Predictions of an early and vicious fire season are coming true, especially in a swath of the Southwest where extreme drought and a killing freeze this winter combined to desiccate grass and shrubs. Fire restrictions are in place on most state and federal lands throughout Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Dangerous fires break out daily. Southeastern Arizona, including the Tucson area, ...

DAYTONA BEACH -- A city firefighter has been offered a deal that would give her more than $500,000 over the next three years, and she would never once have to show up for work. At their meeting Wednesday night, city commissioners agreed to the deal that would put the firefighter on paid leave until she retires. The firefighter, Kristine Gray, signed ...

FAIRFAX, Va. - A Fairfax teenager died in an electrical accident Tuesday night. Officials and neighbors say the 17-year-old boy had been using a power saw to trim trees in the 4200 block of Berritt Street in Fairfax City when the accident occurred about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. The teenager, a student at Fairfax High School, was working about 10 feet from ...

CONCEPCION, Chile (AP) - When their 13th-floor apartment began to shake, Alberto Rozas pulled his 7-year-old daughter into the bathroom doorway and waited for it to stop. Instead, they fell. Plummeting as their brand-new apartment building toppled like a felled tree, they hugged each other all the way down. Rozas had no idea which way was up until he looked through ...

TAMPA - Ronald W. Harris Sr., the victim burned by his son Ronald Harris Jr., has succumbed to his injuries. Harris died shortly before 6 p.m., Monday. Harris Jr., is now charged with first degree murder and arson. He is scheduled for his first appearance in court today at 1 p.m. As reported Monday by the Polk County Sheriff's Office, at ...

CHARLESTON, SC - A solemn, subdued memorial is planned for Friday evening to mark the third anniversary of the Sofa Super Store blaze that claimed the lives of nine Charleston firefighters. The Savannah Highway site of the deadly fire will be open for people to pay their respects. Firefighters and families of the fallen will go first, in a private session ...

A dozen firefighters were injured battling a fire that raged overnight in a Queens warehouse, officials said Tuesday morning. The blaze at 95-20 150th St. in Jamaica was so hard to handle that the Fire Department's response reached a rare eighth alarm. Flames erupted about 6 p.m. Monday, and the inferno was not contained until 4:44 a.m. Tuesday. The building continued ...

WASHINGTON, DC - The D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department in recent years has developed a bit of an overtime problem. And part of the solution has created an entirely different problem: angry, pregnant firefighters. The root of the problem is that too many firefighters haven’t been on full-duty status, so their colleagues have been collecting time-and-a-half to fill in, ...

GWINNET, GA - Searchers late Friday morning found the body of a Gwinnett County firefighter reported missing earlier this week. Late Thursday, David Carr's Jeep Wrangler was found parked at Leita Thompson Memorial Park on Woodstock Road in Roswell. [photo:161333] Searchers from several jurisdictions began combing the park before daybreak Friday, and several hours later found his body in a wooded ...

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. ...

LOS ANGELES - On Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 11:43 PM, 41 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 21 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 3 Arson Units, 1 Urban Search and Rescue Unit, 1 Rehab Unit, 1 Hazardous Materials Team, 3 EMS Battalion Captains, 8 Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams, 1 Division Chief Officer Command Team and 2 Bulldozers under the direction of Deputy ...

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 ...

CHICAGO - Several people, including two children, were rescued Monday morning from a blaze in a sparsely occupied Bronzeville condo building where conditions were described as "pretty bad" by a Chicago Fire Department spokesman. A firefighter was treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center for burns to his ears, said Chief Kevin MacGregor, a Fire Department spokesman. When the firefighters ...

BROOKLYN - Two firefighters were arrested Thursday on riot and assault charges stemming from a bloody Brooklyn bar brawl, officials said. Firefighters Ryan Warnock and Michael Reilly turned themselves in to the Brooklyn district attorney. They were arraigned Thursday night and released on their own recognizance. They could face up to four years in prison if convicted of first-degree riot, a ...

Columbus, Ohio -- City residents caused headaches for firefighters when some opened fire hydrants to cool off amid midsummerlike temperatures on Tuesday. Firefighters shut off about 50 fire hydrants across the city, Battalion Chief Michael Fowler said. Open hydrants are a problem every summer, he said, but the situation came early this year as the high temperature on Tuesday hit 93 ...

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Family members of a teen killed when he jumped from a moving ambulance said that the death of the autistic 16-year-old on Sunday could have been prevented. For starters, Shelley Hodge didn't want her son, Ryan Emory, released from the William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute in Columbia on Feb. 6. On his discharge papers she wrote: "I, Shelly ...

WILMINGTON, Del. — Hundreds of Amtrak passengers in the Northeast were delayed for hours late Monday evening, following the fatality of a fire department official that halted at least six trains between New York and Washington into the early-morning hours. The Delaware State Police identified the victim on Tuesday as Brian P. Waynant Sr., a decorated inspector with the Wilmington Fire ...

BEDFORD - An off-duty New Bedford firefighter and a Cranston, R.I., police officer performed CPR and saved the life of a 3-year-old boy who nearly drowned Saturday in a pond at Myles Standish State Forest. Raymond Ryan, 40, the firefighter, performed compressions while Officer Mallory Reis, who was also off-duty, held the child's head steady and kept his airway open. Lori ...

LORTON, Va. - Three people -- two children and an adult -- are dead in Lorton townhouse fire, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue tells WTOP. Another three children and an adult were taken to Washington Hospital's Burn Center. Firefighters are still on the scene of the fire in the 9600 block of Hagel Circle. "We're still controlling this fire. It did ...

NEW HAVEN — A 30-year-old man was arraigned Wednesday in the shooting death of a city firefighter’s son. Jermaine Scott, of New Haven, said nothing during a short court appearance. A judge kept his bail at $1 million. The arrest warrant affidavit in the case was sealed. Scott is charged with repeatedly shooting Marquise Baskin on June 19 behind 660 Winchester ...