OKALOOSA ISLAND – Lt. Sean Mast with the Okaloosa Island Fire Department has seen a lot as a firefighter, but Thursday morning’s rescue was far from the typical calls he receives. Mast, along with Firefighter Michael Russ, climbed 30 feet up the fire truck’s ladder around 8:30 a.m. to release an osprey tangled in fishing line from its nest near the ...

Firefighters have one of the most dangerous jobs, but half of those who die while working actually do so from a heart attack. A $1 million, three-year grant to the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health will fund research to determine whether medical treatment can help prevent the progression of early atherosclerotic disease in firefighters. Most ...

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — Firefighters from Colorado and elsewhere are expected to compete in the "Rumble in the Rockies" contest at the Air Force Academy this weekend. The event Saturday and Sunday is one of a series called the Firefighter Combat Challenge. Vail is scheduled to hold a competition in August. Firefighters compete in five events designed to test ...

WASHINGTON - The gulf oil catastrophe is striking a raw nerve with 9/11 victims who finally get their first hearing in the U.S. Senate this month. After watching President Obama declare BP will be held accountable, people whose lives were crushed by the 2001 terror attacks said their government remains unaccountable to them. "The government told us it was safe, the ...

HAVERHILL — State public health officials have suspended the licenses of 207 emergency medical technicians and paramedics across Massachusetts because they were involved in falsifying training records. That number includes 30 Haverhill firefighters and 35 Trinity EMS ambulance workers, the state said. The suspensions will take effect July 1. Most will be for nine months, but a smaller number will last ...

NIAGARA FALLS—Niagara Falls couple working as Rural/Metro emergency medical technicians were injured Wednesday morning as they attempted to remove a highly intoxicated woman from her home, police said. Garry and Sara Bluhm attempted to carry the woman downstairs from an upper bedroom after she refused to walk, police said, but the woman resisted, pushing Garry Bluhm into a railing and punching ...

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) - The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating whether a bird strike shattered a windshield on a medical helicopter that was flying from Aberdeen to Fargo, N.D. The Careflight helicopter from Avera St. Luke's Hospital made a safe emergency landing early Monday at the Fargo airport. The pilot was treated for minor injuries. A paramedic, nurse and patient also ...

MACON, Ga - Macon-Bibb County firefighter Garin Flanders admits it’s a “spooky, eerie feeling” to dive into what’s often murky darkness and use his hands to search in the water. Flanders started diving about 12 years ago while going on cruises and trips to the coast. After joining the fire department, he saw the firefighter dive team as a way to ...

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA - Virginia Beach fire crews rescued five Navy sailors who got stuck in trees while parachuting near Fort Story. At around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning, Navy officials say they were conducting a routine parachute training exercise. The Navy would not allow media on the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek Fort Story where the accident happened, but Navy officials ...

FREEMONT, WA - The pain, sorrow and sense of loss triggered by Saturday's Fremont apartment fire is shared not just by those who knew the five victims but by the firefighters unable to save them. Firefighters who have been "beating themselves up" over their inability to rescue the woman and four children in the burning apartment attended a Tuesday night session ...

BOULDER, CO - A Lefthand Fire Protection District volunteer firefighter at a party in Boulder had his Silver 2006 Doge Ram 1500 truck stolen Monday night. Police said the truck had an emergency light bar, firefighting equipment and Colorado firefighter license plates. "The biggest concern would be someone driving around with an emergency light bar and pulling people over falsely," Detective ...

GULF OF MEXICO - Things actually can get worse in the Gulf of Mexico. A fire believed to be caused by a lightning bolt forced the shutdown Tuesday of an oil-capturing system near the gushing Gulf oil well, BP said. The fire aboard the drill ship Discoverer Enterprise was spotted around 9:30 a.m. Although it was quickly extinguished without injuries, the ...

James Kornhardt shook his head and whispered to his attorney. "I can't believe it," he said Monday, moments after a federal jury in St. Louis convicted him and a close friend, Steven Mueller, of murder. Across the courtroom, the family of Danny Coleman's wept and then hugged prosecutors. The scene ended a nearly 18-year investigation into a murder plot that broke ...

BANGOR, CA -- Firefighters are a pragmatic group who learn to assess a situation objectively and make reasoned decisions based on training and judgment. So discussions of the supernatural aren't usually part of their working world, except at Butte County Fire Station 55 in Bangor. Sitting on the northern edge of what was a Gold Rush boomtown, the Bangor Fire Station ...

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, ...

MONROE, Ohio (AP) - A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said. The "King of Kings" statue, one of southwest Ohio's most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just ...

SEATTLE – Envelopes with white powder were found Monday in eight federal buildings in seven different cities across Washington, Idaho and Utah, prompting the evacuation of an IRS building and a U.S. attorney's office, FBI officials said. The FBI is investigating whether the incidents were linked. Special Agent Frederick Gutt said it would be "logical" that they would be. "It is ...

NEW YORK (AP) - A barkeep whose flaming liquor show was featured in "Real Housewives of New York City" has been arrested for performing the fiery feat. Authorities said undercover fire marshals arrested the barkeep about 2 a.m. Sunday after he set alight Apotheke's bar top, where he had poured various liquors. Chief Fire Marshal Robert Byrnes said the stunt sparked ...

PORT ORANGE, FL - A Port Orange firefighter-paramedic charged with sneaking into the homes of patients to steal their prescriptions has been fired, city officials said. Michael Michaud, 38, an 11-year-veteran with Port Orange Fire and Rescue, was terminated Friday after an internal affairs investigation found he violated several departmental policies, in addition to several felonies. Among them are burglary of ...