Monday, May 13, 2013
One person has minor injuries, according to a spokesperson.
Howard County Fire and Rescue crews are on the scene of an overturned propane tanker. According to Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services spokesperson Jacqueline Cutler, crews responded to the call near Old Frederick Road and Twin Arch Road in Lisbon at about 10:15 a.m. Monday. “The driver has minor injuries and is being transported to Montgomery Hospital,” Cutler said. Initial reports indicate that the tanker is not leaking propane, Cutler said.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The Wednesday afternoon fire was out in less than an hour.
The Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services is investigating a fire that broke out near CSX tracks Wednesday afternoon, according to the department. The fire, on Sylvan Lane, was called in a little before 1:30 p.m. and was knocked down in 35 – 40 minutes, according to Battalion Chief Eric Proctor. Proctor said that the fire was on either county- or state-owned land, near the CSX tracks. CSX crews were doing some work on the tracks, Proctor said. Investigators are looking into whether the work was related to the fire.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Firefighters in Howard County this week underwent a series of training exercises.
This week was one of training for Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue firefighters and trainees. On April 10, the department’s special operations team did high wire training off the I-70 bridge at the Howard/Baltimore County line. On April 8, trainees participated in a demolition burn at a wooded property off of College Avenue in Ellicott City. The buildings were donated to the fire department by the property owner, according to Battalion Chief Eric Proctor. The photos above are from the Department’s Facebook page and they document the high-wire training and the controlled demolition burn. See related links: Firefighters Burn Houses in Ellicott City for Training Sign up for the free Ellicott City Patch e-newsletter here and follow …
Monday, April 8, 2013
Don't be alarmed - there are two training exercises planned for this week.
See smoke coming from Weavers Court Tuesday morning? Don’t worry – the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services is holding a demolition burn; they'll be on the scene from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. Expect a lot of smoke, according to HCDFRS spokesperson Doug Walton, as crews will be burning several buildings for the exercise. Notice a group rappelling from Interstate 70 near the Baltimore County line on Wednesday morning? Everything’s OK, they’ll be training too, according to Walton. The group will be rappelling from the bridge to the bottom, from 9 - 11 a.m., so be prepared for traffic delays -- and rubbernecking. Related: - Watch It Burn: Ellicott City House Set Afire for Safety's Sake (VIDEO) - Whodunnit? Local, Federal …
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
From Maryland to West Africa, a local firefighter helps train Liberian fire crews and, while he's at it, he and his brother help build a school.
(This article first appeared in April, 2012) John Butler wasn’t too far off when he thought he was driving toward a tire fire as he approached a column of smoke with the noxious, gag-inducing stench of burning rubber. But as he got closer to the fire - “a real rager,” he said - at a warehouse in the bustling Liberian capital of Monrovia, he realized there were no tires. “It was flip flops,” he said, waiving his hand toward the ceiling of his office in the Columbia Gateway Building. “Flip flops to the ceiling.” Butler, an assistant chief with the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, was in Liberia with a group of American firefighters, helping to train the local fire service there. He was with firefighters from both …
Friday, March 22, 2013
Ellicott City and Elkridge Patch editors were among those recognized by the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services during a ceremony Thursday.
Two Patch editors were among those recognized at the annual awards ceremony held this week by the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services. Brandie Jefferson, a Patch senior local editor, and Patch Local Editor Elizabeth Janney received awards for excellence in media reporting from the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services for their work reporting on Elkridge and Ellicott City Patch.com sites. Spokesperson Jackie Cutler had this to say at Thursday’s ceremony, held at Bridgeway Community Church in Columbia: “Headline after headline, Patch.com was not only on the scene covering our incidents but also covering our programs and doing in-depth features on our personnel. When the bigger news outlets said no – these two…
Monday, March 18, 2013
Captain Dale Becker was recently recognized as a top 10 innovator in the field of EMS for his new, streamlined approach to rescue operations.
Captain Dale Becker remembers the first time he went on a call that required cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). “I was just kind of freaked out by it,” he said with a laugh. Becker was 17, volunteering in Sykesville and he said, “I wasn’t interested in touching the guy.” How things have changed. Becker, a captain and emergency medical services (EMS) supervisor with the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, was recently recognized by the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) as one of the "EMS 10," one of the top 10 innovators in EMS who drove the profession forward in 2012, for his new, streamlined approach to CPR practices. He is just one of 10 professionals recognized out of a pool of 100. “That just blows me …
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Patch recommends the best ways to keep in touch with the most up-to-the-minute information regarding Hurricane Sandy.
Stay safe. Stay inside. Stay informed. The first two are on you. The last one is up to us reporters and scores of county and state employees working overtime. Come Sunday evening—when Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall in Maryland—the question on everybody's mind will be "how is this storm affecting my neighborhood, my friends and my family?" That's where Twitter and Facebook will come into play. In Howard County, the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services plans to post a lot of information online; tips to stay safe, pictures of damage and updates on the recovery efforts. Of course, the Howard County Government is connected. Local government officials said they will be updating residents throughout the storm, …
Saturday, October 6, 2012
It's going to be cold this weekend, but before you use your fireplace check out these tips to avoid a disaster.
This Sunday, temperatures are expected to drop down below 40 degrees at night, making it a perfect opportunity to use your fireplace for the first time this fall. But using the fireplace for the first time after the summer puts you at a risk for an accidental fire, so we asked Jackie Cutler, spokesperson for the Howard County Fire Department (HCDFRS), what residents can do to make sure their fireplaces and wood stoves are fire-safe. Here are 12 tips provided by Cutler: Protect the Outside of Your Home For more local news, sign up for the Ellicott City Patch newsletter . Keep the conversation going on Facebook and Twitter .
Monday, August 13, 2012
Hazardous materials teams have responded to a collision on I-95 just south of Route 32.
UPDATE Aug. 13, 7:25 p.m.: A tractor-trailer crash on Interstate 95 southbound over the Middle Patuxent River near Savage left one person injured, at approximately 5 p.m. Monday. The driver of the truck was transported to Laurel Regional Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services (HCDFRS) spokesperson Adam Nolder. Members of the HCDFRS Special Operations Team and the Emergency Response Team of the Maryland Department of the Environment worked throughout the evening to clean a fuel and oil spill resulting from the crash, according to Nolder. Two lanes of I-95 southbound were closed until towing companies and state highway officials removed the tractor trailer. --- Hazardous…
Peter Edelen
8:25 am on Sunday, March 24, 2013
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