Fire Department

DESPITE the soggy weather Monday evening, Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Department opened its 69th annual Firemen's Carnival. The weeklong festivities conclude tomorrow evening, but carnival-goers still have plenty of time to enjoy the rides, amusements and lots of live music.Head into town early tomorrow to reserve a prime viewing spot for the Fireman's Parade. Beginning at 5 p.m., marching bands, floats, clowns, and more firetrucks then you could imagine will travel the parade route down Main Street, south to Park Avenue, ending at the carnival grounds.

Howard County's fire department wants to get closer to residents -- even when there are no emergencies.The county's Department of Fire and Rescue has called on citizens for the first time to help it evaluate its emergency-medical services and how it can better reach out to the community."

Handling an agenda devoted largely to the future of Westminster's downtown business district, the City Council voted Monday night to donate $100,000 toward a planned $1.3 million volunteer fire department headquarters.The mayor and council members also heard the final recommendation of the West Main Street Reconstruction Task Force, which has spent more than a year deciding on a plan to smooth traffic near Western Maryland College, then talked about new uses for the Main Street post office, which is due to be replaced by a new building at the Englar Business Center.

For Ray Wolff, a mechanic with the Baltimore County Fire Department, winter is a cruel time, especially when he's trying to fix the leaky valve of a fire engine pump while standing outside the county's 38-year-old garage."

Now that the rain is out of the forecast, we can start to have some summer fun!The Odenton Volunteer Fire Department Carnival starts tonight and remains in town through Monday.For just $8, you can ride all the rides you can get to between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. tonight. Wednesday night, the price of ride tickets is reduced.Monday, the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company's Memorial Day Fireman's Parade starts at the Odenton Shopping Center at 5:30 p.m. and proceeds up Route 175 to the firehouse.For more information, call the fire department at 674-4444.

Members of the City Council, hot about Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's refusal to hand over a consultant's report on the Fire Department, have passed a resolution they hope will force the report's release."

The city might have to pay $164,000 back to the federal government after the money was mixed with funds in an "off-the-books" log intended to circumvent oversight rules, an audit of Fire Department spending revealed. The department's training academy made more than $237,000 in unauthorized purchases from Draeger Safety Inc. over a four-year period, according to the audit, which was prompted by a 2007 investigation by The Baltimore Sun. Some funds granted by the Department of Homeland Security were mixed with rebates from Draeger in the clandestine account, Robert McCarty, the city auditor, told the city's spending board Wednesday.

B. Harrison Shipley Jr., a 72-year member of the Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Department and author of a history of Howard County firefighting, died of heart failure Sunday at his Ellicott City home. He was 88. Mr. Shipley was born into the world of firefighting, spending his early years living above the Ellicott City firehouse at 8316 Main St., where his father, Benjamin Harrison Shipley Sr., was chief of the volunteer company. He was a 1929 graduate of Ellicott City High School and earned his bachelor's degree from St. John's College in Annapolis in 1933.

Five people were rescued from a sinking 50-foot boat after it struck a buoy and began to take on water in Baltimore Harbor Friday night, officials said Saturday. No one was injured in the incident near Fort McHenry, which was reported in a 911 call about 7 p.m. Friday, said Petty Officer First Class Nathan Henise, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard in Baltimore. A Baltimore Fire Department boat first responded to the scene and rescued the five unidentified people on the sinking vessel, said Henise.

A Baltimore City paramedic has been arrested and suspended without pay for allegedly assaulting a patient, authorities said. Shaun W. White, 31, was arrested Friday night on two counts of second-degree assault stemming from a Sept. 8 incident, court records show. Fire Chief Kevin Cartwright, a department spokesman, said an investigation was launched Friday into the arrest and alleged patient assault. Cartwright had no further information about the alleged assault, the condition of the victim or details surrounding the call that brought White and the victim together.