Firehouse.com

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Nov. 21--A man and a woman burned in a gas explosion Thursday were in critical condition Friday in a Mobile, Ala., hospital.

The victims, Michael Blanchard, 49, and Faye Boroughs, 40, were at the University of South Alabama Burn Center, said Mimi Ramirez, Blanchard's sister.

The explosion was caused by a natural gas leak, according to Lt.

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Nov.

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OCALA, Fla. --

A fully engulfed mobile home fire in the Ocala Estates area early Saturday morning left five people dead.

Marion County fire officials said they received a call from a cell phone shortly before 6:45 a.m.

SAN BERNARDINO - A tense few moments followed the sound of six to eight gunshots outside Fire Station 7 late Tuesday.

Firefighter-paramedic Greg Soria and his crew stood up in the living room of the station, looked out the window and saw a man lying in the middle of the intersection of 40th Street and Electric Avenue.

"This guy was in the middle of the street almost getting hit by cars," Soria said.

The firefighters had to make a decision: Wait for the police or run outside and save the man in the street, not knowing if the sho

Fire Chief John Lee knows that his department's trucks are as well-maintained as his firefighters can make them, but someday soon, two tankers won't be able to answer any more alarms.

GINTER, Pa.

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An early-morning fire in Clearfield County has been ruled suspicious and officials have established a task force to investigate a string of arsons over the last month.

The fire started around 2:30 a.m. at an abandoned house on Union Street in Ginter. Neighbors said no one has lived at the house for about a month.

The home was destroyed, but crews were able to save the house next door even though heat from the blaze started to melt its siding.

An Elgin firefighter heroically saved a 2-year-old boy from a burning home on the city's west side Thursday afternoon, minutes before the toddler could have died from smoke inhalation, officials said.

Meanwhile, fire officials said the boy's father remains in police custody and they're calling the fire suspicious.

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A Delaware Superior Court judge ruled this morning that Paramedic Michelle Smith was acting as a firefighter when she was killed by a driver while tending to an injured man on the side of a highway late last year, according to The News Journal.

The ruling allowed paraplegic Joseph Taye -- who had been using a stick to work the vehicle's pedals -- to be found guilty of first-degree murder for his role in the Dec. 20, 2008 incident on U.S.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.

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A goose got stuck Thursday when its leg became entangled in chicken wire on an island in the middle of Sacramento's Land Park duck pond.

Animal control officers called the fire department for help when they realized they needed a raft to get over to the goose.

Once it was freed, firefighters and animal control officers paddled back to shore with their injured feathered friend.