Volunteer Firefighter

William B. Levin, a longtime member of the Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company and senior claims adjuster at the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, died Friday in hospice care at the Gilchrest Center of kidney cancer. He was 65 and had battled cancer for several years. Members of the Pikesville company held a birthday party for him April 25 in the chapel at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. They awarded him a life membership, recognizing his 24 years of service with the volunteer company.

William B. Levin, a longtime member of the Pikesville Volunteer Fire Company and senior claims adjuster at the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, died Friday in hospice care at the Gilchrest Center of kidney cancer. He was 65 and had battled cancer for several years. Members of the Pikesville company held a birthday party for him April 25 in the chapel at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. They awarded him a life membership, recognizing his 24 years of service with the volunteer company.

A 20-year-old Anne Arundel County volunteer firefighter suffered minor injuries Sunday while fighting a blaze at a home in Severna Park. Division Chief Michael Cox said the firefighter, whose name was not given, suffered burns to his ears and neck and was taken to the burn unit at Johns Hopkins Bayville Medical Center. Firefighters responded at 11:47 a.m. to a house fire in the 300 block of Green Aspen Court in the Shipley's Choice community. On arrival, firefighters saw fire at he rear of the two-story, single-family home, Cox said.

Community support is vital to volunteer fire departments in rural America. Most small communities do not receive enough funding for fire protection services, but still experience the same emergencies found in a big city. Thanks to one local farm family and America's Farmers Grow Communities, the Level Volunteer Fire Company recently received some much needed support. Grow Communities, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, gives farmers the opportunity to win $2,500 for their favorite local nonprofit organizations.

No one knows how many bull-and-oyster roasts they've held at the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company in Severna Park. After 92 years, it can be tough to keep track. Even Bill Weitzell scratches his head at the question, and he knows as much about this kind of thing as anybody. "To be honest, I'm not sure," says Weitzell, a Severna Park resident who joined the company when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president, gas cost 10 cents a gallon and a fireman was lucky if his rescue ladder reached the roof of a two-story house.

As a cloud of dark smoke poured out of the windows of the four-story building, an exhausted Adam Skrodzki, his reddened face matching the color of his hair, paused for a breather. The humid summer weather outside was a relief compared to the 600 degrees it felt like inside the burning building, where he helped haul a 100-pound water hose up and down three flights of stairs while wearing about 80 pounds of fire gear. "This is just a simulation," said fellow Howard County volunteer firefighter Craig Roston, 45. "The real thing is worse."

A former Ellicott City volunteer firefighter has been indicted on arson and other charges in connection with a series of fires over the summer that damaged property but caused no injuries. Joseph Richard Lee Schroen, 20, of Ellicott City, was arrested Sept. 6 in connection with five fires near his home from June through August, including brush fires and the burning of a shed, a bird feeder and a mailbox. His Oct. 4 indictment was made public yesterday. Authorities made the arrest while monitoring Schroen's MySpace online account, which featured a stick figure dousing itself with flammable liquid and setting itself on fire, according to a court document.

A Manchester volunteer firefighter was arrested on arson and other charges early yesterday after a vacant two-story house was broken into and set on fire with gasoline, authorities said. Joshua Richard Spicer, 18, of the 2900 block of Holland Drive, was charged with second-degree arson, second-degree malicious burning, fourth-degree burglary and reckless endangerment, officials said. He was the first member of the Manchester Fire Department to arrive at the 1 a.m. fire in the 3200 block of York St., authorities said.

HAVRE DE GRACE -- A memorial fund has been started to benefit the family of a volunteer firefighter who was found drowned in the Susquehanna River Monday night.Steve Clark, 27, his wife, Sandy Baer Clark, and their 4-year-old daughter, Ashley, were swimming in the area known as the Susquehanna Flats on Monday when he disappeared.Members of the Susquehanna Volunteer Hose Company -- with which Clark volunteered for three years -- have started the fund to benefit his family.Contributions can be sent to the Steven Clark Memorial Fund in care of the Susquehanna Hose Company, P.O. Box 58, Havre de Grace, 21078.

Dennis L. Yeagle, director of job services for the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and longtime volunteer firefighter, died of a heart attack Monday at his Lutherville home. He was 57. Mr. Yeagle was born in Baltimore and raised in Timonium. He was a 1964 graduate of Dulaney High School and earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1968 from the University of Maryland. Mr. Yeagle, who began working for the state in 1970, also served six years in the Maryland National Guard.

