Firefighters

With no clowns or marching bands to get in the way, Travis Francis stood on the side of the road in Towson yesterday and got a close-up view of what he had come to see: dozens of gigantic, bright red firetrucks, sirens wailing, gauges and dials gleaming. For a 4-year-old boy, this was the perfect parade. "I want to drive," Francis said, as the first of more than a hundred fire and rescue vehicles -- some antiques, some modern -- rolled by his family on Bosley Avenue. Picking his favorite was easy.

A bill that would allow Anne Arundel County to outlaw all roadside panhandling is expected to clear its last major hurdle today, after lawmakers reached a compromise with its major opponent, the local firefighters' union. The Anne Arundel County Professional Firefighters has agreed to withdraw its objections after receiving assurances it will be allowed to run its "Fill the Boot" fundraising campaign in new places, including outside grocery stores and the Maryland Seafood Festival. The union had fought a bill proposed by Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk, a College Park Democrat, because it would prevent firefighters from soliciting motorists to contribute to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

A man believed to be in his 60s was found dead early yesterday in a burning Canton rowhouse, where the clutter of personal possessions and debris hampered rescue efforts by city firefighters. Witnesses told of heavy smoke pouring out of the corner rowhouse in the 3000 block of Elliott St., one block south of O'Donnell Square in Southeast Baltimore, about 2 a.m. The smoke was so thick that it set off smoke alarms in neighboring homes, residents said. Arriving firefighters could not get far inside the home because of the clutter.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Joined by thousands of firefighters from across the country, this grieving region bade farewell to "our dear heroes" yesterday and struggled to find meaning in the deaths of nine men who died battling a furniture store blaze this week. "Firefighters charge into dangerous places when the natural human instinct is to flee rapidly," marveled Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., whose city lost the most firefighters in a single incident in the nation since the terrorist attacks of Sept.

County offices to close tomorrow Harford County government offices will be closed tomorrow for Presidents Day. The Harford County Waste Disposal Center will be closed. Waste to Energy will be open. Harford County Public Library will be closed. Grant workshop set for firefighters The Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute and the University of Maryland, in partnership with Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, will conduct a free regional firefighters grant workshop for all Maryland fire departments and emergency medical services personnel.

Firefighters at Station 7 in Columbia rushed to the same nursing home three times during two recent 24-hour shifts. Only one of those 911 calls - for a patient in "respiratory distress" - was a true emergency, crew members said, but firefighters still took all three residents to a hospital by ambulance. "Sometimes we're more of a transportation service [for these facilities] than an emergency service," paramedic firefighter Jeffrey King said. As the population ages, fire departments across the region are faced with a growing demand for ambulance services from long-term care facilities.

A Baltimore firetruck responding to a call in the northwestern part of the city plowed into a sport utility vehicle early yesterday, killing all three people in the SUV, officials said, in one of the worst accidents in the Fire Department's history. The firetruck crushed the 2006 Nissan Murano at Park Heights Avenue and Clarks Lane, and rescue crews had to use high-powered cutting tools to get to the victims. Four firefighters were treated at Maryland Shock Trauma Center for minor injuries and released yesterday afternoon.

Two firefighters were injured battling a house fire in West Baltimore last night. The fire, reported about 7:15 p.m. in the basement of a rowhouse in the 2800 block of W. Lafayette Ave., caused "silver-dollar-size burns" to two firefighters, who were treated at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's burn unit, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Shortly after the fire, five residents of a house three doors away complained of breathing problems, the apparent result of fumes from a defective furnace in their house, a fire official said.

Two burning rowhouses sent a cloud of billowing smoke over Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood yesterday in a fire that left one firefighter slightly injured, a fire official said. Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman, said firefighters were called to the 1200 block of Dellwood Avenue about 11 a.m. About two hours later, the firefighters had the blaze under control. The cause of the fire is under investigation, he said. The blaze heavily damaged two rowhouses at 1207 and 1209 Dellwood Ave. Loveus Whyte, 70, owns the house at 1207 Dellwood where the fire started.

Overcome by a roaring fire in her Roland Park home, an 11-year-old girl died at Sinai Hospital yesterday after being pulled from the flames by Baltimore firefighters, while her 16-year-old brother clung to life in the same medical center. Their father, Stephen A. Young, a deputy copy desk chief at The Sun, was found outside the front door. Choking, he managed to tell firefighters that his children were trapped inside, a city Fire Department spokesman said. Young was rushed to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was in critical condition and stable last night, recovering from a broken hip and suffering from smoke inhalation.

