NEW ORLEANS -- At least 11 people were missing and seven injured after an explosion and fire at an oil drilling platform off the coast of Louisiana, the Coast Guard said Wednesday. Most of the 126 people were believed to have escaped safely after the explosion at about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mike O'Berry said. It happened ...

SPRING HILL, FL — Spring Hill Fire Rescue Chief Mike Rampino said Thursday that he's looking into allegations that on-duty firefighters attended parties where alcohol was served earlier this year and that intoxicated women were allowed on fire station property. The allegations were made at Wednesday's district fire board meeting by Ridge Manor resident Rob Rogoski, who presented commissioners with about ...

VANDENBERG, CA - At 6 p.m. on Friday, June 25, the five-day search for Sean Daniel Fleming was suspended, according to officials in a press release. On Saturday, June 19, Fleming — a 32 year-old Vandenberg firefighter from Lompoc — parked his vehicle at Gaviota State Beach and took his kayak out into the ocean to fish. When Fleming failed to ...

SELDEN, N.Y. — A Long Island firefighter says he had a bad feeling as he rushed to a house fire. It claimed the life of a visitor — his brother. Selden volunteer Richie Zdenek tells Newsday that he knew when he saw the fire address Sunday that his brother was often at that house. Before he left home, he checked his ...

BROWNSVILLE, TN. - A medical helicopter crashed in stormy weather over western Tennessee early Thursday, killing its crew of three, around the same time another helicopter company had declined to go on a flight in the area because of the weather conditions. No patients were on board the helicopter operated by Hospital Wing when it crashed in a field about 55 ...

VENEZUELA - A British tourist has been killed by gunmen in Venezuela in a botched robbery attempt. Thomas Ossel, 28, was shot in the armpit after four armed men burst into the guest house where he was staying with his brother Jack, 21, police confirmed. The keen travellers were staying on the popular holiday island of Isla Margarita when the gunmen ...

D.C. police have opened a criminal investigation into the death of a 2-year-old girl who was not immediately taken to the hospital by emergency responders. The investigation will be handled by the homicide division's special victims unit, which looks into the death of any child younger than 13. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said investigators would "determine if there's any potential ...

PORTLAND - A 30-year-old Southeast Portland climber who fell off Beacon Rock and died Sunday evening was a firefighter-paramedic who worked in Oregon, Skamania County sheriff’s officials said. Nathan “Nate” Turner fell about 5:30 p.m., according to a bulletin from the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office. Rescuers first believed he’d only suffered a broken arm and leg. Skamania County Undersheriff Dave Cox ...

ANCHORAGE - Police on Wednesday identified the man killed in an apparently accidental shooting Tuesday as a 26-year-old Anchorage firefighter. Police say Elliott Taylor and a friend had just returned from shooting and were cleaning their weapons Tuesday evening when the friend's handgun fired a round that went through his hand and hit Taylor in the lower abdomen. Neighbor Kurt Spencer ...

MELBOURNE, Fla. -- A 72-year-old Florida woman was accidentally shot by her husband during a "robbery drill" the couple staged to practice how they'd respond to an intruder. The Brevard County Sheriff's Office says Arnold and Patricia Morris had little experience with guns, and the shooting Sunday was an clearly accidental. Arnold Morris called 911 after the .380-caliber pistol fired, and ...

KANAWHA, WVa - A massive search is underway in Raleigh County for a missing Kanawha County volunteer firefighter swept away in floodwaters early Saturday morning. It happened in the Beaver area when a fire department boat capsized during a swift water rescue attempt. MetroNews has learned the Kanawha County firefighter was in Raleigh County as part of a mutual aid agreement. ...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) - Police say they have identified at least two people suspected of jumping out of a van and beat two visiting Canadian firefighters outside an upstate New York bar. Police in Saratoga Springs say the two firefighters from Ontario were talking to two women in a minivan stopped at a downtown intersection outside an Irish pub early ...

NASHVILLE, Ind. — An Indiana fire captain has been killed while making repairs to a fire truck. Fifty-three-year-old Leonard Murray died Friday. He was a member of the fire department in Brown County's Jackson Township. It's near Nashville and about 40 miles south of Indianapolis. WTHR-TV says Murray was crushed to death when someone else accidentally started the truck as Murray ...

LOS ANGELES - Halfway up an embankment, below the junction of the 210 and 118 freeways, lay the charcoal remains of a man's life: charred newspapers and encyclopedias, a seared carpet, food cans popped open by intense heat. It was more than a year ago that gusty winds drove a wildfire from the canyons above Sylmar and down to the freeway ...

ROCKVILLE, Md.-- Four firefighters were rushed to the hospital after a roof collapsed on their heads while they were cleaning up after a fire on Wilmart Street in Rockville Wednesday night. The fire broke out on the 1700 block of Wilmart Street at around 7:25 p.m., according to Montgomery County Fire spokesperson Beth Anne Nesselt. "Three of the four firefighters will ...

DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. - Three men are dead and two medics safe after a fast-moving sport utility vehicle traveling in the wrong lane sideswipes an ambulance early Thursday. "An eyewitness indicated [the SUV] could have been going as fast as 100 mph," says Mark E. Brady, spokesman for Prince George's County Fire and EMS. "I shudder to think what would have ...

LOS ANGELES - A firefighter is recovering from several stab wounds after being attacked while responding to a medical emergency. The knife wielding attacker remains at large. Charles MacDougal was recently named paramedic of the year. He was set to receive that honor Thursday at the very hospital where he was rushed today. Tuesday, MacDougal came to the emergency room as ...

BANGKOK (AP) - A 603-pound (274-kilogram) woman believed to be the heaviest in Thailand left her apartment for the first time in three years Thursday with the help of Bangkok city hall and a forklift. Neighbors of 40-year-old Umnuayporn Tongprapai contacted the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority when they learned she needed medical attention to remove a tumor in her right leg. Bangkok's ...

PORTLAND - A Portland police officer accidentally used pepper spray instead of a fire extinguisher on a man who lit himself on fire downtown near a fur store Wednesday. Portland Police Bureau Chief Rosie Sizer said the officer was at a stoplight at Southwest 12th Avenue and Yamhill Street when she saw a man in flames. When the officer went to ...

HAMILTON, VA - It wasn't the most inconspicuous of vehicles to choose. But the lure of a fire engine apparently proved too much for a volunteer firefighter in Hamilton, Virginia, who allegedly took four colleagues on a drunken joyride at the weekend. Sean Swanson, 27, was arrested after he nearly crashed into a police patrol car as he sped down the ...