AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An Austin firefighter who allegedly posted nude photos of himself online has been fired for conduct unbecoming a member of the department. Fire Chief Mae Kerr on Wednesday put Alejandro Garza on indefinite suspension without pay. A disciplinary memo from Kerr says Garza included information online that identified him as an Austin firefighter. A citizen's complaint in ...

COLORADO SPRINGS - The collapsing floor in front of Paul Jensen didn’t fool the firefighter for a second Wednesday night. Jensen and another firefighter escaped injury while fighting a fire that tore through a northwest Colorado Springs house. A homeowner and his sister arrived shortly after 7 p.m. to find smoke coming form the man’s house at 2235 Kirby Court, said ...

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A parked Spokane Fire Department engine with nobody at the wheel rolled into a home where firefighters were making an aid call. Fire Chief Bobby Williams says the truck had been parked about 100 yards from the home Wednesday night. Shortly after medics walked inside, they heard the crash. KXLY-TV reports the engine knocked down porch supports ...

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore police officer has been taken to a trauma center after crashing his police cruiser into a city fire engine. It happened around 10 a.m. in west Baltimore. City fire department spokesman Kevin Cartwright says the fire engine had responded to a report of an injured person. Firefighters were trying to locate that person when the police car ...

RAYMORE, MO - A contract worker examining a Raymore sewer drain was swept through the 24-inch pipe this morning — then found alive about 90 minutes later after traveling more than a mile through the system. A city worker and firefighters heard the 27-year-old man scream for help, popped open a manhole and found him about 9:30 a.m., curled up in ...

UPDATE 5:02 p.m.: ABC 7's Kris Van Cleave reports that the firefighter is conscious and talking. The fire engine involved has been taken to another location, possibly a county yard in Lanham, to be checked out. Original story 4:07 p.m.: A volunteer Prince George's firefighter was critically injured in a fall from a fire engine while responding to a house fire ...

TORONTO - Finding ways to cut spending and save money will almost certainly top the to-do list for Toronto’s next mayor. If elected, Councillor Rob Ford has vowed to pursue drastic measures such as reducing the size of city council and shrinking the municipal work force. But it’s a pledge by mayoral candidate George Smitherman that may be the most contentious. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City firefighter suspected in a fatal hit-and-run has been placed on administrative duty while authorities investigate the incident. Investigators were trying to determine if the firefighter was behind the wheel of the car when it struck and killed a pedestrian in Brooklyn on Sunday. They said Patrick Quagliariello walked into a Brooklyn precinct hours ...

CHICAGO (AP) - Bond was set at $50,000 for a 27-year-old Chicago man accused of stealing an ambulance over the weekend while two paramedics treated someone he apparently knew in the back. Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said Jimmy McCoy allegedly jumped into the stopped ambulance and drove off with the emergency lights on. The paramedics then radioed that they're ...

EMMITSBURG, MD - A firefighter declared "Mayday" and was rescued by fire personnel who were with him at the scene of a fire in Emmitsburg this afternoon, said Wayne Powell, a retired public information officer for Vigilant Hose Company. "When a firefighter gets in trouble, gets trapped, can't find their way out, they declare 'Mayday,' Powell said. In this case the ...

KING COUNTY, WA - A King County judge said Friday that the "mental picture" she envisioned of a Seattle firefighter awarded $12.75 million for injuries he suffered in an on-duty fall didn't square with secretly shot video later showing him chopping wood and performing other activities. But Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead also sharply questioned a request by attorneys for the ...

BERLIN — A 650-foot ferry was ablaze in the Baltic Sea on Saturday after an explosion on the upper deck, officials said. Firefighting ships stopped spraying the vessel, fearing that it would capsize and spill around 170 tons of fuel. There were 204 passengers and 32 crew members who were rescued by six ships that moved in to help after the ...

Here’s a real-life variation on what you might call a lifeboat dilemma, in which you are asked what would you do in this situation, and why. It occurred over the weekend in northwest Tennessee, up near the Missouri line. OBION COUNTY, Tenn. – Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won’t respond, then watches it burn. That’s exactly ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Officials in Michigan are seeking the return of hockey equipment taken while an off-duty firefighter was helping a woman trapped in a burning car. Ann Arbor battalion chief Robert Vogel says Monday that the bag of gear either was taken from the bed of John Maguire's truck or plucked from the ground nearby where it had fallen ...

RACINE - It was a terrifying situation for more than a dozen children: being trapped on a Ferris wheel for three hours. Luckily, one of the people trapped with them was an off-duty firefighter. Capt. Nick Comande of the Racine Fire Department was riding the Ferris wheel at Racine's Party on the Pavement festival with his 9-year-old daughter Rachel. He had ...

ST. LOUIS - Three police officers, one firefighter and two park rangers were honored by members of St. Charles Elks Lodge 690 at a reception last month for their community service and heroism. Recipients included: St. Charles City park rangers Sgt. Paul Jokerst and Christina Gonzalez, St. Charles Sheriff's Deputy Ron Neupert, St. Charles Police Officer Michael Davis, St. Peters Police ...

DERBY, NY - A 49-year-old volunteer firefighter from Derby was struck and killed by a school bus shortly before dawn Monday at an intersection not far from his home. Ronald Wattie, of Revere Drive, had to be freed from under the school bus that struck him at about 6:55 a.m. at Erie Road (Route 5) and Revere in the Town of ...

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (AP) - A 50-pound gas tank dumped in a Massachusetts salvage yard has exploded and rocketed into the air before crashing through solar panels and the roof of a nearby home and landing in a bedroom. Fire department Deputy Chief Thomas Levy says two people were at the home in Bridgewater, a town of about 25,000 residents just south ...

Barbara Skees, 57, is retiring from Orange County Fire Rescue this month as the agency's longest-serving female firefighter. Skees will have spent 30 years and one month with the department when she retires Oct. 28. During that time, she's gone from one of a handful of women working in the field to one of many – and inspired her son to ...

CLEVELAND - Cleveland firefighters brought home three titles from the Tennessee Ultimate Firefighter (TUFF) competition held recently at the Tennessee Fire and Codes Academy in Bell Buckle. Sixteen firefighters from the Cleveland Fire Department competed in the event to benefit the Tennessee Fallen Firefighters Memorial. “I am proud that Cleveland firefighters compete in this event each year,” stated Chief Chuck Atchley. ...