Fire Department

Manchester resident Patrick Carmody was one of five members of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department who were recently promoted in the department. The 20-year veteran was promoted to lieutenant on Feb. 21 during a ceremony to honor the five officers' years of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice.

Chief Kevin Cartwright, for years the primary spokesman and public face of the Baltimore Fire Department, is retiring at the end of this month to take a public relations position in the private sector. His city salary of nearly $100,000 is now up for grabs. Cartwright, who has been a member of the fire department since 1989 and a spokesman since 2002, confirmed his departure on Wednesday. "I've kind of been entertaining the idea, for a little bit, of pursuing some new challenges," he said.

A woman was found injured in a Middle River home that caught fire on Sunday shortly after noon, Baltimore County fire officials said. Firefighters who arrived at the home, in the 600 block of Kingston Road, found fire showing on the second floor and in the attic, officials said. The woman, whom the fire department did not identify, was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. The extent of her injuries were unknown as of about 4 p.m. Sunday. The fire was under control in about an hour.

A portable classroom at the rear of Forest Lakes Elementary School was badly damaged when a malfunctioning heating unit started a fire early Thursday morning, according to Harford County fire officials. The blaze at the school, in the 100 block of Osborne Parkway in the Forest Hill area north of Bel Air, was brought under control about 2 a.m. by several dozen Bel Air and Fallston volunteer firefighters, the fire department reported. Damages are estimated at $15,000. No changes to the school's schedule on Thursday were reported.

Among the 63 calls for medical and fire-rescue service the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department received During the period Feb. 17-23 were the following: Pleasant Valley Drive, 1300 block, 10:17 p.m. Feb. 20. Crews from the Arbutus and Woodlawn volunteer stations responded to the report that a person was having a stroke in the Westview area of Catonsville. One seriously ill person taken to a local hospital. Bloomsbury Avenue, unit block, 10:42 a.m. Feb. 20. Crews from the Arbutus, Lansdowne and Violetville volunteer stations and Catonsville, Halethorpe, Randallstown, Westview and Woodlawn career stations responded to the report of an apartment fire in Catonsville.

Emergency equipment responding to incidents for assistance need the right of way. The Laurel Volunteer Fire Department's fire technicians or drivers have been instructed by county fire department driving regulations to come to a complete stop at all red traffic lights and stop signs, but we still need everyone's help to ensure that we can get there both quickly and safely. It could mean the difference between life and death. When you see lights or hear sirens, we ask you to: Immediately yield the right of way. This can be done by calmly and carefully pulling to the right edge of the roadway.

Baltimore fire officials are investigating how a home in Northeast Baltimore burst into flames early Wednesday morning just hours after an earlier fire at the same address had been brought under control. Both fires rose to two alarms, the fire department said. The first fire caused significant damage to the basement and first and second floors of the home in the 4800 block of Greencrest Road, in the city's Frankford neighborhood, officials said. The fire was contained to the home, but smoke damage was sustained by an adjacent home, officials said.

A 61-year-old man with a high fever was rescued Tuesday evening from a 957-foot tanker ship anchored near Annapolis, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. The captain of the Cape Althea contacted Coast Guard officials about 5 p.m. reporting he had a 104-degree fever, and Anne Arundel County Fire Department personnel helped retrieve the man via a 45-foot rescue boat to a medical center, officials said. "Since the Cape Althea was at anchor and the crew from Anne Arundel County Fire and Rescue has an advanced capability to aid medically, we asked them to assist," said Chief Petty Officer Eddie McCrae, supervisor of the Coast Guard Sector Baltimore Command Center, in a statement.

An Essex towing company caught fire Saturday morning, Baltimore County fire officials said. The fire in the 400 block of Back River Neck Road happened at FMR Towing, the fire department said, and was under control by 9 a.m, but fire fighters were still on the scene. iduncan@baltsun.com twitter.com/iduncan

One woman was killed and another injured in a fire that broke out in a West Baltimore rowhouse early Thursday, according to Fire Department officials. Neighbors in the 1000 block of N. Rosedale St. in the city's Franklintown Road neighborhood said they were alerted to the blaze when they heard screaming and breaking glass sometime after 4 a.m. Fire officials identified the woman who died in the fire as Brenda Gittings-Sewell, 70. Her daughter, Cynthia Sewell, 43, is being treated for burns she suffered over 30 percent of her body.