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 ...

CAMDEN, NJ - When Camden announced last week that it could lay off nearly half of its police officers and a third of its firefighters next month, the news was surprising only in its scope. After years of cutting in other areas of government and trimming police and fire departments through attrition, cities throughout New Jersey recently have announced a striking ...

RENO, NV - An 83-year-old high-end collector, safari hunter and global businessman has been charged with assault for allegedly grabbing the breast of a female paramedic on a private flight. Robert M. Lee, from Nevada, was on his private plane travelling from Arizona to Rochester when he grabbed and twisted the woman's breast, causing her injury, when she was helping him ...

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - A young Volusia County widow's quest to close a legal loophole that would protect firefighter death benefits ended happily Friday -- thanks to a timely save from Orange County sheriff's deputies. Kristen Curry had been lobbying -- for two years -- for a bill that would guarantee full death benefits to firefighters who are killed during a ...

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 ...

SELDEN, N.Y. — A Long Island firefighter says he had a bad feeling as he rushed to a house fire. It claimed the life of a visitor — his brother. Selden volunteer Richie Zdenek tells Newsday that he knew when he saw the fire address Sunday that his brother was often at that house. Before he left home, he checked his ...

Vancouver’s fire department is rushing to remove a colourful mural from its Downtown Eastside station that features a syringe-equipped grim reaper characterizing Canada’s poorest neighbourhood as just about the end of the world. But as a senior fire official on Monday announced a hurried move to get rid of the mural, likely on Tuesday, he said the art made a valid ...

NEW YORK - The call was coming from inside the van. In a surprise twist to a controversial New Jersey Turnpike traffic stop, police Monday arrested a Queens teen they say made a hoax 911 call from inside the van they pulled over. Rodney Tanzymore, 19, was one of a group of 11 black and Hispanic Queens students on an overnight ...

VINELAND, NJ — An 81-year-old Vineland man was killed this morning in a collision with a stolen Underwood-Memorial Hospital paramedic SUV that was fleeing police, authorities said. Alfred Costantino, 81, was pronounced dead at the crash scene, at the intersections of Holmes and Chestnut avenues, said Vineland Det. Lt. Thomas Ulrich. The driver of the stolen 2000 Dodge Durango, Michael D. ...

A representative for the city in contentious firefighter contract talks accused an arbitrator of pulling an 11th hour “about-face” in awarding raises - a claim the union angrily rejected last night. Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella, a member of the team that was negotiating a deal between Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Boston Firefighters Local 718, fired off a harshly worded letter ...

DALLAS - Dallas ISD has failed to install fire alarms in hundreds of portable buildings across the district, violating fire codes and leaving students without the built-in protection of blaring alerts that signal a blaze on campus. Portable buildings at Kleberg Elementary in Rylie are among the many at southern Dallas schools that are not connected to the main building's fire ...

CHICAGO - One of two Homewood firefighters critically injured Tuesday night in a ferocious house fire that claimed the life of an elderly man has died, authorities said this morning. The firefighter was identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office as 28-year-old Brian Carey of Evergreen Park. The Homewood homeowner killed in the blaze was identified as Wendell Elias, 84. ...

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 ...

WASHINGTON -- All lanes of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue have reopened, following a fire Tuesday morning that shut down streets around the Ronald Reagan Building. The fire had closed 14th Street entirely between Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues. Eastbound Pennsylvania Avenue at 14th Street was also closed. Only certain maintenance staff is allowed to reenter the building, WTOP's Neal Augenstein reports. ...

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. ...

NORTH COUNTY, CA - A North County firefighter, called to the scene of a car accident involving his own child did everything he could but couldn't save his only son. "I've saved a lot of people, but I couldn't save my own boy," Bill Hoffman said Tuesday remembering the moment he rushed to the scene of the crash that killed his ...

SAN RAMON — Thanks to the bravery of eight San Ramon Valley firefighters, Dr. Robert Litman is alive and seeing patients again. The immunology and allergy specialist thanked the crew Wednesday night for rescuing him from his blazing Blackhawk home the night of June 22 — the same blaze that killed Litman's 19-year-old son. "Instead of being a second victim, I ...

Under the gaze of some 300 enthusiastic hairy and hairless-lipped onlookers, an Orlando, Fla.-area firefighter who founded a mustache-based charity was crowned with this year's "Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year" award. The firefighter, Brian Sheets, managed to capture about 110,000 of more than a half million votes cast online, to win the title and his stately $3 crown ...