firefighters

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Burning High-Rise Falls, Kills 30 Firefighters

More deaths are possible in Tehran, Iran

(Newser) - A 17-story building in Tehran engulfed by a fire collapsed on Thursday, killing at least 30 firefighters and injuring some 75 people, state media reported, per the AP . Iran's state-run Press TV announced the firefighters' deaths, without giving a source for the information. Local Iranian state television said 30...

Firefighter Pleads Guilty to Setting Fires So He'd Get Paid

The part-time firefighter only got paid for hours spent fighting fires

(Newser) - A 31-year-old Cherokee man in North Carolina pleaded guilty Monday to setting seven fires in order to get paid for putting them out, the Charlotte Observer reports. Part-time firefighters hired by the Bureau of Indian Affairs only get paid for the hours they spend fighting fires or doing maintenance on...

Junior Firefighter, 16, Shot Dead Inside Station

Pa. firefighter charged with criminal homicide

(Newser) - Preparations inside a Pennsylvania firehouse for a "Light Up Night" parade on Sunday somehow ended up with a 16-year-old junior firefighter dead and a 21-year-old fire captain in jail. WPXI reports that George Matis Jr. was charged with criminal homicide and reckless endangerment in connection with the shooting of...

2 Charged With Stealing From Firefighters Battling Calif. Blaze

The suspects' own shoe prints helped bust them

(Newser) - What better way to thank the firefighters risking their lives to put out a forest fire in your community than by robbing them blind? Such is the case for US Forest Service firefighters as they arrived at a landfill Wednesday morning outside of Clearlake, Calif., ready to start working to...

NY District Bans US Flag From Firetrucks

Board fears flag will distract motorists, but firefighters' union is not happy

(Newser) - Firefighters in Arlington, NY, are steaming after they were asked to remove American flags from their firetrucks for fear they might distract motorists. Arlington Fire Chief Tory Gallante says the firefighters' union recently asked to put flags on their trucks and Gallante approved the plan after the flags were properly...

Mystery Blast Rocks DC Suburb, Injures 30

At least 3 firefighters among the injured

(Newser) - Fire officials say at least 30 people, including at least three firefighters, have been injured in an explosion and fire at an apartment building in a Maryland suburb of Washington, DC, reports the AP . First responders were dispatched to the scene in Silver Spring just before midnight Wednesday after a...

Cops: Firefighters Take 'Random' Exit, Stop a Murder

Man was attempting to hang woman in underpass: cops

(Newser) - Firefighters were expecting to find, well, flames. Instead, they discovered a man attempting to hang a woman beneath an overpass near Utah's Parleys Canyon on Friday, police say. A four-man crew responding to a report of smoke at the mouth of the canyon around 8pm found nothing troubling, so...

Firefighter Shot Dead Responding to Call

His colleague was seriously injured in Md. shooting

(Newser) - A Maryland firefighter is dead and another is seriously injured after a call about a medical emergency went horribly wrong on Friday night. Police in Prince George's County say the two firefighters went to a home in the Washington suburb of Temple Hills after receiving a call from a...

Firefighters Who Rushed Toddler to Hospital Reinstated

They were suspended for transporting patient in firetruck

(Newser) - Two volunteer firefighters in Virginia who decided to break the rules and rush an 18-month-old girl to a hospital in their fire engine instead of potentially watching her die are back on the job. The fire chief in Stafford County says Capt. James Kelley and Sgt. Virgil Bloom, who were...

Firefighters Rush Girl to Hospital, Get Punished

They used their fire engine, which is against the rules

(Newser) - Two volunteer firefighters are on administrative leave after driving an 18-month-old girl to the hospital for urgent medical care in their fire engine, Fox 5 DC reports. Capt. James Kelley and Sgt. Virgil Bloom, who volunteer in Fredericksburg, Va., found the girl partly paralyzed and were told she had just...

4 Firefighters Went on Arson Spree, Played the Hero

German men were always first to arrive on the scene

(Newser) - When a spate of fires took place over a few weeks in 2013 in a small German town, it seemed odd that a quartet of firefighters were always among the first to show up at the scene. Now a court has determined why: They were the ones starting the fires...

Firefighters Who Lost Their Hearing Sue Siren Maker

They say company didn't do enough to protect them

(Newser) - Around 4,400 current and former firefighters nationwide are suing Federal Signal Corp., an Illinois-based company that makes sirens, claiming it didn't do enough to make them safer for those on firetrucks who have to listen to them nearly every day. They say the company could have designed them...

Elephants Trained to Fight Forest Fires

'Forest watchdogs' patrol Indonesia

(Newser) - Forest fires difficult to control? Call in the pachyderm patrol. Officials in Indonesia are using trained elephants outfitted with water pumps and hoses to help patrol forests and control fires. For nearly three months, Riau province in East Sumatra has been blanketed by smoke from forest fires and land clearing,...

Off-Duty Firefighter Runs Into Burning Home to Save Dog

Dramatic rescue was captured on video

(Newser) - Firefighters don't come any more dedicated than Tim Tawater, who was off duty and driving to his daughter's birthday party on Saturday when he spotted clouds of smoke and followed them to a burning home. He was the first firefighter on the scene in the Nashville suburb of...

Violent Offenders May Join Inmate Firefighting Teams

Arsonists still barred from Calif. program

(Newser) - California officials are considering allowing inmates with violent backgrounds to work outside prison walls fighting wildfires, and the idea is generating concerns about public safety. The state has about 3,800 inmate firefighters with no history of violent crimes. But that's down from about 4,400 in previous years,...

Modern Homes Are Killing Firefighters

Cancer is the leading cause of death for firefighters

(Newser) - Everybody knows firefighters have a dangerous job, but few understand the biggest risk they face while saving lives. In an eye-opening article, the Atlantic reports the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths for US firefighters is cancer. According to the International Association of Fire Fighters, 60% of firefighters will die from...

3 Firefighters Dead in Washington State

More are injured battling wildfire

(Newser) - Tragedy in Washington state today as three firefighters were killed fighting a wildfire in the north-central part of the state, reports KING5 . At least three more were injured, one of them critically. It's not clear what happened, but firefighters earlier were battling what KOMO describes as "strong, erratic...

Firefighter Killed When Winds Whip Up Wildfire

He had volunteered to work in California

(Newser) - A firefighter killed by a wildfire in Northern California was scouting the area exploring for ways to attack it when he became trapped after erratic winds stoked the blaze, officials said today. Forest Service firefighter David Ruhl was driving down a Modoc National Forest road in a vehicle Thursday when...

9/11 Responder Hits Lottery

Retired New York City firefighter wins $5M

(Newser) - Hard to begrudge this lottery winner: He's a retired firefighter who responded to the World Trade Center on 9/11. Carmelo Mercado won $5 million on a lottery scratch-off ticket, and the 63-year-old will get $3.3 million in a lump-sum payment after taxes are taken out. Mercado was among...

'Mind Blowing' Fire Burns Entire Neighborhood

Severe drought fuels Washington state wildfire

(Newser) - From just across the Wenatchee River, Dominick Bonny watched a whole neighborhood in his central Washington town burn as a wildfire destroyed two dozen homes and forced hundreds to flee. "With the wind blowing away from us, it was like we were watching a natural disaster within arm's...

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