Firehouse.com

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio --

A 76-year-old man barely escaped a fire early Monday morning.

Fire crews said he was hard to rescue because of all of the clutter in his home.

Fire investigators said two neighbors called police when they saw heavy smoke coming from a front bedroom of the Cleveland Heights home.

When fire crews arrived at the scene on Noble Road, they found the man collapsed in the hallway with burns on 40 percent of his body.

NEW YORK --

The new Navy assault ship USS New York, built with World Trade Center steel, arrived in its namesake city Monday with a rifle volley salute near the site of the 2001 terrorist attack.

First responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public gathered Monday at a waterfront viewing area, where they could see the crew standing at attention along the deck of the battleship gray vessel.

The big ship paused. Then the shots were fired, with a cracking sound, in three bursts.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Responders have revived legislation that will permit notification of personnel exposed to HIV or other serious illnesses.

On Friday, President Obama signed the Ryan White legislation that includes the provision allowing hospitals to notify personnel about certain exposures within 48 hours.

SAN DIEGO --

The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were still hoping Friday to find survivors of a collision between a Coast Guard plane carrying two people and a Marine Corps helicopter carrying nine off the Southern California coast.

The crash was reported at 7:10 p.m. Thursday, about 50 miles off the San Diego County coast and 15 miles east of San Clemente Island, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Allyson Conroy said.

The application period for the FY2009 SAFER Grants will open on Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. (EST) and close on Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. (EST), according to a FEMA press release.

The program guidance document will soon be posted on the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program Web site.

This year's SAFER program has approximately $210 million available for grants.

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Oct. 30--LAWRENCE -- Eight city firefighters have been getting paid to stay at home for 11 weeks while waiting for a decision on whether their layoffs were justified.

"Definitely, a couple of balls were dropped on this one," Mayor Michael Sullivan said yesterday of the personnel moves that prolonged the Fire Department's budget problem instead of eliminating it.

Fire houses are being shut down, jobs are going up in smoke, and lives are being put at risk.

Every minute, a fire doubles in size, so seconds count.

Melissa Watson only needed a few more.

Fire houses are being shut down, jobs are going up in smoke, and lives are being put at risk.Every minute, a fire doubles in size, so seconds count.

Melissa Watson only needed a few more.

A total of 23 residents were displaced and two firefighters were injured in a fire that burned two homes and a garage in Centralia early this morning.

When Riverside Fire Authority firefighters responded to the blaze in the 300 block of North Gold Street at about 2:30 a.m., they found two adjacent homes, a garage and three cars ablaze, said fire authority Chief Jim Walkowski.

JAIPUR, India
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A huge fire at an Indian oil depot that has killed at least six people and injured 150 will be allowed to burn out as firefighters have little hope of dousing it, officials said Friday.

Another six people are trapped in the depot near the city of Jaipur in the western state of Rajasthan where the fire has been burning for nearly 24 hours since it broke out Thursday evening.

It's pretty well known that people in the emergency services like stuff -- especially new stuff. And, it looks like there's some cool new stuff in the pipeline for gadget folks.

What would you think about a handheld device that can help make triage decisions from 40 feet with the scan of a laser that can measure respirations and pulse? Or, how about a firefighter-locator that can help pinpoint responders in three-dimensions?

A Boise Tiller truck leaving the station collided with a pickup truck after leaving the rear the rear driver behind, according to KIVI-TV.

The ladder truck had just left Fire Station 5 to respond to a call when the tail end of the truck swung and hit the driver's side of a Toyota Tacoma.

The preliminary investigation shows the truck left the station with three crew members in the front cab but without the fourth crew member in the tiller position, the news report said.

Oct. 28--SPRING HILL -- A woman resting in her recliner was trapped inside an engulfing fire, burning her hair and clothes before a relative lifted her and carried her to safety, firefighters said.

Hernando County Fire Rescue and Sumter Fire Rescue responded shortly after 8:15 p.m. Tuesday at 29062 Friar St., according to a sheriff's report.

By the time deputies arrived, Gloria Bowman, 75, was lying in the yard across the street and being treated by paramedics.

Bowman said she was in her motorized recliner when it caught fire.

SHREVEPORT, La. --

One man is dead and a landmark church steeple toppled onto a car in Louisiana after a line of thunderstorms spawned several tornadoes there and in neighboring Arkansas.

