Safety Standards

A Fire Department panel has recommended that two more city firefighters be dismissed from their jobs because of their roles in the Feb. 9 training burn in a Southwest Baltimore rowhouse that killed a recruit and injured two others. One of the two, Lt. Barry Broyles, responded yesterday by saying that the Fire Department never followed safety standards during live burns and that it should not have hired the recruit who died. Broyles and Lt. Joseph Crest have been suspended without pay since the February blaze that killed cadet Racheal M. Wilson, 29, a mother of two. Mayor Sheila Dixon fired Kenneth Hyde Sr., the chief of the Fire Academy, about two weeks after the fire.

Fire commanders from around the state met yesterday in Baltimore and exchanged ideas about safety and training after two recent fires in the city that killed a recruit and a firefighter. "We came together because I thought it was important to let them know some of the things we're going through with the back-to-back line-of-duty deaths," Baltimore City Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. said after the meeting. Baltimore fire cadet Racheal M. Wilson was killed Feb. 9 in a training fire that got out of control in a Southwest Baltimore rowhouse.

The former director of the Baltimore Fire Department's training academy used a rowhouse for a live-fire exercise in which a recruit died even though he had earlier expressed reservations about the suitability of the building, according to e-mails obtained by The Sun. Kenneth Hyde Sr., who was fired because safety rules were violated during the fire, had rejected a suggestion that he burn a rowhouse on a city housing department list of buildings that...

The state has pitched in a half-million dollars to help the Annapolis Housing Authority bring two aging communities up to safety and health standards. The grant announced last week by the Department of Housing and Community Development will fix wiring, doors, windows, smoke detectors and minor structural problems in Obery Court and College Creek Terrace, which are among the oldest public housing properties in the country. College Creek Terrace, which has 109 units, is slated for major renovation, while Obery Court, with 56 units, will likely be demolished.

Mayor Martin O'Malley met yesterday with school bus drivers who have complained about poor vehicle maintenance and safety standards at First Student Inc., a national bus company that the Teamsters union is trying to organize. O'Malley told bus drivers that he supported their efforts to organize and improve bus service to some of the city's most vulnerable children, but he did not directly blame First Student. The majority of children who ride school buses in Baltimore are disabled. "You should never take a bus out if kids are going to be in danger," said O'Malley, who is campaigning to be the Democratic nominee in this year's gubernatorial race.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Five years ago come Saturday, then-NASCAR czar Bill France Jr. issued a statement that thundered in its simple enormity: "NASCAR has lost its greatest driver ever." Dale Earnhardt had been killed in the last turn of the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Suddenly NASCAR was, with blackest irony, the No. 1 story in American sports. NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw likened the sudden passing of the iconic figure to those of Elvis Presley and Princess Diana. The planned covers of national news magazines were scrapped and replaced with portrait photos of Earnhardt.

ORLANDO, Fla. - For Orlando's famed attractions, finding a balance between excitement and safety is critical. The death of 4-year-old Daudi Bamuwamye on Monday after a ride on Mission: Space at Walt Disney World's Epcot immediately raised questions not only about the ride's safety, but also about how to judge what thrills are right for young visitors. Amusement-industry experts say that Disney, Universal Orlando and other parks spend years developing and testing rides, designing equipment that seldom causes problems.

CHESTERTOWN, Md. - One of the world's foremost fireworks experts is a grandfatherly organic chemistry professor who teaches at tiny Washington College and enjoys afternoons on his back porch overlooking the peaceful Chester River. But when the crowds gather this weekend for the region's many crackling tributes to America's independence, John A. Conkling won't be among the revelers. He'll be in Geneva, where he is advising the United Nations on how to develop international standards for storing and transporting fireworks and other dangerous goods.

WASHINGTON - Mexican trucks and buses soon may be rolling throughout California and the Southwestern states, with the backing of President Bush and the Supreme Court. Bush administration lawyers urged the high court yesterday to lift a court order that has barred Mexican trucks from going beyond a 20-mile border zone, and none of the justices took sharp exception during the hourlong argument. If the Supreme Court sides with the administration, it could clear the way for thousands of Mexican trucks to deliver goods within the United States.

The wading-pool-sized sandbox and its 10 tons of sand have been carted away. The twisting yellow slide - the one with the 16-foot-high, parental-heart-stopping ladder and sudden drop - has been torn down. The merry-go-round is next to go. The old, outdated playground equipment at Westminster City Park is being dismantled this week and replaced with 15 pieces of new, safer equipment. The equipment ranges from swings and slides to a climbing sphere. The playground will be completed by Aug. 18. The $80,000 project - funded in part by $40,000 in state Program Open Space money - is long overdue, according to Westminster`s recreation director, Ronald J. Schroers.