Free Republic

Bob Beckwith, the retired firefighter who appeared in an iconic photo with President George W. Bush atop a fire engine at Ground Zero just three days after the Sept. 11 attacks, has died from Ground Zero-related cancer, his family said Monday. Beckwith, 91, a married father of six, succumbed to Ground Zero-related melanoma that had spread to his lungs and brain after a years-long battle, grandson Matthew Beckwith, acting as the family spokesperson, told The Post. MORE ON: 9/11 ‘Squad’ member Jamaal Bowman compared to lyin’ George Santos after unearthed 9/11 conspiracies Unearthed blog posts reveal ‘Squad’ Rep. Jamaal Bowman...

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) has unveiled $375 million in budget cuts, including cutting funding to firefighters, while at the same time rolling out college financial aid to illegal aliens. This week, Healey said her office will look to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the state’s budget to make up for a $1 billion shortfall for Fiscal Year 2024. As part of those budget cuts, cities and towns will lose out on millions in local fire department funding.

We all know Steve Buscemi as an iconic actor who's been in some of the biggest blockbusters on the silver screen and critically acclaimed TV shows — "Armageddon," "The Big Lebowski," "The Sopranos" and "Boardwalk Empire," just to name a few. But, did you also know he is a former firefighter? Buscemi was a firefighter in the Little Italy area of Manhattan from 1980-1984, when he left to become a full-time actor. However, after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Buscemi found himself back at Engine Company 55. On September 12, 2001, the day after...

The city of Atlanta has approved funding for a controversial new police training center dubbed 'Cop City' by opponents. The 11-4 vote happened on Tuesday after hundreds of activists packed City Hall and spoke for hours in fierce opposition to the project, which they say will destroy the local environment and militarize the police. For about 14 hours, residents took to the podium to slam the $90 million project, saying it would be a gross misuse of public funds to build the huge facility in a large urban forest in a poor, majority black area of southeast of Atlanta. Six...

Former NHL player Raymond Sawada died after suffering a heart attack at age 38 on Monday, his family announced in a GoFundMe fundraiser. The Canadian winger — who played for the Dallas Stars in the 2008-09 season — was playing a recreational hockey game for the Richmond Cowboys when sustained the medical emergency, according to multiple reports. “It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we share the devastating news of the sudden passing of Ray Sawada,” Brianne Sameshima, the organizer of the fundraiser wrote. “At age 38, Ray passed away on the evening of Monday April 10, 2023,...

Two of a Chicago firefighter's children have died from injuries sustained in a house fire that also claimed the lives of their mother and brother earlier this week, according to authorities. The four relatives were seriously injured when a fire broke out at the family home Tuesday night in the 2500 block of North Rutherford Avenue in the city's Montclare neighborhood. When the initial call of the blaze came through, a Chicago firefighter overheard his home address on dispatch, raced to the scene with a Battalion Chief and found his house on fire. He performed CPR on his wife and...

VIDEO AT LINK............. MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Kay’Ana Adams wears her tattoos with pride, as she used to wear her Mobile Fire-Rescue uniform with pride, until she was fired over a tattoo on the back of her head. Adams worked at the Mobile Fire Department Maryvale station on Dauphin Island Parkway for nine months until new ink on the back of her head changed it all. When she got the head tattoo in June 2022, she believed it followed the fire department’s policy, which then prohibited “tattoos on the face or neck.” “Hiring people before, during and after me with...

For eight years, an Austin Fire Department chaplain answered the calls of distressed firefighters and served those serving the community. However, when Dr. Andrew Fox answered the phone on an unsuspecting evening, he learned this would be his last call. Fox joined "America's Newsroom" Thursday after his volunteer service with the Austin Fire Department was terminated due to religious beliefs shared in a personal blog. Fox wrote that he believed biological males should not be allowed to compete against biological females. When city officials demanded he recant his statement and apologize, Fox says he apologized to anyone who was offended...

Seattle firefighters say they are becoming the targets of violent attacks. There have been more than 40 alleged acts of violence reported in the past four months, according to KOMO. Attacks vary from rocks being thrown at them to firefighters being chased around fire engines by someone with a knife. One female firefighter even reported being slapped and kicked. Most of the violent reports are coming from homeless camps, and now the Seattle Fire Fighters Union IAFF Local 27 is demanding that the city council take action. Jim Fuda, the executive director of Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound, said he...

Captain Max Fortuna, 47, leaves behind a wife and two children A firefighter was shot and killed in Stockton, California, on Monday morning while battling a dumpster fire, officials announced. Captain Max Fortuna, 47, was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased. He leaves behind a wife and two grown children. The Stockton Fire Department responded to a call of a dumpster fire at 4:45 a.m. on Monday morning and shots rang out as they worked to extinguish the blaze, striking Fortuna.