Authorities said an unnamed 20-year-old driver died when his car hit a tree felled by the storms Thursday near Shreveport.

At least three tornadoes touched down in northwest Louisiana.

Acting on a tip, Kissimmee fire officials today determined that two residents trying to exterminate bees sparked a fire that left 30 people homeless and destroyed a building.

Two residents doused a beehive with flammable spray as it hung from a second-floor landing at Villa del Sol condominiums, firefighters said. They then lit a match and touched it to the hive, causing flames to erupt.

NEW ORLEANS

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A nine-hour police standoff ended Thursday night, and police said they've got the suspect in custody.

It started at an apartment in the 700 block of Upperline Street, just blocks from the Mississippi River Uptown, at about 11:30 a.m.

First City Court Constable Lambert Boissiere said a deputy was visiting 60-year-old Richard Scearce to serve him with an eviction notice when Scearce barricaded himself inside, set fire to the building and fired several gunshots.

MODESTO, Calif. -- An early-morning fire gutted an office building that houses the Stanislaus Arts Council, causing $1 million in damage.

The two-alarm blaze erupted just before 4 a.m. Thursday and it was an hour before firefighters could extinguish the flames.

Nobody was hurt in the blaze.

Two other businesses also occupied the building on Kansas Avenue, including a catering business and one that treats addicts.

Modesto fire inspectors have not yet identified a cause of the fire.

URBANA TWP., Ohio -- A transformer at the top of a utility pole exploded and burned after a driver struck it on Oct. 28, resulting in the scene shown in the photo on the right, taken by Springfield News Sun photographer Bill Lackey.

The crash occurred on U.S. 68 shortly after noon when the motorist drove his vehicle up a set of guy wires, striking the top of the pole before overturning.

A witness told the newspaper the driver went up there "like a roller coaster."

SAGINAW, Mich.

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As thousands of volunteers prepare to walk the streets of Saginaw in a community-wide effort to prevent intentionally-set Devil’s Night and Halloween fires, two east homes went up in flames Thursday morning.

Fire officials said both “suspicious” fires are being investigated as arson by the Saginaw County Fire Investigative Services.

The first blaze occurred about 1:45 a.m. at an abandoned one-story house on 9th Street. Fire officials said the structure will likely be demolished.

PHELAN, Calif. --Just after fire officials saved more than 50 animals from a Phelan rescue center, paramedics were called to help save the life of a woman across the street from the burned-out structure, San Bernardino County Fire Department officials said.

As officials were leaving the scene early Tuesday morning, someone came out of a home directly across the street from where the fire took place and said their female family member had stopped breathing.

TROY, N.Y. -- It seemed like it would be a routine maneuver: firefighter Ray Littlejohn would go up to the second floor, whip the hose around and douse the flames consuming the Troy home on Saturday morning.

But it was only a matter of seconds -- not even long enough for him to realize -- before he had fallen through the blaze-weakened staircase and been trapped in the basement.

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Oct. 27--FORT WORTH -- From his bunk in the Salvation Army homeless shelter, Greg LaRue can hear the wailing sirens of fire trucks as they roar down East Lancaster Drive.

For most homeless people, it is background noise. Another fire. Another person sick. Another person injured.

But to LaRue, the sound is a stabbing reminder of the life he had, the career he cherished and the challenges he must overcome.

A brigade of more than 1,500 firefighters made big gains Monday in a battle against wind-whipped flames in the Santa Cruz Mountains, allowing dozens of evacuated residents to return home. But amid an atmosphere of relief, questions swirled about how the blaze began.

Among the possible scenarios, state fire officials acknowledged, is that the Loma Fire was started by firefighters themselves.

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Oct. 26--KNOB NOSTER -- A 1-month-old baby is dead after an apartment fire at 402 W. McPherson St.

The baby, Justin Bailey, is the son of Robin and Jacob Bailey.

The State Fire Marshal's Office is investigating the fire, which firefighters responded to at 8:38 a.m. Friday.

Police Chief Brian Kniskern said the infant had been left in a car seat carrier on top of the electric stove.

Dressed in prison orange, Gilberto Smith was unloading shovels and other equipment when he twisted his ankle deep in Eureka Canyon. Officials from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection knew that if the Loma fire turned his way, he'd never make it out alive. So the officials called in a helicopter.