Fire Station

The firefighter who reported finding a knotted rope and a drawing of a noose in an East Baltimore station house is in the process of being fired for unrelated issues, Fire Department officials said yesterday. Donald Maynard, a six-year veteran who reported the discoveries, acknowledged last week that he was the one who brought the items into the station house. Even before that admission, Maynard, who is black, had been suspended without pay for failing to complete emergency medical technician-intermediate training or making any plans to do so, said Roman Clark, a department spokesman.

The Sykesville-Freedom District Fire Department will hold its annual Fire Prevention Open House from noon to 4 p.m. today at the station on Route 32 at Freedom Avenue. The public is invited to enjoy fire engine rides, a Sesame Street fire prevention puppet show and tours of the fire station. Live auto extrication and vehicle fire demonstrations also will be held. Information: 410-795-9311. Fire prevention theme of event The Carroll County Volunteer Emergency Services Association will hold a Fire Prevention Week kickoff event from noon to 5 p.m. today at TownMall of Westminster.

Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger's plan to move all firefighters out of the Sparrows Point Fire Station this summer has angered union and management officials at Bethlehem Steel Corp., who say the move would jeopardize the safety of up to 8,500 workers.Ruppersberger's budget, unveiled last week, calls for transferring the fire engine, the ladder truck and the 40 firefighters assigned to them from Sparrows Point, but keeping eight paramedics at the station around the clock.

The Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department opposes a $2.3 million fire station Howard County plans to build in Mayfield, saying it is not needed and would force volunteers to compete with Baltimore County firefighters in responding to calls.The proposed station is scheduled to be built in the next few years on Meadow Ridge Road, north of Interstate 95."Our membership has opposed the building of this station because we don't feel that it's necessary," said Robert Fadrowski, president of the volunteer department.

The Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department opposes a $2.3 million fire station Howard County plans to build in Mayfield, saying it is not needed and would force volunteers to compete with Baltimore County firefighters in responding to calls.The proposed station is scheduled to be built in the next few years on Meadow Ridge Road, north of Interstate 95."Our membership has opposed the building of this station because we don't feel that it's necessary," said Robert Fadrowski, president of the volunteer department.

Firemen's carnivals have been a tradition in Carroll County -- at least in one town -- throughout this century.Hampstead claims to have probably the oldest firemen's carnival in the county. It also is the last carnival of the season, which opens tomorrow in Gamber and Union Bridge."We had a carnival to raise money to get the fire company started 99 years ago," said Edgar Stagner of the Hampstead Volunteer Fire Engine & Hose Company's carnival committee.Not far behind in longevity is Union Bridge Volunteer Fire Company, which has held a carnival for at least 80 years.

In Baltimore CountyBoy, 8, still in hospital after crash that killed woman, 21, and infantESSEX -- One person remained hospitalized yesterday, and an investigation continued into a crash on Route 702 that killed an infant in a stroller and a friend of the family Tuesday.Daniel Reedy, 8, was in good condition at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was hurt when a station wagon driven by his mother, 37-year-old Maria Diana Reedy, slammed into Kia-Denise Hughes, 21, and 15-month-old Leearna McKenny, killing Hughes and McKenny.

BILLY RYAN HAS always loved the fire department.As a child, he begged his parents to take him there to climb on the trucks, flip on the sirens, and talk to firefighters about their adventures.When his brother became a volunteer firefighter in Abingdon, Ryan couldn't have been more proud. His brother was able to be part of a life that Ryan could only dream of.Since age 9, and in the 33 years since, Ryanhas dealt with physical disabilities, including spastic quadriplegia."He counts on someone for every aspect of living -- from dressing, waking up, toileting, feeding -- he can't even taste food because he is fed through a tube in his stomach," said Linda Warzocha, one of Ryan's instructors at Change Inc., which offers a day program for developmentally disabled adults.

NORMALLY, when people, companies or institutions relinquish control over property, they lose the right to dictate how it will be used in the future. That's one reason Baltimore County's plan to close a fire station based at Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Sparrows Point plant is justified even though the company would prefer it to remain open.The steelmaker is annoyed that Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger wants to transfer 40 firefighters and apparatus from the Sparrows Point Fire Station to other firehouses.

CAROLYN KLEIN vividly remembers the big fire on Main Street in Ellicott City in 1984.She still sees the gingerbread houses in Leidig's Bakery and the beautiful bisque dolls in the shop next to Leidig's burning.Klein rushed to the fire as an Ellicott City volunteer firefighter. Now, she is administrator of Ellicott City Fire Department Station No. 2, which is housed in the new station building at Montgomery Road and Old Columbia Pike.Klein coordinates the volunteers who staff the Fire House Museum at Church Avenue and Main Street in Ellicott City.

