Volunteer Firefighter

The body of a Havre de Grace volunteer firefighter -- whose wife and child waited all night on a sandbar in the Susquehanna River after he disappeared Monday night -- was found by divers shortly after 6 p.m. yesterday in an area near Havre de Grace known as the Susquehanna Flats.Steve Clark, 27, his wife, Sandy Baer Clark, and their 4-year-old daughter, Ashley, had anchored their boat about 6: 30 p.m. Monday in the water near Havre de Grace, officials said.John Surrick, spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources, said the three were swimming when they realized their small powerboat was starting to drift.

The county commissioners approved a $250,000 loan yesterday to the Manchester Fire Engine and Hook and Ladder Company for the purchase of a fire engine. The engine will replace two older engines at the volunteer company, which answers about 500 fire calls a year. Carroll Comptroller Eugene Curfman said he had reviewed the company's finances and was satisfied it could repay the 10-year loan. Curfman, a volunteer firefighter, expects similar requests from at least two other area fire companies.

A volunteer firefighter was in serious condition yesterday at Fallston General Hospital after the firetruck he was driving crashed into a concrete culvert Tuesday night. Pump operator Roy Crago was responding to a call for an electrical transformer explosion at Route 152 and Pleasantville Road when the truck left the road, careered down an embankment and struck a concrete drainage culvert at Route 152 and Derby Drive, according to Fallston Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Company. Other volunteers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Crago.

Roy K. Crago, a volunteer firefighter whose truck skidded off the road while responding to a call, died yesterday morning from injuries sustained in the crash, the Fallston Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Company said.Crago, 65, was responding to an explosion in an electrical transformer Tuesday night when the truck skidded down an embankment and struck a concrete drainage culvert at Route 152 and Derby Drive in Harford County.Crago died at Fallston General Hospital. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Alan Lee Metten, a machinist who was a Baltimore County volunteer firefighter, died of cancer Saturday at his Cockeysville home. He was 50. Born and raised in Fullerton, he was a 1975 Overlea High School graduate and attended Catonsville Community College. He became a machinist at the Slaysman Co. in Baltimore and later worked at the old Noxell Corp. in Cockeysville. He retired this year from Lever Brothers on Broening Highway. For 20 years, Mr. Metten was a volunteer firefighter. He began at the Fallston Volunteer Company and later served with Baltimore County at Cockeysville, Chestnut Ridge and Lutherville.

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.

Baltimore County investigators today were trying to determine the cause of a four-alarm apartment fire in Hillendale that left a volunteer firefighter dead. Two residents of the Towson Crossing complex also were seriously injured in the fire that began Wednesday evening. As arson investigators and other fire officials worked at the scene this morning, the front of the Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company's station was draped in black cloth to honor member Mark Falkenhan. Falkenhan, a 43-year-old husband and father of two, became trapped inside a third-story apartment and later died at St. Joseph Medical Center, Baltimore County Fire Department spokeswoman Elise Armacost said.

A 4-year-old girl was taken to Carroll County General Hospital after her left leg was run over by an automobile on the parking lot of the Church of the Open Door about 6:30 p.m. yesterday.Kathrine Fritz of Salem Bottom Road was attending a picnic with her parents in the back of the church in the 500 block of Baltimore Blvd. when she climbed a grass embankment to pick flowers, church members said.When the girl descended the hill, she walked from behind a trash container into the path of a car whose driver was arriving for 7 p.m. services.

A volunteer firefighter from Carroll County fell through the roof of a house that had caught fire in the 16000 block of Frederick Road in Lisbon late last night. He was evaluated on the scene but refused further treatment, Howard County fire officials said. The fire was brought under control in about 30 minutes, and all seven members of the family and their two pets were unharmed. Initial damage is estimated at $100,000. The firefighter fell about eight to 10 feet while ventilating the roof.

Annapolis Fire Chief Jerome W. Smith, who has worked for the department since 1967, will retire April 1, city officials said. Smith, 66, an Annapolis native, became a volunteer firefighter in 1966, and served one year before joining the paid fire service. Promoted through the ranks, he was named acting chief in 2005 and confirmed by the City Council in 2007. During his 43-year-tenure, he worked with the city's Code Enforcement Division to write legislation on sprinklers and upgraded the emergency medical services.