WHATRON, TX - The transgender widow at the center of a court battle focusing on her late firefighter husband's estate apologized Tuesday for her appearance on a tabloid talk show 15 years ago during which she surprised a man who once kissed her with the news that she was born a boy. Nikki Araguz, 35, expressed deep regret for not telling ...

ORLANDO, FL - An announcement regarding an Orlando firefighter who was caught cheating on a promotions test has his department in a frenzy: he's getting a promotion. Two years ago, Orlando Assistant Fire Chief Rudy Johnson said he didn't cheat after listening in on radio transmissions for advanced information on the promotions test. Johnson claims that it was broadcast over open ...

BELLEVILLE, IL - Two people aboard a small private plane are unaccounted for after the plane crashed into an airplane hangar and home in the Villa Hills area about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Signal Hill Fire Chief Greg Render. Render wouldn't confirm the two aboard had been killed, but he said no one was recovered from the plane and that ...

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 ...

NEW YORK - A Long Island town's fire chief and a New York City firefighter were arrested Tuesday for brandishing guns while threatening a pedestrian, officials said. Michael Charles, the Hempstead fire chief, held a handgun on his hip while Brian Schuck, an eight-year-FDNY veteran, toted a shotgun when they harassed a man walking down a Hempstead street Sunday afternoon, Nassau ...

CRYSTAL LAKE – He was a firefighter-in-training, but the Woodstock Fire Department still relied on Trent Steckel as a member of the crew. “We knew he would have had a very successful career in the fire service,” Chief Ralph Webster said. Steckel, 24, of Crystal Lake, was killed early Friday in a motorcycle crash. He was scheduled to work a shift ...

COLUMBUS, OH - A former Columbus firefighter who served a 90-day jail sentence last year for killing his dogs to avoid boarding them was sent back to jail yesterday for violating his probation. David P. Santuomo, 44, of Fall Water Court on the Northwest Side, will spend 30 days in jail after Franklin County Municipal Judge Harland H. Hale found that ...

EASTON — Police Patrolmen Anthony Dicarlo and Andrew Salisbury and Firefighter/Paramedic Timothy Vamosi returned from deployments in the Middle East and back on the job last month in their roles as public servants for the town of Easton. Salisbury is a Corporal in the Marine Corps Reserves and spent his second deployment as a military police officer in Iraq providing security ...

HOMEWOOD, IL - Firefighters are used to handling tough situations. Going into a building fully engulfed in flames to rescue people is not done by those who can't deal with adversity. That may help explain how firefighters in Homewood and Chicago Ridge approached the situation of being told their usual way of collecting funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association was being ...

A few years ago, Brian Jones applied to become a Shreveport firefighter. He didn't make the cut, so he submitted his application to Bossier City Fire Department and was hired. The 25-year-old worked two years for Bossier City before being laid off in December due to budget cuts. On Tuesday, Jones returned to Shreveport Fire Department as a member of its ...

NEW YORK — An FDNY lieutenant and two EMTs delivered a baby on July 23 in an unlikely spot, the 4/5 subway train platform at Bowling Green in Manhattan. "It was a great experience it was amazing to see another human life to come into the world," said EMT Tom Loggin from Station 4. He and his partner, EMT Jerry Chatelain, ...

STATEN ISLAND - He's lucky to be alive. A man who collapsed at a Staten Island health club was saved when an off-duty firefighter, off-duty EMT and a retired FDNY lieutenant all pitched in and came to the rescue. FDNY Firefighter Ken Labarbera, EMT James Manti and retired Lt. Fred Capetta were exercising at the New York Sports Club on the ...

MUNCIE -- The heroic confined-space rescue efforts of Liberty Township volunteer firefighters on May 26 has landed them in hot water. State officials say the volunteers violated occupational safety and health regulations. As a result, the township fire department is taking corrective action to avoid having to pay a $1,500 fine imposed by the Indiana Department of Labor. An investigation by ...

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 ...

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 ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A transit bus driver is being credited for saving 10 people asleep inside a burning home by pounding on the door. After his heroics, Richard Lucas got back behind the wheel and finished his route. Lucas was driving his Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority bus in South Buffalo around 6:30 a.m. Monday when he noticed smoke coming from the ...

GRAND ISLAND, NE - With almost 30 classes packed into just three days during the 73rd annual Nebraska State Fire School in Grand Island, there simply wasn't time for every volunteer firefighter to take every course that was offered. That's why volunteer firefighters Aaron Pokorny of Madison and Chad Winkelbauer and Paul Leiting, both of Randolph, gathered at 4 p.m. Saturday ...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An Austin firefighter who allegedly posted nude photos of himself online has been fired for conduct unbecoming a member of the department. Fire Chief Mae Kerr on Wednesday put Alejandro Garza on indefinite suspension without pay. A disciplinary memo from Kerr says Garza included information online that identified him as an Austin firefighter. A citizen's complaint in ...

QUINCY — A Quincy firefighter is on leave after being arrested in a Braintree drug raid. It’s the second time Patrick J. Ryan, 45, has been disciplined for facing criminal charges. Ryan has been a city firefighter since 1995. He is charged with conspiracy to violate drug laws. Police raided a house on East Division Street in Braintree Saturday that they ...

ARLINGTON, TX -- In anticipation of what he calls a "retirement bubble," Fire Chief Don Crowson has removed the requirement that prospective firefighters already be trained in emergency medical procedures. Nearly 40 percent of the city's sworn firefighters are eligible for retirement. So to open the doors to more applicants, the department has dropped all certification prerequisites for the first time ...