A two-alarm apartment fire in Wichita has left four units damage and one person in critical condition at a local hospital.
November 27, 2021 – By Michael Stavola – Source The Wichita Eagle
Nov. 27—One person was unresponsive after an apartment fire Friday night in north Wichita, officials said.
The fire was reported at 5:57 p.m. in the 2100 block of North Broadmoor, near 21st and Rock. The fire was severe enough that firefighters called for extra personnel. One person was unresponsive, according to a 911 emergency communications supervisor.
Around 6:40 p.m., a first responder said EMS still was working on the person, according to scanner traffic.
Photos from the Wichita Fire Department Twitter page show both stories of the building blackened from the flames.
(c)2021 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kansas Visit The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.) at www.kansas.com’
November 26, 2021 – By Amanda Oglesby – Source Asbury Park Press
NEPTUNE CITY — Firefighters rescued a woman on Thanksgiving night who was trapped in a burning home on Adams Way, according to Neptune City Police.
Police arrived to the home, located on the 1200 block of Adams Way, around 7:40 p.m. and found a woman who said her sister was upstairs and unable to get out, Police Chief Matthew Quagliato said.
The first arriving officers extinguished a portion of the fire, but due to heavy smoke, were unable to see to reach the trapped woman, he said.
” The Neptune City Fire Department arrived on location and was able to locate the female on the second floor and escorted her safely from the residence,” the chief said in an email.
The Neptune City Fire Department extinguished the fire with assistance from the Asbury Park, Avon, Wall and Wanamassa fire departments, he said.
“The two residents were treated by the Neptune City First Aid Squad for smoke inhalation and burns,” Quagliato said.
Both the Monmouth County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Neptune City Fire Marshal are investigating.
Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, [email protected] or 732-557-5701.
A Thanksgiving Day fire in Milwaukee left one family homeless and two firefighters with injuries, including one who was transported to the burn center.
November 26, 2021 – Source Firehouse.com News
Two Milwaukee firefighters were injured at a residential fire that started in the basement and made its way to the attic on Thanksgiving morning.
One firefighter suffered second degree burns and was taken to the hospital for treatment at a local hospital, Fox 6 reports. The second firefighter fell down some stairs.
The two-alarm fire caused extensive damage to the structure.
A family that occupied the second floor was able to escape without injury and is being assisted by the Red Cross.
Elliott Slocum was welcomed by Wilmington firefighters at Fire Station 6 after two years of almost daily treatments for bone cancer.
November 26, 2021 – By Krys’Tal Griffin – Source Dover Post, Del.
Nov. 25—As 6-year-old Elliott Slocum stood at a Wilmington Fire Station 6 over the weekend, waiting to become a firefighter, there was not a dry eye in sight.
“Are all those people there for me?” his mother, Grace Slocum, 44, recalls him asking. “He’s really fixated on firetrucks and firefighters. I know he loved it and thought it was amazing. He still asks me when he can go back to the fire station.”
Over the last two years, Elliott has been at a hospital almost daily for treatment of pre-b acute lymphoblastic lymphoma, commonly known as bone cancer.
He finally went into remission on Oct. 3 and recently returned to Olive B. Loss Elementary School, where he’s interacting with a large number of people for the first time since being diagnosed in June 2019.
Upon his arrival, one of the first things he told his guidance counselor was that he wanted to be a firefighter, said Grace Slocum.
When second grade teacher Erin McCullin, 43, heard about his love for all things firefighter-related, she knew she had to do something special.
McCullin asked her brother Bobby McCullin, a Wilmington firefighter, if Elliott could meet him.
After Elliott heard the news, he asked McCullin daily when he would meet “firefighter Bobby,” she said.
“Elliott and his family thought they were just coming to see my brother. Maybe a firefighter and a firetruck,” said McCullin.
Little did the Slocum family know, there was a lot more to the surprise than they assumed.
On-duty firefighters came to join Elliot Slocum after he was named a Wilmington firefighter after enduring two years of treatment for bone cancer.
McCullin’s brother ran the idea by his Lt., Jonathan Osika, who passed it along to Chief John Looney. Soon enough, about 50 firefighters from all of the stations in Wilmington came together to give Elliott Slocum an official welcome onto the squad.
He was greeted with a basket of patches and stickers from each fire station, a fire jacket from Bobby McCullin and a real fire helmet.
He even got to ride on a firetruck and hear dispatch congratulate him on officially becoming an honorary firefighter.
