any danger. No word yet on what started the fires.

Making sure to turn cooking gear off may seem like common sense. After Wednesday morning’s fire, Lubbock Fire Marshall Garret Nelson wants to remind people to pay close attention.

“We leave thinking that we’re going to come right back and then we get out there and start visiting with a neighbor, something happens where you get your mind off the job at hand. The next thing you know, ‘oh no I’ve left that thing on the stove’ and you go running back and now there’s a fire.”

The fire isn’t the only hazard. Covenant Emergency Room Doctor Juan Fitz says just as much danger lies in the thick smoke. “There are other entities that people don’t always think about and those are toxic fumes, carbon monoxide, and you’re going to get cyanide which is very deadly,” Fitz said.

We asked Dr. Fitz what happens to your body when you’re exposed to so much smoke. “Well the things that are going to happen are basically swelling in the lungs. You’re basically not going to be able to breathe; it’s preventing you from breathing only because of the swelling of the airways.”

What concerns Nelson most is that the smoke detector in the apartment didn’t have batteries. Even though the woman stepped out, if the smoke detector had been working, someone else could have heard the alarm. “It’s just a good reminder to test your smoke detector make sure you test them at least once a month and change your batteries at least once a year,” Nelson said.

We talked with someone with the complex and they said that apartment #212 was the only one that had smoke damage and that no one else would have to be displaced. One of the apartments upstairs did have their back window broken to get some of the smoke out.

The Houston Fire Department dispatched personnel and equipment to the scene to help the Pasadena firefighters, which is common in larger fires. Heavy flames could been seen along the building’s roof. The cause of the fire is not known.

Firefighters made a fast attack in an attempt to get the fire under control, but had to restrain one tenant from running back into his burning apartment.

Two units were damaged. One sustained heavy fire damage and the other received smoke and water damages.

Fire officials said the tenant was home at the time when the fire began on his mattress. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but officials said the tenant may have been smoking in bed.