A Lewisville firefighter collapsed and died on New Year’s Eve, leaving behind his pregnant wife. Just before dawn on Friday, Lewisville Firefighter/Paramedic Landun Charles and his wife, Lauren (a nurse), were getting ready for work when Landun called to her from another room in distress. When she got to him, he had collapsed on the floor, according to a news release from the Lewisville Fire Fighters Association. Lauren called 911 and began administering CPR. Landun was transported to the hospital and pronounced dead about 8:30 a.m. Landun had been a firefighter in Lewisville for the past two years, and on...

A Texas firefighter has been found dead after his family believes he was kidnapped at a Mexican resort while on vacation to celebrate his wedding anniversary, according to reports. Elijah Snow, who was a firefighter in the city of Arlington, had traveled with his wife, Jamie, last week to an all-inclusive resort in the popular tourist destination of Cancun, news station DFW-TV reported. The couple went to grab drinks at the hotel bar for their first night of the vacation, but at some point in the evening his wife decided to go back to their room, the outlet reported. When...

Sioux Falls Police Department versus Sioux Falls Fire Rescue in friendly competition to see who can make the other one laugh.

The retired firefighter who appears to be the man caught on camera throwing a fire extinguisher that hit at least three officers at the Capitol during a riot was arrested Thursday, officials said. Robert Sanford, of Chester, Pa., faces three federal felony charges including assaulting a police officer, the Wall Street Journal reported. Video footage of the incident shows the man hurling a fire extinguisher officers attempting to control a mob outside of the west side of the Capitol. The FBI has been pursuing charges against dozens of suspects in the riots, many of whom were identified through photos and...

A New York City firefighter has been moonlighting as a stuntman — while also raking in a $136,684-a-year disability pension, The Post has learned. Firefighter John A. McGinty retired with the lucrative annual payout in 2016 after 25 years with the FDNY. But it turns out McGinty, 58, has been working for years as a professional movie stuntman, according to his own LinkedIn page. McGinty — who also goes by the stage name John Mack — says he is adept at fighting, driving stunts, falls below 30 feet and small fires, according to a profile on management site CMG Talent.

An assailant is being held accountable for allegedly punching a 60-year-old woman on the street, right in front of a New York City fire station. The firefighters inside made sure he didn’t get away. Surveillance video shows a 60-year-old woman in a blue shirt walking down the sidewalk when a man on a bicycle swerves over and punches her in the face, knocking her down. He speeds off as four firefighters run after him. The chase continued around the corner, where the firefighters struggled with the suspect and eventually took him to the ground. Police say while trying to restrain...

The body of an off-duty Detroit firefighter who helped rescue swimmers in distress was recovered over the weekend by Detroit Police and Detroit Fire divers, according to a tweet from the Michigan State Police for the Metro Detroit region. Another person also jumped into the lake with Johnson and was able to rescue one girl, and a nearby boat in the area was able to rescue the other two, he said. Once everyone was out of the water, Johnson’s daughter realized her father was not among the crowd and called police to let them know he was still in the...

A top FDNY official says it’s “most definitely” acceptable to exclude a white firefighter from a ceremonial unit based solely on his skin color... Cecilia Loving, the department’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, is defending a decision to kick Lt. Daniel McWilliams — one of three firefighters in the iconic 9/11 Ground Zero flag-raising photo — off a color-guard procession so it would be all-black. Loving testified at a state Divsion of Human Rights trial on McWilliam’s complaint that he was the victim of racial bias. When McWilliams showed up at a 2017 memorial mass to honor deceased members of...

From one hero to another. An out-of-town nurse on the front lines of New York’s coronavirus battle was reunited Monday with the city firefighter who saved her as a child from a burning Manhattan building nearly 40 years ago. Deirdre Taylor, whose family left the city after the fire, thought she would never get the chance to thank the man whose bravery set the tone for much of her life. Armed with only a picture of the Daily News’ front-page account of the rescue, Taylor had been trying, unsuccessfully, for years to track down Eugene Pugliese. She even feared the...

A black firefighter who invested his life savings into opening up a sports bar in Minneapolis was reduced to tears after looters destroyed his life’s work. Korboi Balla originally planned to open his bar in March, but those plans had to be put on hold due to the coronavirus crisis. Balla had been gearing up to finally open his bar after Minnesota gave the go-ahead for restaurants to begin reopening on June 1. But by Friday morning, Balla’s bar was little more than a pile of bricks after protests of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who...