“He’s just starting to be a real kid. He was so appreciative and excited,” said Erin McCullin . “Coming from a six-year-old, it’s amazing to see it through his eyes. It was just a day like no other. Something this kid is never going to forget, ever.”
Saturday’s event was organized to put a smile on Elliott’s face, but little did Erin McCullin know, she would never forget this day, either.
Her father, who was a firefighter at the Wilmington Fire Department for 35 years, passed away from cancer 15 years ago.
His birthday was Nov. 20, this past Saturday.
“Elliott was like a little angel sent to my family. It helped my family with our mourning and our loss,” she said. “Seeing the joy in this little boy’s eyes… it made some grown men cry.”
Since the Slocum family moved to Newark three months ago from South Jersey, they have never felt like they belonged more than they do now.
“We really didn’t have any support going through this,” said Slocum. “A lot of people don’t know what to do or what to say when a child is diagnosed with cancer.”
Once Elliott reached remission, the family placed a sign in their front yard congratulating their son on finishing chemotherapy. What they did not expect was the amount of people who would drive by and honk at Elliott in support.
“These were people that we never really met before,” said Grace Slocum. “It has been overwhelming, heartwarming and humbling. All the words.”
Almost a week later, the Slocum family continues to process the outpouring of support and the amount of people who made their son’s dream come true.
“We’re still getting choked up knowing that people put in the time and effort to celebrate him and help him feel more normal,” said Grace Slocum.
Prior to Elliott’s diagnosis, the pain in his legs from the cancer became so bad that at one point he began crawling everywhere, tears in his eyes. Today, he walks proudly away from
Christina Micheletti and Anna Curtis bring pies to Syracuse firefighters each year since 1998 when they two were rescued from an apartment fire.
November 26, 2021 – By Rylee Kirk – Source syracuse.com
Syracuse, N.Y.— Twenty-three years ago, Christina Micheletti and her family almost died in a fire that ripped through her home on Syracuse’s West Side.
Christina, 21, escaped on to the roof of their apartment on Avery Avenue. Anna Curtis, 14, grabbed Christina’s 9-month-old daughter Jordan out of her crib. Anna collapsed in the baby’s room due to smoke inhalation.
Syracuse firefighters Mark Hatch and Rob Brown found the two girls in the burning home. Hatch handed the baby out the window to another firefighter and he and Brown took Anna down the stairs.
Anna and Jordan were rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but they survived the fire.
Every Thanksgiving since, the family has delivered pies to the Syracuse firefighters. Today, they are delivering more than 20 pies to the 11 fire stations in the city.
“I’m obviously very thankful everything worked out the way it did,” Christina said. “Things could’ve gone a little different.”
Syracuse firefighers respond to the September 1998 fire that sent Anna Curtis and Jordan Micheletti to the hospital.
The fire started around 11 p.m. Sept. 16, 1998 – a Wednesday night – in the home at 606 Avery Ave., just a few houses from West Genesee Street.
On the second floor, Brown and Hatch found their way into a bedroom where the smoke forced them onto their knees, according to an article in The Post-Standard. Hatch spotted the baby on the floor with his flashlight but didn’t know if the infant was dead or alive.
Brown seconds later called out that he found what he thought was an adult. It was Anna. He and other firefighters carried her down the stairs and out the front door.
Hatch took the baby, Jordan, to another room and handed her to a firefighter on a ladder who carried her to safety.
After they were rescued, Anna spent 33 days in the hospital and had burns to 25% of her body and a breathing tube. Jordan, who suffered smoke inhalation, got out of the hospital in a couple days.
Anna was hailed as a hero at the time for getting the baby out of the fire. Anna was staying at the house at the time of the fire.
Jordan, who graduated from Solvay High School and is now 23, doesn’t remember the day of the fire, but said she knows the firefighters are the reason she is alive today.
“I’m very grateful they were there to save me,” she said.
Jordan said she has been dropping off pies as long as she can remember and enjoys it.
Hatch is now district fire chief at Station 8 on South Salina Street. (Brown has retired)
“Every time I go by that house I think about it,” Hatch said this week.
With the family coming each year, Hatch said he has been able to watch Jordan and Anna grow up.
“It kind of makes you smile inside,” he said. “It’s something we hope for.”
A newspaper clipping from the 1989 fire in which firefighters praised Anna Curtis for helping save a toddle.
