SWEET HOME — Many heads turned skyward as EMT/firefighter Alex Thompson carefully climbed to the top of the 105-foot ladder mounted to one of the community’s newer fire trucks Saturday morning during the third annual safety fair sponsored by the city. This event has been renamed the Jim Bean Memorial Safety Fair in honor of the longtime city councilman who died ...

PHILADELPHIA - There were moments when Upper Darby Police Officer Raymond Blohm thought about quitting his dream job and never returning to the streets again. "I had doubts and, yes, a lot of sleepless nights at first," he said of a shooting this year that left him injured and struggling with questions about his career. Blohm was among 39 police officers ...

BREVARD COUNTY, FL - Brevard County Fire-Rescue has boosted its force with the swearing-in of 37 new firefighters. Firefighters received their badges and were sworn in during a ceremony at the Brevard County Government Center Commission Chambers in Viera. Each new firefighter successfully completed an 8-week orientation class where they were evaluated with both written and hands-on evaluation to ensure proficiency ...

When EMS members responded to a call for two cars on the side of the road, they might have assumed there was a minor accident. But instead, there's a woman with no pulse, a burn victim and a hostage that pops out of the trunk of one car. It's not necessarily a typical day on the job. The good news? It's ...

CHARLES TOWN, W. VA - A chapter of American History has officially closed. Frank Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of World War I, died of natural causes Sunday at the age of 110 in his Charles Town, W. Va., home, a family spokesman said in a statement. Eager to serve his country and escape the tedium of farm life in ...

LYNNFIELD — Fire Lieutenant Keith Gauvreau, 48, had just arrived at a brush fire Thursday when he said he was not feeling well and then collapsed and fell to the ground. He was not visibly breathing, and his fellow firefighters could not find a pulse. The 27-year Lynnfield Fire Department veteran had suffered a major heart attack. “He was in trouble,’’ ...

INDIANAPOLIS - The Fishers Fire Department rescued an ice fisherman who broke through the ice at Geist Reservoir this morning. The victim was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, said fire Capt. Ron Lipps. The rescue happened at about 7:30 a.m. near Fall Creek and Brook School roads. The victim was ice fishing when the ice gave way, Lipps said. Neighbor ...

OKLAHOMA CITY — Record-busting rainfall in Oklahoma led to a day of dramatic rescues from swift floodwaters, but officials and residents acknowledged the outcome could have been far worse. No one had to be hospitalized Monday, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. There was just one unconfirmed report of a death, in Lawton on Monday night. Stranded motorists climbed ...

BOSTON - Residents heard the fire alarms just before 2 p.m., but thought little of them as they made their way down the stairs of their 10-story condominium building in the Back Bay. But the alarm turned out to be the largest firefighting operation the city has seen in recent years — flames roared out the seventh-floor windows, and smoke billowed ...

WORCESTER - Scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute today demonstrated new technologies that could save the lives of firefighters trapped inside burning buildings. At WPI's annual conference on indoor location tracking for rescue workers, held in Worcester, researchers demonstrated new electronic systems that cut in half the average time needed to track down a lost firefighter. "The technology's actually better than we ...

According to sheriff's deputies in the St. Tammany Parish, a man was arrested yesterday and charged with the first-degree murder of Battalion Fire Chief David Smith. Local news WDSU reports that the suspect was trying to buy a Camaro from the off-duty fire chief when the exchange became heated. The fire chief was found shot to death and stuffed into a ...

CHELSEA - There may not have been fire in a Chelsea apartment yesterday morning, but firefighters responding to a call of smoke found something else. Firefighters who arrived at a Lafayette Avenue apartment complex just after midnight yesterday came upon a home invasion in progress in the same apartment. Police responded, and one of the suspects was arrested and charged with ...

DULLES, Va. - A search and rescue team from Fairfax County returned home from Japan early Sunday morning. Virginia Task Force 1 spent the last week searching for survivors around the seaport city of Ofunato, without success. Spokeswoman Renee Stilwell says a team from Los Angeles was also pulled out because the weather conditions in northern Japan make it unlikely there ...

Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- A dog that fell into a 30-foot hole appears to be in good condition after being rescued by firefighters. The Sacramento Bee reports that after 13-year-old yellow Labrador was discovered stuck down the narrow hole around 4:45 p.m. Friday, a firefighter was lowered by rope to pull the dog out. A Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District official says ...

County Firefighter Justin Davidson went to his parents' Pennsylvania home last weekend to relax. But before he could finish his nap Sunday afternoon, his parents, John and Pamela Davidson, woke him up screaming that the house was on fire. Wearing mesh shorts and an Anne Arundel County Fire Department T-shirt, Davidson, 28, who lives in Baltimore, shot out of his childhood ...

It had to be the luck of the Irish. Cape Coral firefighter/engineer Ryan Corlew, dressed as a leprechaun in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, picked the right door and won the grand prize on “Let’s Make a Deal” — a 2010 Mustang with a $21,845 price tag. “I couldn’t believe it. The green leprechaun got the gold Mustang,” said Corlew, 38, ...

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma City police officers and firefighters squared off against each other in a jalapeno eating contest Tuesday at the Whataburger at NW 36 and MacArthur Boulevard. The firefighters won and received a $750 check to be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The police officers received a $250 check that will be donated to the Police Action League. ...

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 ...