Thursday, April 25, 2013
The three-alarm fire was quickly brought under control.
More than 60 firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire at an apartment in Watergate Village Thursday morning in Annapolis. Annapolis Fire Department Captain John Bowes said the fire broke out at the top of a building in the apartment complex, located at 700 Americana Drive. Smoke was seen in a fifth-floor unit by firefighters when they arrived at 10:37 a.m. There are no injuries reported at this time, Bowes said. Three different agencies—Annapolis Fire Department, Anne Arundel County Fire Department and the U.S. Naval Academy Fire Department—responded to the scene, because the building did not have sprinklers, Bowes said. It is unknown how many tenants were displaced as a result of the fire, and the amount of damage has not yet been …
Monday, April 22, 2013
A career firefighter with the city died recently after a battle with cancer.
The city's fire chief from 2005 until his retirement in 2010 passed away Wednesday from cancer. He had served in the Annapolis Fire Department for more than 40 years. When Jerry Smith, 69, retired in 2010, he was the fourth career fire chief in the city. But he had served several positions within the department before becoming chief, including working as a firefighter, EMT, shift commander and deputy chief of emergency services. He also served as assistant state fire marshal for a time. "Always concerned about the well being of those he led, Jerry was known as a firefighters' Chief," according to Smith's obituary. Even Smith's education was tied intrinsically to Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. He was a 1961 graduate of Annapolis High …
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
A loud sound Monday night wasn't a bomb going off in Annapolis, but just the bomb squad doing their job.
Annapolis residents near College Creek Bridge Monday night may have heard a loud "boom." It was the sound of the fire department's robot inspecting a suspicious package that was ultimately deemed safe. The sound people heard was a burst of compressed air from a device used by a remote-controlled robot, employed by the department's bomb squad technicians. The device blasts through a package for safe inspection, according to Annapolis Fire Department spokesman Dale Thompson. "It gives off the sound of a shotgun going off," Thompson said. Rowe Boulevard was shut down to traffic in Annapolis at about 6 p.m. while the department was investigating the package. The robot allows bomb squad technicians to enter and inspect packages from a safe …
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Annapolis city firefighters initially responded to the fire, which started back up several hours later.
Annapolis city firefighters needed two tries to get a house fire under control Thursday, according to a department spokesperson. Shortly after 11 a.m., crews responded to the 2000 block of Forest Drive for a fire in a single-story home. After the fire was initially thought to have been under control, crews were again dispatched to the same residence at 3:47 p.m., said department spokesperson Dale Thompson. According to Thompson, investigators believe some of the personal belongings inside of the home caused the fire to rekindle to a level where extra assistance was needed. Thompson said the fire is now under control and investigators do not have a cause for the fire or an estimate of damage at this time. No one was injured during the …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Annapolis firefighters safely extracted the people whose car had wires laying across it.
UPDATE: (12 p.m.)—Three people were trapped inside a car in the 200 block of West Street after electrical wires fell on top of their vehicle, according to the Annapolis Fire Department. Emergency crews shut down a portion of West Street around 10 a.m. on Tuesday as they worked to safely extract the people from the car, Battalion Chief John Menassa said. "We are going to assume the wires are live until we can verify they are not," Menassa said. A crew from Baltimore Gas & Electric was dispatched to repair the downed wires, but spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said the incident caused no disruption in services to area residents. Patch will update this story as it develops. For up to the minute updates, follow Annapolis Patch on Facebook and …
Monday, January 14, 2013
The organization was able to snag the ambulance free of charge from a nearby county that had it marked as surplus.
Annapolis Fire Department's newest ambulance took to the streets on Monday thanks to the Eastport Volunteer Fire Company. "This unit also gives us some much needed added depth in our medic unit fleet. Our medic units are very busy and are run hard," Annapolis Fire Chief David Stokes said. "The vehicles themselves are quite complex and the electronic medical gear installed in them is also very sophisticated. As a result, they require more maintenance and experience comparatively more ‘down’ time than our fire apparatus.” The organization acquired the 2003 International Navistar for free from a Maryland county after the vehicle was declared surplus in October. The donating county asked to remain anonymous, Eastport officials said. Fire …
Sunday, January 13, 2013
A lack of volunteers for administrative positions could close the 126-year-old group.
The Eastport Volunteer Fire Company is in danger of disbanding after 126 years of service in Annapolis. "We've just turned gray," President Al Kirchner said. "We’re dying off, and we really need help in the community." Neighbors on Horn Point founded the group in 1886—one year before Eastport established itself. It has served as a physical and financial support team for the Annapolis Fire Department ever since. In the early 2000's, a lack of volunteer firefighters reduced the group's role to financial support only. Now, a lack of volunteers has left Kirchner acting as president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. "What we need now is just some administrative support," Kirchner said. "We are really in trouble." Annapolis Fire Chief …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
The money will be used for an exhaust removal system that prevents the buildup of carcinogens on firefighters' clothing.
All three of fire stations in the city of Annapolis will be getting a new exhaust removal system thanks to a $202,499 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). "It’s a big deal for us," Battalion Chief John Menassa said. "It’s a technology that’s been around for a while, but it’s just been cost prohibitive." The Back-In Track Vehicle Exhaust Removal System hangs from the ceiling of a fire station with a long hose coming out. Firefighters will connect the hose to the tail pipe of their trucks to suck up the exhaust fumes that are produced when the trucks idle inside the station. The hose will disconnect as the trucks drive out of the station. "All of our gear is in the bay area with the trucks, and the carcinogens in the …
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
A motorcycle crash on Rowe Boulevard sent at least one person to the hospital.
A 35-year-old man suffered serious but not-life threatening injuries in a motorcycle crash on Rowe Boulevard on Wednesday, according to the Annapolis Fire Department. The accident occurred near the intersection of Rowe Boulevard and Farragut Road around 5:15 p.m., Captain John Bowes said. The man was taken by ambulance to the University of Maryland's shock trauma center in Baltimore. Bowes said he didn't know whether another vehicle was involved in the crash. Patch will update this story as it develops. For up to the minute news, follow Annapolis Patch on Facebook and Twitter.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
A man trying to pull out his sailboat forgot to put on his parking break and his Ford Explorer rolled into the water.
A man went into Weems Creek with his trailer and sport utility vehicle at a boat ramp in West Annapolis on Wednesday. The man told Annapolis firefighters that he was trying to retrieve his sailboat at around 2 p.m. from a ramp on Tucker Street. John Menassa, a fire department spokesman, said the man forgot to use the parking break on his Ford Explorer, and it rolled into the water. "It ended up submerging completely and drifted back about 15 feet from shore," Menassa said. "Another guy rescued him off the roof of his car with a dinghy." Menassa said the man was soaked but uninjured from the accident. Menassa was uncertain of the extent of the damage suffered by the SUV.
Albert Kirchner
9:55 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The answer is that I asked the reporter that it remain anonymous, and not the county that excessed the unit. I did this simply to prevent the agency from being inundated with inquiries. The vehicle is 10 years old and had over 100K miles on it--very old for an ambulance in a suburban service setting and generally considered near the end of its service life. It took our investment of almost $20K … more ›