ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The commute along Interstate 270 is always grueling, but a massive gasoline fire on Montrose Road Thursday morning made it worse than normal. So how bad has the commute been? "On a scale of one to 10 for Montgomery County, I'm going to give it a nine," says WTOP Traffic Reporter Lisa Baden. The huge fire on Montrose ...

BALTIMORE - Three firefighters were injured Wednesday night while battling a fire in East Baltimore, officials said. A fire broke out just before 11 p.m. in a vacant two-story brick building in the 1100 block of North Patterson Ave., according to fire department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright. One firefighter battled the fire from the roof, fell through, and suffered an injured ...

CHICAGO (WLS) - The Chicago Fire Department loaded up 700 packages to be sent to U.S. troops overseas for the holidays Monday. Firefighters and paramedics dug into their own pockets and raised money to buy products for U.S. troops. Firefighter LeeAnn McKay who organizes the holiday packages says the troops are very grateful. "The military just loves it. They're just so ...

REDLANDS, Calif. -- The Fire Department is investigating two separate arson cases and is reaching out to the public for help. Investigators are hoping someone will come forward with information that could help solve two unrelated series of fires, one in the area of Post Street in north Redlands, and one at an apartment complex on Barton Road. "Someone may have ...

SAN JOSE - Firefighters who arrived at a burning house in San Jose on Wednesday saw a horrifying sight — a man standing in the entryway with his clothes on fire. Two firefighters pulled the man from the house on Tampa Way, rolled him on the grass and began administering medical treatment, according to fire Capt. Chuck Rangel. He was transported ...

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) - A Los Alamos firefighter has been charged with indecent exposure after an incident in Albuquerque on Sunday afternoon. The Los Alamos Monitor says a Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputy responded to a call about a man exposing himself about 1:30 p.m. Sunday near a bridge on Alameda Boulevard. The victim, a woman, was walking and saw a ...

SAN FRANCISCO - A dozen cats died in a fire that damaged the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society early today, authorities said, but a woman who lives above the animal shelter is crediting her pit bull mix with waking her up and saving her life. The fire broke out in a dryer at the shelter at 2700 Ninth Street in west Berkeley ...

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Forget "Fore!" "Fire!" was the cry of the day for a golfer whose off-target swing sparked a 12-acre blaze in Southern California. The golfer at the Shady Canyon Golf Course in Irvine landed a shot in the rough Saturday. On his next swing, his club snagged a rock, causing a spark that lit the rough ablaze and ...

REHOBOTH -- Family, friends and colleagues of a Rehoboth firefighter who died of a heart attack responding to a call are paying their final respects. The wake for firefighter Ken Marshall Jr. is scheduled Wednesday at the Foley Hathaway Funeral Home in Attleboro. The funeral is slated Thursday at the Community Covenant Church with a burial at nearby Oak Knoll Cemetery. ...

LOS ANGELES — Motorists jumped from vehicles to kick open doors and help about two dozen third-graders out of a blazing school bus that had stalled on a busy freeway Wednesday near Universal Studios Hollywood, authorities and witnesses said. Two children complained of minor smoke inhalation and were examined by paramedics, but the driver and other youngsters were not injured. The ...

Illinois lawmakers approved legislation Thursday that reduces pension benefits for future local police officers and firefighters. The measure also requires greater contributions from municipalities over the next 30 years to catch up with underfunded retirement programs. The Senate voted 46-4 on the bill, sending it to Gov. Pat Quinn. A spokeswoman would not say whether Quinn would sign it. Police and ...

To Donate to the Ashland Fire Department email FireLink member Karpone at: karpone62@aol.com ASHLAND — Fire companies from as far away as New Jersey are planning to donate gear and apparatus to the Ashland Fire Department in the wake of Sunday’s devastating fire that destroyed Ashland’s firehouse and adjacent town hall. A human chain of volunteeers fought to save files of ...

ANNAPOLIS, MD - A four-alarm fire in an historic Annapolis retail district just a block from the State House damaged two buildings and put on a show for tourists, but a quick response by firefighters appeared to have held losses to a minimum. The Saturday afternoon fire broke out in a space between the buildings at 54 and 56 Maryland Ave. ...

MANCHESTER CITY, UK - "Getting verbally abused is the norm but this was no way near normal - in my 26 years as a paramedic I have never been subjected to an attack like this." Ann Sumner had much of her hair pulled out of her head, she was punched and scratched and left with a form of whiplash in her ...

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A group of New York firefighters rolled into Fayetteville Thursday morning to bring Christmas cheer to wounded soldiers. About 30 firefighters from Long Island arrived at Womack Army Medical Center on Fort Bragg shortly before noon to distribute gifts they carried in a U-Haul truck, from laptop computers to iPods, to soldiers wounded in combat. The effort, ...

TULSA, OK – Now that Tulsa's laid-off police officers may be coming back, some are wondering about the sacrifices Tulsa firefighters made to keep the city's budget balanced. Tulsa police lost officers, while the fire department lost pay. City leaders say it doesn't have to be a competition between Tulsa's finest and Tulsa's bravest. If the police department gets more money ...

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Two interstate highways were temporarily closed after lightning struck a large gasoline tank early yesterday in North Carolina, officials said. The closed sections of interstates 40 and 73 through Greensboro were reopened within hours, the North Carolina Department of Transportation said. The tank’s owner, Colonial Pipeline Co., said the burning gasoline was extinguished by firefighters using special foam, ...

FORT ERIE - A woman is trapped inside a crashed, burning car energized by fallen hydro wires. Every time she touches the car's frame to get out, she gets shocked by the wires' electrical power vibrating through the vehicle. That is the scene volunteer firefighter Captain Robert Puttick arrived to Saturday. Off-duty during the 9:30 p.m. crash, Puttick said when he ...

TUCSON, Ariz. — An evacuation order has been lifted for residents of three communities near a southeast Arizona wildfire. The Forest Service said Friday that fire crews will stay around Paradise, Cave Creek and the Southwest Research Center to patrol the area for fires. Meanwhile, the Horseshoe Two fire has risen to nearly 50,000 acres and is 40 percent contained. Fire ...

HORRY COUNTY, SC - Garry Alderman was heading onto an overpass at S.C. 31 en route to a fire call a year ago this week when he spotted embers flying overhead, "like fireflies." The Horry County Fire Rescue chief knew then that this was no routine emergency response. The blaze racing toward S.C. 22 would eventually be labeled the most destructive ...