Among the 64 calls for medical and fire-rescue service received by the Arbutus Volunteer Fire Department March 18-25 were the following: 6000 Glen Artney Road, 2:30 p.m. March 23. Crews from the Arbutus and Violetville volunteer stations and Catonsville career station responded to the report of a fire in the Glen Artney Area of Patapsco Valley State Park and extinguished the fire Wilkens Avenue at Kenwood Avenue, 8:41 a.m....

A 20-year-old Anne Arundel County volunteer firefighter suffered minor injuries Sunday while fighting a blaze at a home in Severna Park. Division Chief Michael Cox said the firefighter, whose name was not given, suffered burns to his ears and neck and was taken to the burn unit at Johns Hopkins Bayville Medical Center. Firefighters responded at 11:47 a.m. to a house fire in the 300 block of Green Aspen Court in the Shipley's Choice community. On arrival, firefighters saw fire at he rear of the two-story, single-family home, Cox said.

A Baltimore County volunteer firefighter was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center Tuesday morning with serious head injuries. County police say he had been struck on the head by a falling tree limb at an accident scene in Cromwell Valley. Michael Murphy, 22, who has worked since 2008 as firefighter for the Montgomery County Fire Department, was wearing full turnout gear, including a helmet, and was conscious and breathing when he was flown out. He was treated and released from the hospital within hours of his arrival.

Charles Sharpe has hung around firehouses from the time he was 2, and he got his first taste of what firefighters do as a grade-schooler. "I remember responding with my father to a barn fire, moving the animals out of the barn, moving the equipment out of the barn. There wasn't enough water to extinguish the barn fire, so it was a matter of moving the animals out," he said, recalling a ferocious blaze in the Lisbon community where his father was a volunteer firefighter. He signed on as a volunteer with the Lisbon fire company while in high school, and he decided a few years later to make a career of fire and rescue work.

Two Prince George's County firefighters, who were seriously injured while fighting a house fire in Riverdale, remained in critical but stable condition Sunday, according to their families. Bladensburg volunteer firefighter Ethan Sorrell, 21, remained intubated but was conscious at the Washington Hospital Center's burn unit. He suffered burns to his airway. Kevin O'Toole, 22, also a Bladensburg volunteer firefighter, had burns over 40 percent of his body and was expected to remain in the hospital's burn unit for at least six weeks, according to fire officials, citing O'Toole's father, Jeff.

Harry Craig "Frog" Snyder, a retired Baltimore County firefighter who was also a model railroad buff, died Feb. 8 at his Upperco home. He was 59. "We are waiting for the results of an autopsy for the cause of death," said his wife of 32 years, the former Frances E. Bandel. The son of a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad chief mechanic and an educator, Mr. Snyder was born in Baltimore and raised in Pikesville. After graduating from Milford Mill High School in 1970, he earned a bachelor's degree in 1974 from the University of Baltimore.

Raymond Paul Herr, a junior volunteer firefighter and former resident of Baltimore's Hamilton neighborhood, died Monday at his home in Hockessin, Del., of rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare childhood cancer of the soft tissues and muscles. He was 18. Mr. Herr was born in Baltimore and lived on Pembroke Avenue. He attended St. Dominic Parochial School in Hamilton until 1994, when he moved with his family to Hockessin. He was a June graduate of Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., where he was a member of the lacrosse team.

Earl C. "Sonny" Kammerer, who owned two restaurants in Aberdeen and later worked for Blind Industries and Services of Maryland, died Saturday of complications from diabetes and pneumonia at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Cockeysville resident was 88. The son of an Edgewood Arsenal security guard and a homemaker, Earl Carville Kammerer was born and raised in Aberdeen. After graduating in 1941 from Aberdeen High School, he worked during World War II at the Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Marc and Linda Lipscomb, of Bel Air, announce the marriage of their daughter, Christina Lipscomb, to Christopher Abrams, son of Walter and Kerry Abrams, of Port Deposit, on Sept. 10, 2011 at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Bel Air. The Maid of honor was the bride's best friend, Michele Limmer. The bridesmaids were Caitlin Lipscomb, sister of the bride, Mandy Jones, cousin of the bride, Jasmine Thomas and Becky Schwartz, friends of the bride. The flower girls were Alexis Abrams, daughter of the couple and Mia Abrams, niece of the groom.