LOS ANGELES—An ambulance ride in Los Angeles could go up 37 percent in July if the city approves a committee recommendation. The city's Public Safety Committee on Monday night proposed raising fees for basic life support ambulances to $974 from $712, plus mileage of $15.75 a mile. Advanced life support ambulance fees would go to $1,373 from $1,004, plus mileage. The ...

ROBESON, PA - Birdsboro and Robeson Township police departments received a shared crime scene vehicle that they hope will help increase efficiency. The 1991 Ford F-350, a former ambulance, was donated by Muhlenberg Township. Birdsboro Chief Theodore R. Roth said their methods of crime scene processing and emergency response were inefficient: Officers would pack whatever equipment they thought they might need ...

BALTIMORE - Baltimore's police and firefighters' unions filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court Thursday, contending that officials "knowingly underfunded" their pension plan over the past decade — ignoring the advice of financial experts hired by the city. The lawsuit threatens to introduce a protracted and costly legal battle into the emotionally charged debate about altering the retirement benefits ...

SUSSEX, UK - A three-year-old girl from Sussex was rescued by her firefighter father after becoming stuck in a bed headrest. Watch manager Bob Beard was on duty when he was called to his own house in Crowborough after his daughter's head became wedged on Wednesday morning. The toddler was freed by the fire crew who rotated her head to release ...

UK - A RETAINED firefighter recounted the moment he came across a victim of the shooting spree. Councillor David Moore, watch manager with Seascale Fire Service, said his crew yesterday received a call at 11.30am to what they believed to be a road traffic collision in the village. On arrival, the fire crew found a man who had been shot at ...

BOSTON - The Boston firefighters’ union offered an 11th-hour contract concession on wages yesterday to the City Council, a dramatic twist that appeared to significantly improve the chances that councilors will approve a controversial arbitration award. Councilors hailed what they called an unprecedented move by Edward A. Kelly, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 718, who made the ...

CHICAGO - The fireman trudged out of Kristi Cahill's smoke-blackened West Rogers Park bungalow Tuesday evening, cradling a small, limp cat. "Her eyes were bulging and her tongue was sticking out," recalled Cahill, 42, of her beloved cat, Roux. Then something remarkable happened: Firefighters slipped a pet-sized clear plastic mask over Roux's face, and condensation bloomed inside the mask. Roux was ...

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA - A Gwinnett County firefighter's mission is to save lives in a broader context: He has moved beyond emergency response to early intervention. Battalion Chief Eddie Myers, whose wife is a Loganville private school administrator, recognized a need for positive role models in schools. Two years ago, he created FLAME (Firefighter Lunch and Mentoring Experience), a program that ...

NEW YORK CITY - Days after the city blasted him as biased, Robert Morgenthau stepped down Tuesday as the court-appointed master overseeing new procedures for hiring firefighters. The former Manhattan district attorney called the Bloomberg administration's accusations "absurd," but said it was in the court's "best interest" to name someone the city didn't have a "grudge" against. Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Whirlpool Corp.'s Maytag unit is recalling about 1.7 million dishwashers because of a fire hazard. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall Thursday, says the company, part of Whirlpool Corp., has received 12 reports of electrical failures in the dishwasher heating element that led to fires and damage. One kitchen fire caused extensive damage, the agency ...

TAMPA — The two young paramedics called out to a man covered in bees Friday morning, asking him to come closer to their ambulance and hoping all the bees wouldn't. "They were swarming," said Sophia Cardenas, a firefighter with Tampa Fire Rescue. "He had a look of desperation on his face." The 47-year-old man had been cutting grass at 1224 E ...

MUNCIE -- Seven days after the critically injured Brian Buck arrived at Ball Memorial Hospital in an ambulance, he left Wednesday in good spirits in a Liberty Township fire truck. Buck was one of two Liberty Township firefighters injured in a well accident that killed an Anderson plumber and critically injured the plumber's 19-year-old assistant. Buck's colleague, Rick Compton Sr., was ...

BOSTON - The roiling debate over the controversial arbitration award for Boston firefighters came to a head today at City Hall, where an army of firefighters held a defiant, spirited rally before standing watch over marathon hearings in the City Council that inflamed passions. The proceedings, stretching into the evening, swung from tedious discussion about city finances to loud, contentious arguments ...

June 2 - Three explosives experts were killed and six injured as they attempted to defuse a World War II bomb in the central German city of Goettingen, police said. The 500-kilogram (1,100 pound) bomb was found late yesterday under Goettingen’s Schuetzenplatz, the city’s police said in a statement late yesterday. All the dead and injured were in the process ...

BOTHELL, WA - The application states it is a form for nominations to Bothell’s local register of historic landmarks. In this case, what is being nominated probably isn’t normally thought of as a landmark. Still, if you’ve lived in the Bothell area for any period of time, you’ve most likely seen it on holidays, in parades or at other municipal events. ...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Authorities say a small plane has crashed in a busy business district near downtown Anchorage, Alaska, killing a small child and injuring the four other people onboard. Jennifer Rodi, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, says the single-engine Cessna 206 went down shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday after departing Merrill Field about a mile away. The ...

UK - A retained firefighter who was injured in a fire at a fireworks factory in which two of his colleagues died is suing East Sussex fire service. Timothy Austin, from Barcombe fire station, is also seeking damages from factory owners Alpha Fireworks. Firemen Geoff Wicker, 49, and Brian Wembridge, 63, were killed in the fire at Marlie Farm in Shortgate, ...

ORLAND, IL - The Orland Fire Protection District next week is unveiling a state-of-the-art simulation training program that it hopes eventually will become the go-to facility for departments across the region. The system uses computer-graphic imaging to depict real-life firefighting situations. It is only the fourth in the country based on the Blue Card command training program created by a retired ...

SANDWICH - Daniel Keane, one of two Sandwich firefighters injured yesterday fighting a house fire is reported in stable condition at Cape Cod Hospital this morning. Keane, a firefighter/paramedic, has a broken neck and a broken back. Yesterday Sandwich fire Capt. James Huska said doctors were watching for signs of paralysis, but Keane was moving his toes. An updated condition on ...

TOWN OF WALLKILL — A City of Middletown firetruck and a Pocatello Fire Department firetruck collided at the intersection of County Route 78 and Wawayanda Avenue on Monday afternoon. The crash sent at least three firefighters to the hospital with what authorities said were non-life-threatening injuries. Both trucks sustained significant damage and were taken out of commission. [photo:156972] The trucks were ...