Hatch said that most families helped by the fire department come by and express their appreciation, but the annual pie giveaway is a huge gesture.
“They always say the fire department goes above and beyond but they (the family) go above and beyond,” he said.
Anna, now 38, has three children and Christina, now 44, has had two other children since the fire. They still live in Central New York.
“If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have the family that we have,” said Anna’s mother, Lisa Curtis, who also helps deliver the pies each year. “We’re just forever grateful to the Syracuse Fire Department.”
Staff writer Rylee Kirk covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach her at 315-396-5961 or [email protected].
Lexington firefighters responded Sunday to a fire that caused major damage to a construction trailer on the University of Kentucky campus.
October 11, 2021 – By Jeremy Chisenhall – Source Lexington Herald-Leade
Oct. 10—A fire Sunday morning caused major damage to a construction trailer on the University of Kentucky’s campus, according to the Lexington Fire Department and UK officials.
The fire was reported around 4:30 a.m. in the 100 block of Leader Avenue, which is near University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital. There was a lot of fire coming from the roof of the building when firefighters got on scene, Battalion Chief Jordan Saas said. The scene was upgraded to an active structure fire.
The construction trailer was used by contractors who were doing ongoing work at the Healthy Kentucky Research Building, according to Jay Blanton, a spokesperson for UK. The research building is still being worked on because some floors weren’t yet finished when the building opened.
The trailer, which was owned by the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, was destroyed, Blanton said. The Healthy Kentucky Research Building wasn’t affected, he said. The trailer housed offices, meeting rooms and break areas for contractor use, he said.
The fire was put out and no injuries were reported, Saas said. The cause of the fire was still under investigation later Sunday morning.
Editor’s note: This story previously referred to the trailer as an outdoor classroom trailer. UK officials have clarified the trailer was for contractor use.
(c)2021 the Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)
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Fresno firefighters scrambled Sunday morning to contain a second-alarm fire at a tortilla factory and warehouse that sent thick black smoke into the air.
October 11, 2021 – By Robert Kuwada and Anthony Galaviz – Source The Fresno Bee
Fresno firefighters scrambled Sunday morning to contain a large blaze at the La Tapatia tortilla factory and warehouse on Belmont Avenue in Central Fresno near Roeding Park.
Crews rushed to the scene after the fire was reported just before 9 a.m. and they spent a couple of hours bringing it under control but were able to contain it to one building.
“When crews first arrived, they found a building pretty well involved and they were forced to aggressively protect the surrounding structures,” Fresno Fire Battalion Chief Brad Driscoll said. “The building that was on fire is going to be a total loss.”
Heavy clouds of black smoke could be seen at least several blocks away.
The fire triggered two commercial alarms and a total of 10 units responded, Battalion Chief Thomas Cope said earlier. That translates to about 40 firefighters in all, Driscoll said, and he expected they would remain on scene till about noon doing cleanup.
“If you’re talking about a second-alarm fire that takes 40 firefighters,” Driscoll said, “we have under 100 firefighters on duty today, you take 40 out of the system we don’t have much capacity for another big incident.”
It was not known if anyone was working in the building at the time of the fire, but no injuries were reported.
Firefighters were filmed restraining a man on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport after an emergency landing caused by a passenger’s suspicious behavior.
October 10, 2021 – By Elizabeth Keogh – Source New York Daily News
First responders swarmed LaGuardia Airport on Saturday when a New York-bound flight made an emergency landing over a passenger’s suspicious behavior, officials said.
American Airlines Flight 4817 from Indianapolis — operated by Republic Airways — landed at LaGuardia just after 3 p.m. after a “security incident,” the Federal Aviation Administration and Port Authority Police Department said.
People aboard the craft reported suspicious and erratic behavior from a passenger in the air, said Port Authority spokesman Tom Topousis.
The pilot then radioed air traffic control to clear the runway for an emergency landing.
Passengers disembarked the plane by emergency slides onto LaGuardia’s Runway 4 just short of the plane’s intended gate, Topousis and other officials said.
As the plane was evacuated, firefighters attended to a man facedown on the runway as confused travelers mulled about the tarmac, video shot by a passenger and posted to Twitter shows.
Port Authority officers responded to the airport and cleared the situation. All 78 passengers and four crew members were safely removed from the aircraft, officials said.
There were no injuries.
The suspicious passenger was taken into custody and was still being questioned around 6 p.m., authorities said.
The PAPD is still investigating the incident, officials said.