Harford deputy fatally shoots man armed with knife A Bel Air man died after being shot Saturday by a Harford County deputy who was responding to a domestic dispute, a police spokeswoman said. Lt. Christina Presberry said the Harford County Sheriff's Department received a call about noon for a domestic argument in the 1000 block of Ellicott Drive in Bel Air. The suspect, a 23-year-old man, threatened a responding police officer with a knife. The officer felt his life was threatened and fired at the suspect, police said.

Baltimore's 1,600 firefighters and fire officers voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night to take five unpaid furlough days before June in order to help the city close a $60 million budget gap. The city's agreement with the two unions also calls for a pay freeze in the next fiscal year, but union members will be spared threatened pay cuts. The deal is worth $2.9 million to the city. Bob Sledgeski, head of the 1,300-member Baltimore Firefighters' Local 734, said the agreement passed by a 2-to-1 vote.

Baltimore's fire unions have tentatively agreed to take five furlough days between now and next June and to accept a wage freeze after that as their share of cuts demanded by the city to help close a $60.2 million budget gap. Members of the unions representing 1,600 firefighters and officers will vote on the agreement Wednesday, knowing that if the agreement is rejected, the dispute would probably be resolved in binding arbitration that could end with...

The body spotted Friday by a Verizon worker in an underground cable vault in North Baltimore's Mid-Govans neighborhood was that of a decomposed white female, and detectives are awaiting the results of an autopsy, according to police. The telephone cable splicer, Barry Schwaab, said he had been preparing to do routine maintenance on buried lines and was about to climb down into the vault through a manhole when he saw the body lying face-down in about 5 feet of water. The vault is on a wide alley off Benninghaus Road, just east of York Road.

LOS ANGELES - -Thousands of uniformed firefighters gathered for a memorial service in Dodger Stadium on Saturday to honor as heroes two firefighters killed in the massive wildfire burning in the Angeles National Forest. Fire Capt. Tedmund "Ted" Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and Firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones, 34, of Palmdale, "served with dedication, courage and, during their last alarm, with absolute bravery and selflessness," Los Angeles County Fire Chief Deputy John Tripp said at the service.

Baltimore's police union wants to jettison a decades-old contract provision that requires the city to give firefighters the same pay raises that police officers receive, hoping the move will clear the way for larger pay increases. The police union leadership filed a lawsuit against the city last week on grounds that the parity or "me too" provisions of the fire unions' contract puts the police in the position of "indirectly" negotiating for fire wages, according to the complaint filed in Baltimore Circuit Court.

As if on cue during an event to mark the Baltimore City Fire Department's 150th year, sirens shrieked and ladder trucks raced up North Gay Street just minutes after the fire chief stepped up to the podium. "That noise is a working fire going on," James S. Clack, chief of the city's Fire Department, told the crowd of onlookers, firefighters and officials who gathered Saturday at War Memorial Plaza downtown. "If it gets any bigger, we might all have to leave." Speeches praising the department's dedication and perseverance would be interrupted twice more as a fire under way on Belair Road went to two alarms, then three.

2 firefighters injured battling blaze 2 Two firefighters suffered minor injuries while battling a fire Tuesday morning in East Baltimore that burned through the roof of a rowhouse, according to a department spokesman. The fire began about 7:20 a.m. in the 200 block of St. Matthews St. and was brought under control 25 minutes later, said Chief Kevin Cartwright, the spokesman. One firefighter suffered a small burn on his neck, and another injured an elbow in a fall, according to Cartwright.

WASHINGTON - -The Supreme Court's reversal Monday of a discrimination ruling involving a group of white Connecticut firefighters has provided critics of high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor with some fresh buckshot. The ruling that New Haven firefighters were unfairly denied promotions because of their race became an instant talking point for conservative foes of Sotomayor. They argued that her court's decision to the contrary last year shows she would be an activist who allows her biases - particularly her backing of affirmative action policies - to taint her judgment.

Maryland's attorney general has been asked to look into whether the state can limit the compensation of Constellation Energy's CEO. Is this something the state ought to investigate? Yes 46% No 51% Not sure 3% (1,367 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of white firefighters in Connecticut whose promotions were denied because no black firefighters passed the test they took. Do you agree with the ruling, which reverses a lower court decision that was joined by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor?