HOUSTON - On the day that Houston firefighter Jane Draycott returned to Station 54 for the first time after accusing her colleagues of harassment, she was met by the fire chief, his command staff, a psychologist and at least a dozen coworkers for what the chief dubbed a “team building” session. Instead, according to Draycott, it turned into an “insulting” and ...

NEW KENSINGTON, PA - City firefighter John Shirey was searching for a fire Saturday night but instead, it found him. When he finally felt the fire that he and the other two members of his hose team, brothers Vince and Garrett Sekanick, were looking for inside 425 Ridge Ave., he didn't care about seeing it. "I was on the nozzle and ...

DAYTONA BEACH -- The arrest of Daytona Beach firefighter Adam Silva angered and surprised many of his colleagues; but his release from the county jail incensed TV media. It was the way Silva left the jail that made tempers rise, Volusia County officials say. The 30-year-old firefighter, arrested twice in one week -- on charges of rape and attempted rape -- ...

DENVER - Carburetor trouble in a 1988 Maserati set off a fire and an ammunition explosion in the garage of a Denver home Sunday morning, according to the Denver Fire Department. Venita Wood, 72, started the Maserati in the garage and walked about 20 feet back into her house when she heard an explosion. "I came out, and there was fire ...

CAMDEN — More than 40 city firefighters and police officers rallied around city hall this morning, demanding Mayor Dana Redd bring back some of the laid-off public safety employees that were let go earlier this year, according to a report on Philly.com. The protest was organized over the weekend, after a firefighter was burned in a house fire Friday night. Union ...

Fayetteville, N.C. — A woman who had been in the hospital for three days returned to her Apache Drive home this morning only to discover it had been destroyed by fire. A neighbor in the Fairlane Acres Mobile Home Park notified firefighters about 6 a.m. that heavy smoke was coming from the trailer, said Hieu Sifford, a battalion commander with the ...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - Authorities say a retired firefighter in Southern Oregon shot and killed his estranged wife when she came home to pick up some belongings, then turned the gun on himself as deputies arrived. The Josephine County sheriff's office told The Grants Pass Daily Courier newspaper that investigators found 59-year-old Ted T. Richardson and 52-year-old Susan C. Richardson ...

BOSTON - The Boston Fire Department suspended 54 firefighters yesterday who were among more than 200 EMTs who state investigators say faked medical training certifications in a fraudulent scheme that came to light last year. While many private ambulance companies planned to fire emergency medical technicians named in the state public health investigation, the Boston Fire Department began its own yearlong ...

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL — Hundreds of Treasure Coast residents donning pink in support of women battling cancer gathered at Tradition Square on Saturday for the Pink Heals Tour. The tour, locally hosted by firefighters from the St. Lucie County Fire District, aims to spread awareness across the country and celebrate women who have fought the killer disease. Four pink fire ...

Quincy firefighters get a 10 percent boost in pay if they earn a master’s degree in business administration. Plymouth firefighters can trade a week of vacation for a week of pay. And Norwell firefighters can work out — situps and pushups, for instance — only if the exercise doesn’t exhaust them so much that they can’t work. The benefits, and quirks, ...

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 ...

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, ...

WINDSOR, Ont. — A 19-year-old woman has been charged with careless driving in a weekend accident that injured five firefighters from the eastern Ontario town of Napanee. The crash, which occurred Saturday afternoon on the 401, set off a chain of events that led to a fatal accident Sunday morning involving some of the same men. The second collision claimed the ...

MOSS LANDING, CA — In a moments notice, wildlife rescuers from WildRescue of Moss Landing can respond to injured wildlife in one of the nation's first animal ambulances. After raising $5,000 to purchase a used ambulance listed on the Web, WildRescue Founder Rebecca Dmytryk and her team converted the ambulance once used to transport humans. Two months of modifications included fixing ...

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 ...

MANASSAS, Va. - Emergency responders are providing food and shelter to the families displaced by Thursday's devastating fire in a Manassas neighborhood. The Red Cross and emergency management officials are administering aid to the 11 residents left homeless after the fire in the Sumner Lake subdivision destroyed three of the $400,000, two-story houses and damaged five others. Only two people were ...

CASTLEFORD, UK - A fire service has released footage of a house in West Yorkshire exploding moments after residents were evacuated, in an attempt to warn copper thieves about the dangers of tampering with electricity and gas equipment. No one was seriously hurt in the incident in Castleford because firefighters had just finished evacuating the whole terrace of properties when it ...

LOS ANGELES—A new report says poor communications and unexpected fire conditions caused the deaths of two firefighters whose truck plunged off a mountain road last year during a massive Los Angeles County wildfire. Capt. Tedmund Hall and Arnaldo Quinones died on Aug. 30 during the 250-square-mile Station fire in the foothills above Los Angeles. A county Fire Department report issued this ...

NEW BRUNSWICK - Two city firefighters were awarded the Valor Award by the Saint Barnabas Burn Foundation for their bravery during a 2009 house fire, according to MyCentralJersey.com Fire Capt. Ramon Schaffer and firefighter Joseph Carman entered the building already engulfed in flames while searching for a missing occupant. They found the man unconscious in a third-floor bedroom and carried him ...

WALTHAM - A 21-year-old auxiliary firefighter from Waltham died Nov. 21 of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Lexington. Jonathan R. Lindsay was a lifelong resident of Waltham and worked as an EMT for LifeLine and Cataldo ambulance services. He had been a Waltham Auxiliary Firefighter since age 16. Mr. Lindsay joined the Waltham Auxiliary Fire Department in February 2006 ...