Dozens of tornadoes spawned by a powerful storm system wiped out entire towns across a wide swath of the South, killing at least 194 people, and officials expect the death toll to rise. President Barack Obama has requested emergency federal assistance for the affected areas. See the destruction the storms left behind. Next → [page] AP: An American flag flies atop ...

PHOENIX - It started with months of debate over firefighter layoffs, the fear of lengthier response times and the potential for tragedy. In the end, the Phoenix Fire Department avoided losing any first-responder jobs. The budget process began late last year when the Fire Department anticipated cutting as much as $25.8 million, or 144 firefighter positions. The proposal would have eliminated ...

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 ...

LOS ANGELES - Testimony has begun in the case of a former Los Angeles County assistant fire chief who prosecutor alleged mortally wounded his neighbors' 6-month-old dog because it ran onto his property. The case in Riverside County has received national attention and is being closely watch by animal rights activists. [widget:news__featured_career_fire_captain] The defendant, Glynn Johnson, is accused of beating the ...

WATERTOWN, MA - Six Watertown firefighters are asking the town to compensate them for pay they say they earned while undergoing military training, according to town and union officials. The town says its investigation shows that four of the firefighters are owed pay, and it has promised to rectify the situation quickly. One of the firefighters, Brian Rand, completed training to ...

Firefighters are gaining control of the Race Pond Fire that has threatened for days to jump into the Okefenokee Swamp, officials said. At last measure, the fire had burned 7,852 acres, counting burnouts, and was 40 percent contained, said Mark Wiles, a Georgia Forestry Commission senior forester working with a joint information team. "We thinking the burnout we attempted over the ...

TORONTO - Finding ways to cut spending and save money will almost certainly top the to-do list for Toronto’s next mayor. If elected, Councillor Rob Ford has vowed to pursue drastic measures such as reducing the size of city council and shrinking the municipal work force. But it’s a pledge by mayoral candidate George Smitherman that may be the most contentious. ...

WASHINGTON -- Police and fire officials are still investigating an accident in Southeast Monday morning that left a car engulfed in flames, killing a Washington lobbyist, mother and wife of a senior White House advisor. Ashley Westbrook Turton, director of congressional affairs for Progress Energy, Inc. and mother of three young children, died around 5 a.m. Monday morning outside her home ...

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 ...

GREELEY, CO - The Weld County district attorney's office has charged a Greeley firefighter with one count of official misconduct after he gave out tests to firefighters preparing for a certification exam. Lt. Roger Moore, 46, was issued a summons for the Class 2 misdemeanor, according to Jennifer Finch, the district attorney's spokeswoman. No date has been set for a court ...

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 ...

For years, Firefighter Rick Rickerson has been plagued by a problem. According to the National Volunteer Fire Council, each year in the United States, approximately 500,000 pets are affected by home fires; and according to the Live Safe Foundation, around 40,000 of those pets die every year. Unfortunately, Rickerson has been witness to this fact more than most people. As a ...

ELGIN, IL - Two Elgin firefighters and a police officer were taken to area hospitals Monday night after each became ill at the scene of a hazardous materials call at an apartment building. Emergency crews were called to investigate the hazmat call at a six-flat apartment building on the 1100 block of Birch Drive at about 5:20 p.m., officials said. The ...

When EMS members responded to a call for two cars on the side of the road, they might have assumed there was a minor accident. But instead, there's a woman with no pulse, a burn victim and a hostage that pops out of the trunk of one car. It's not necessarily a typical day on the job. The good news? It's ...

FAIRFIELD, CT -- Maureen Janda was waiting until the collection box in the lobby at Fairfield police headquarters was full to make a delivery to Give2TheTroops. About a week and a half ago, Janda, secretary to the deputy chief, walked in and saw that the box not only was full, but overflowing. Turns out that Fairfield firefighters had done some shopping ...

LOS ANGELES - Millions of Southland residents were glued to their television sets last week watching the live team coverage of a rescue of man's best friend. A German shepherd mix was fighting for its life in a maelstrom of debris in the fast-moving flow of a swollen flood control channel during the recent rainstorms. Not to worry, the good men ...

DOVER, N.H.—A former New Hampshire firefighter is going to prison for at least three years after pleading guilty to setting a series of fires. Forty-four-year-old Stark Liedtke of Alton had pleaded guilty to three charges that he set fires on Berry Road in New Durham in 2006 and 2007. He also pleaded guilty to eight other arson-related charges. In court Tuesday, ...

Predictions of an early and vicious fire season are coming true, especially in a swath of the Southwest where extreme drought and a killing freeze this winter combined to desiccate grass and shrubs. Fire restrictions are in place on most state and federal lands throughout Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Dangerous fires break out daily. Southeastern Arizona, including the Tucson area, ...