Three men were shot, one fatally, Thursday night on a street in the Govans community, police said. Two of the victims were found on the street, and the third was driven by someone to a city fire station more than a mile away, where he was given first aid before being taken to a hospital. Their names were not available. Police said no arrest had been made and know of no motive for the triple shooting. Agent Donny Moses, a city police spokesman, said Northern District police responding to shots fired in the 500 block of Radnor Ave. about 9 p.m. found one man lying next to a utility pole near a white pickup truck who had been shot in the head.

Firefighters raising money for muscular dystrophy Baltimore County firefighters and paramedics will kick off today the 12th annual "Fill the Boot" campaign to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Maryland. Motorists can expect to see fire personnel with their boots out asking for donations at many county intersections from Sept. 3 through Labor Day. The funds raised will help support local MDA services and research programs, including clinics at the Johns Hopkins University and Maryland General Hospital.

North Baltimore residents are rallying to save a 107-year-old firehouse in Waverly that was closed last month when holes in the roof made the fire crew's living quarters uninhabitable. The firefighters, paramedics and apparatus of Engine 31 have been moved to a newer fire station a half-mile away, but residents want their old station back. "The firehouse is very important to the community," said City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who represents the area. "It is a mainstay of Waverly. It will reopen."

Ellicott City and Elkridge would be the biggest beneficiaries of the $392 million capital budget proposed by Howard County Executive Ken Ulman. The major renovation of Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City would get another $16.5 million, Northfield Elementary would get an $11.1 million makeover into a certified "green" building, and the big new Miller library on Frederick Road would get $14.5 million to complete construction. That's not all. A temporary $4.1 million fire station would be built at the county's Mayfield Highway shop, and money to plan an addition to Bellows Spring Elementary also is included in the plan Ulman unveiled Wednesday.

A month after a five-alarm fire destroyed three homes on the Annapolis Neck peninsula, workers are putting the final touches on a fire station to serve that community. More than three decades in the making, the $4.5 million fire station is set to open in the spring, Anne Arundel County fire officials said. "It was community support that got this done," said fire department spokesman Lt. Shawn M. Jones. Last week, workers were sanding and hammering in rooms that will be used as sleeping quarters, a kitchen and a command center.

Baltimore police detectives charged four people in the killing of a 14-year-old boy in Brooklyn last month and are seeking a fifth person in the case. Police charging documents allege that several adults were robbed by an unidentified person in a Brooklyn home Nov. 18 and then sought retribution. Three adults drove to a Southwest Baltimore house, where they picked up guns and two accomplices, then returned to Brooklyn, where they found Steven Graham riding his bicycle past a fire station, according to the documents.

Firefighter dies on duty at Cockeysville station A 32-year-old firefighter and paramedic died while working an overnight shift as a supervisor at a Cockeysville fire station, Baltimore County Fire Department officials said yesterday. Brian D. Neville, who was filling in Wednesday night at the Texas Fire Station on York Road as an EMS district supervisor, was found yesterday morning by colleagues who had arrived at the supervisor's office to relieve him, according to the Fire Department.

Pikesville woman killed by falling tree is identified A Pikesville woman who was killed Monday when a dead tree fell on her was identified yesterday by Baltimore County police as Vanessa Dale Sandler. Sandler was taking out the trash when an oak tree near the trash bins behind her condominium complex in the first block of Greenwich Place fell on her. Her 55th birthday was Sunday, police said. Firefighters from the Pikesville station arrived a few minutes after the 4:30 p.m. incident and freed the woman from beneath the tree.

The city's two fire unions plan to oppose a City Council bill filed this week to name a fire station after former department Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. The legislation would rename Engine Company 41 on South Conkling Street after the former chief because he "served the city of Baltimore with distinction and honor for over 30 years," according to the bill sponsored by Councilman Nicholas C. D'Adamo Jr. The station is where Goodwin started his career,...

Man, 22, charged in child porn A 22-year-old man has been charged with possessing and distributing child pornography after a yearlong investigation by Maryland State Police that centered on his then-home in Baltimore County, authorities said. Jeffrey G.A. Stimson, who now lives in the 700 block of S. Potomac St. in Baltimore, faces charges of two counts of distributing and one count of possessing child pornography. He was released Tuesday from the Baltimore County Detention Center on $75,000 bail, court records show.