HOUSTON - Houston firefighter Lanard Lane, 12-0 (7 KOs), takes on the toughest challenge of his boxing career when he faces "The Silent Assassin" Mike Dallas, 14-0-1 (5 KOs), of Bakersfield, CA, Friday, July 16. The showdown between the two undefeated welterweights at the DeSoto Civic Center in Memphis, Tenn., will be aired live on Showtime. It will be Lane's debut ...

SPRINGFIELD - As the Springfield Fire Department prepares to fill some positions that have been frozen for a year, it is changing eligibility requirements to broaden the pool of candidates. Applicants for this summer's Fire Training Academy are now eligible if they meet one of the following qualifications: • Emergency Medical Technician-B certification; • Firefighter I and II certification; • 36 ...

SUMMERFIELD, Ill. - The little dogs -- Zipper and Molly -- barked their heads off. Ruby Widicus looked out her kitchen window in the rainy darkness at 5 a.m. recently and could just make out several fire trucks. The firefighters were parked at the end of the quarter-mile-long driveway to a farmhouse off St. Jacob/Summerfield Road where she and her husband ...

SOMERVILLE, MA - A hysterical woman, trapped by fast-moving fire and heavy smoke in her third-floor Somerville apartment last night, was rescued by jakes who climbed a ladder to her window and rushed her out to a hospital. Somerville Fire Deputy Jack Memory, one of the first firefighters on Glenwood Street for the triple-decker, three-alarm blaze, said he saw the woman ...

[gate] ATLANTIC CITY — Next year, the city’s skyline will grow taller with the completion of Revel’s 710-foot casino — 200 feet higher than Harrah’s, which is now the city’s tallest building. Only the 781-foot Goldman Sachs Building in Jersey City will be taller in the state. The towering plans raise the question: Can the city’s fire department handle a blaze ...

SANTA CRUZ -- About 20 "Mo Bros" at Fire Station 2 in Felton have been deep in thought over the last couple weeks, pondering the types of mustaches they'll grow during the month of "Movember." "Movember" -- a combination of "Mo," an Australian slang term for mustache, and November -- is a month-long event aimed at putting a face, so to ...

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 ...

BERLIN — A 650-foot ferry was ablaze in the Baltic Sea on Saturday after an explosion on the upper deck, officials said. Firefighting ships stopped spraying the vessel, fearing that it would capsize and spill around 170 tons of fuel. There were 204 passengers and 32 crew members who were rescued by six ships that moved in to help after the ...

WINNIPEG 0 If you're old, inconvenient or simply out of shape, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service wants to get rid of you. The city's emergency service has unveiled a four-year plan to replace five outmoded or inconveniently located fire-paramedic stations, rebuild two deteriorating buildings in the same location and build two new facilities to serve new suburbs. According to a report ...

APPLETON — The Madison Middle School woodshop has been humming lately with the sound of saws, sanders and drills as 50 seventh- and eighth-graders learning the craft of woodworking turned out toy sailboats and puzzles. But the boys and girls kicking up all that sawdust in summer school have also tackled a much bigger project — two picnic tables bound for ...

SILVER SPRING, Md. - A pedestrian is hit and injured by a car every eight minutes, federal officials say. Local leaders are now out to stifle that trend. A local effort to cut down on the amount of pedestrians injured and killed in accidents kicked off in Silver Spring Tuesday with a sobering demonstration. The Street Smart campaign is a joint ...

VIENNA — This little kitty went home — but only after Vienna police and firefighters partially dismantled a police car to find it. The naughty feline first woke residents of a Vienna neighborhood with its desperate meowing, then kept police and firefighters busy for much of the night. She was found under the hood of a car but eluded her rescuers' ...

ROTONDA, FL - Englewood firefighter Derek Kemerer's confidence has risen sharply after emerging from a training exercise that put his life in danger. His performance, and that of his teammates, earned special recognition from the Englewood Area Fire Control District Wednesday. The exercise, called a "confidence test," occurred June 3 at the conclusion of a 48-hour Confined Space Rescue Class. Kemerer, ...

CAMDEN — A new budget, set to be considered by the city council Tuesday, proposes the rehiring of 47 Camden police officers and 13 firefighters following increased taxation, according to a report on CourierPostOnline.com. The budget, created by Camden Mayor Dana Redd, contains an additional $3.3 million for the police department and $2.2 million for the fire department, after the state ...

NEW YORK - A surfer was clinging to life Friday night after firefighters pulled him from the choppy waters of the Rockaways. The 20-year-old victim got tangled in a jetty off the boardwalk near Beach 92nd St. about 4:15p.m., officials and witnesses said. Fellow surfers swam to help the distressed man, whose ankle tether - a line that ties the board ...

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 ...

ANNAPOLIS, MD - A four-alarm fire in an historic Annapolis retail district just a block from the State House damaged two buildings and put on a show for tourists, but a quick response by firefighters appeared to have held losses to a minimum. The Saturday afternoon fire broke out in a space between the buildings at 54 and 56 Maryland Ave. ...

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A group of New York firefighters rolled into Fayetteville Thursday morning to bring Christmas cheer to wounded soldiers. About 30 firefighters from Long Island arrived at Womack Army Medical Center on Fort Bragg shortly before noon to distribute gifts they carried in a U-Haul truck, from laptop computers to iPods, to soldiers wounded in combat. The effort, ...