News Flash

Please view the Grapevine Fire Department's Annual Report.

One of the most frequent calls for Emergency Medical Services we receive is because someone has fallen. In the month of January, nearly 11% of our total calls for service are due to someone falling. Here are some things you can do to ensure you do not become one of our calls for service. 

In the event of a fire, a closed-door can isolate the fire’s flow, reduce room temperatures, and keep carbon monoxide levels down.  Closing your bedroom door can make a 900-degree difference! A room where a fire starts can reach 1000-degrees or more, but being in a room with a closed-door can reduce 900-degrees.  You can survive a 100-degree room!  

The side of a highway may be a complex environment, but it is also the daily workspace for law enforcement, first responders, and roadside construction and maintenance workers. Texas drivers can do their part to keep these workers safe by following the state’s “Move Over or Slow Down” law.

The Move Over or Slow Down law, which traditionally has required drivers to yield to police, fire, and emergency vehicles, has been expanded over the years to provide the same protections for TxDOT work crews and other roadside workers.

This law requires drivers to move over a lane or slow to 20 mph below the posted speed limit when approaching emergency vehicles, law enforcement, tow trucks, utility service vehicles, TxDOT vehicles, or other highway construction or maintenance vehicles using visual signals or flashing lights activated on the roadside. On roadways with posted speed limits of 25 miles per hour or less, drivers must reduce their speed to 5 miles per hour (Texas Transportation Code 545.157). Drivers who fail to give emergency and work crews space to safely do their jobs can receive a ticket with a fine of up to $200. If there is a crash that causes injury to a worker, drivers can be fined up to $2,000.

You only have about three minutes or less to escape once a fire starts in your home. Follow these steps to increase your chances of survival.

It can happen a hundred ways. A person's loose sleeve may catch fire on a hot stove. Someone may be working with gasoline or some other flammable liquid and then light a cigarette. They might spray lighter fluid on a smoldering barbecue fire and the resulting flames could catch their clothes on fire.

When a person's clothing catches on fire, action must be instinctive and immediate. There is no time to think. The one thing you should never do is run. To minimize a burn injury when your clothes catch fire, STOP, DROP, and ROLL.

Burns are among the most painful of injuries. The hands, groin, face, and lungs are at particular risk because they are delicate structures and easily injured. The healing process is slow and painful, resulting in enormous personal suffering.

Certain types of clothing are less flammable and resist flames more than other types of clothing. Heavier clothing and fabrics with a tight-knit weave burn more slowly compared with loose-knit clothing. Fabrics with a loose fit or a fluffy pile will ignite more readily than tight-fitting, dense fabric clothing. Synthetic fibers, such as nylon, once ignited, melt and burn causing severe burns. Natural fibers, such as cotton and wool, tend to burn more slowly than synthetic fibers. However, fibers that combine both synthetic and natural fibers may be of a greater hazard than fabric alone.

Curtains and draperies can be sprayed with flame retardants to reduce their rate of burning. However, these chemicals should not be applied to clothing. The principles of STOP, DROP, and ROLL are simple:

• Stop, do not run, if your clothes catch on fire.
• Drop to the floor in a prone position. Cover your face with your hands to protect it from the flames.
• Roll over and over to smother the fire. Don't stop until the flames have been extinguished.

If you are near someone whose clothing catches on fire, be sure to stop them from running and make them STOP, DROP and ROLL.

• Once the fire is out, you must treat a burn injury.
• Cool a burn with water.
• Then call 9-1-1.