SEATTLE - The city of Seattle's attempt to overturn a $12.75 million judgment awarded to a former firefighter — using secretly shot video of the man chopping wood and playing horseshoes and bocce ball — unfairly distorts the actual injuries he suffered in an on-duty fall, his lawyers said in court papers filed Friday. Lawyers for Mark Jones argued that he ...

NEW YORK — City officials on Friday said the Fire Department of New York won't hire any firefighters until a new entry exam is created to replace one a federal judge said discriminated against minorities, which is expected to take at least a year. A federal judge had ordered the city to choose one of five temporary methods for selecting applicants ...

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 ...

WASHINGTON - A D.C. fire engine crashed into a Metro bus in Northwest D.C. Wednesday, injuring 22 people - including four firefighters. The fire truck was on its way to help a pedestrian who had been hit by a car on 13th Street and Madison Street, when it struck the Metro bus on 14th Street just after 10:15 a.m. Eighteen people ...

BOSTON - Prosecutors this week dropped a reckless-conduct charge against a Salisbury man after what the police initially described as a powerful pipe bomb at his home turned out to be a "tire thumper" used to check the pressure of truck tires, his lawyer said. The misdemeanor charge against Walter Scott Jr., formerly a volunteer fireman, was dropped Tuesday, the day ...

JOHNSTOWN — Richard Picciotto, the highest ranking firefighter to survive the collapse of the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, spoke Thursday night in Richland Township about how the events that day brought America closer together. Picciotto spoke to about 400 people during a fundraising dinner at Pitt-Johns-town for the benefit of the Richland Township Fire Department ...

MOUNT LAUREL, PA - Every Sept. 11 since the world changed, the firefighters of Station 362 in Mount Laurel have gathered by their flagpole to observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., when the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center. They bow their heads and fold their hands in memory of the 343 firefighters and nearly 2,500 other ...

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 ...

SAN BRUNO, CA -- With a thunderous roar heard for miles, a natural gas line explosion ripped through a San Bruno neighborhood Thursday evening, sending up a geyser of fire that killed at least one person and injured more than 20 others, and igniting a blaze that destroyed 53 homes and damaged 120 more, authorities said. The wind-whipped blaze leaped from ...

The first frantic call for help as a wildfire gathered momentum in the foothills west of Boulder came from a longtime firefighter who was helpless as flames burst across his wooded property, devouring trees and torching a propane tank. His breathless descriptions — captured on a dispatch tape — detailed the fury of a blaze that, by Wednesday evening, had charred ...

GATTATIN, TN - Seven members of the Gallatin Fire Department will lead 343 firefighters during a Sept. 11 memorial climb Saturday inside a Nashville skyscraper. Firefighters will be assigned to represent the names of the 343 firefighters who were killed when the Twin Towers collapsed. Fire personnel from nine states, including New York, will participate in the climb at The Pinnacle ...

HOUSTON, TX - Houston's acting fire chief has fired three firefighters, saying they were each culpable in an incident where a racial epithet was entered on an EMS report using an ambulance computer terminal. The head of the firefighters union called the firings a "travesty“ and said the department failed to determine who actually was responsible. A spokesman for Acting Fire ...

BOULDER, Colo. — As thousands of people waited to learn if their homes survived a raging Colorado wildfire, Dan Hackett hiked a second time behind roadblocks to make sure his house near Boulder was still standing. Hackett, who lives in the mountain community of Gold Hill, said he watched his neighbor's home burn. "The house 200 feet from my house is ...

MUNCIE -- The heroic confined-space rescue efforts of Liberty Township volunteer firefighters on May 26 has landed them in hot water. State officials say the volunteers violated occupational safety and health regulations. As a result, the township fire department is taking corrective action to avoid having to pay a $1,500 fine imposed by the Indiana Department of Labor. An investigation by ...

BURTONSILLE, MD - An abrupt crunch announced the severing of the last column connecting the roof to the frame of a Chevrolet pickup truck in a Rockville scrapyard Thursday evening as members of the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department braced their shoulders under the strain and prepared to remove the roof. Hefting what appears to be a gigantic pair of scissors in ...

DECATUR - This daring young man on the flying trapeze decided to become a firefighter. Jason Nolan, a Decatur firefighter since Sept. 4, 2008, began performing in the Illinois State University Gamma Phi Circus in Normal and on the road in 1994. His wife-to-be, Meghan, was also part of the circus, an institution peculiar to Illinois State and Florida State. "My ...

SOMERVILLE, MA - A Somerville man is recovering after being struck by a street-cleaning sign that was knocked over by a fire hose in a freak accident on Monday night . Baljit Singh, 49, was listed in fair condition yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital after being injured during the bizarre chain of events, officials said. “This is an extremely unfortunate incident. ...

DETROIT - Detroit firefighters had to battle strong winds, hot and dry conditions, downed power lines and a lack of equipment and manpower at the same time they fought about 85 fires that erupted in four hours Tuesday afternoon. No fatalities or serious injuries were reported, though dozens of homes were destroyed -- including 18 vacant houses, two occupied homes and ...

FAIRFAX, Va. - If you threw a buck or two into the boots of Fairfax County firefighters over the weekend, you'll want to know just how successful those firefighters were in their aggressive efforts to collect cash for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department firefighters and public safety workers collected more donations than any fire service organization ...

SHREWSBURY, MA - A 6-year-old Shrewsbury boy escaped with only cuts and scrapes over the weekend after he fell 20 feet into an abandoned well behind his house, firefighters said. The boy, who had just moved with his family to a house on Barrows Road a few days earlier, found the well Saturday afternoon while exploring his new home with friends, ...