Latest news with #firedepartment
Reuters
3 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Blast caused by gas leak injures 7 in Iranian city of Qom
DUBAI, July 14 (Reuters) - An explosion at a residential building injured seven people in the Iranian city of Qom, Iranian state media reported on Monday, with the fire department blaming a gas leak and Qom's governor ruling out any "terrorist" action. Since the end of a 12-day air war last month between Iran and Israel, in which Israel and the United States attacked Iran's nuclear facilities, several gas explosions have occurred in Iran, and the authorities have not blamed Israel. Qom Governor Akbar Behnamjoo was quoted by state media as saying: "The cause of the explosion in a residential building of Pardisan was not terrorism." The director of Qom's fire department told the semi-official Fars news agency four residential units were damaged in the blast in the Pardisan neighbourhood. "Initial assessments show that the cause of the incident was a gas leak, and follow-ups are continuing in this regard," the director said.
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Washington Post
Man dies after flash fire in hyperbaric chamber in Arizona, authorities say
A 43-year-old man has died after suffering burns from a flash fire inside a hyperbaric chamber in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, authorities have said. Police and fire department units were called to a medical emergency for a burn victim at about 10:50 p.m. on Wednesday, Lake Havasu Fire Department said in a statement Thursday.
RNZ News
7 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
About 15 trapped in Los Angeles after industrial tunnel collapse, fire department says
Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) firefighters are seen at the site of an industrial tunnel collapse in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles. Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP As many as 15 workers were trapped in an industrial tunnel collapse in Los Angeles' Wilmington area, the city's fire department said. No injuries have been confirmed, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). The collapse happened about six miles (10 km) south of the tunnel's only access, LAFD said, adding that more than 100 responders were assigned to the incident. "The City of Los Angeles has mobilized resources to the tunnel collapse in Wilmington," Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X. - Reuters
CTV News
10-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Ont. man believes he has Lyme disease, Canadian doctors don't, so he's going to Mexico for treatment
An Ontario man is preparing for a trip to Mexico to receive treatment he can't get at home. CTV's Spencer Turcotte reports. A man from southwestern Ontario is seeking answers after getting differing diagnoses from doctors. Jason Hibbs used to be a volunteer firefighter in Drumbo, within Oxford County. In an interview with CTV News, he reminisced about saving lives. These days, though, he is looking to get his own life back. Hibbs first experienced symptoms six-and-a-half years ago. 'I started getting sick the one day. Just got a real high fever, lost control of my arms and my legs, and went into the hospital,' the 42-year-old explained. He underwent several tests. 'They just thought it was ALS,' Hibbs said. From there, he went to see a specialist. 'It's just been non-stop MRIs, CT scans, EMG, spinal taps and everything just keeps coming back negative,' recalled Hibbs. Since that time, his condition has only worsened. 'I basically can't walk. I can't move my arms. I can pick them up a little bit and touch my face like that,' he said, lifting his arms slightly. 'My legs start shaking, I can't eat on my own, my parents have to feed me, toileting, all that stuff.' Co-workers and friends have also stepped up to help Hibbs. 'Several of us in the fire department, we take him to medical appointments,' said Patrick Ali, the fire captain in Drumbo, Ont. His daughter also does what she can. 'I can help him put drinks in his hand and give him sips of his drink if he wants it,' Lylah Ali said. While Hibbs has had a lot of help, he wants his independence back, so he began looking for more answers. Eventually, he connected with a doctor in Toronto who sent his bloodwork to doctors in Germany. 'It came back positive for Lyme disease, plus four variants that ticks can carry,' Hibbs said. hyperbaric chamber Jason Hibbs Ontario Lyme disease Jason Hibbs in a hyperbaric chamber. (Provided) He then began exploring treatment options for Lyme disease, which included antibiotics and going into a hyperbaric chamber. But he said the doctor in Toronto got into trouble because those treatments went beyond Canada's standard of care for Lyme disease. 'I actually started regaining some control in my legs again,' Hibbs explained. 'Then once he got told to stop, his license was on the line for some stuff so we had to kind of back off.' Dr. Elliot Jacobson, a medical doctor who treats chronic illnesses and is not involved in Hibbs' case, acknowledged that Canada lags behind other countries in terms of Lyme disease diagnosis and treatment. 'It's one of those areas of medicine where we have an incomplete sort of scientific evidence, and we rarely have 100 per cent evidence,' said Jacobson, who is also the medical director at Venn Med. Complicating matters further, he said symptoms of Lyme disease can mimic other medical conditions. 'There's certainly a lot of controversy about how accurate the testing for Lyme disease is based on the history of how those tests were made,' Jacobson explained. So, after years of hoping to get the help he needs in Canada, Hibbs decided he's not waiting for more tests. This weekend he will fly to Mexico to undergo a multi-week treatment plan, which is not permitted in Canada. 'The cost of treatment just for myself is $38,000 USD,' Hibbs said. 'There's going to be stem cells, blood transfusions, hyperthermia treatments and then the treatments where they induce a fever and stick me in this tube and heat it up.' Hibbs said he wanted to share his story to raise awareness about the disease and treatment options in Canada. 'If it could happen to me, it can happen to anyone.'
CBC
09-07-2025
- General
- CBC
Crumbling Montreal building slated for demolition forces 2nd evacuation this year
Having just moved into his new apartment in June, Charles Emond had barely finished unpacking his belongings when he was told by the Montreal fire department last Friday to pack up and get out. He said he and the other tenants were told they had 15 minutes to leave the building at 5980-5982 Park Ave. in Montreal's Plateau–Mont-Royal borough. "It was my first apartment with my girlfriend, so it was something special," he said on Monday. "The last three or four days have been the most stressful of my life." Emond was part of the latest round of tenants forced to evacuate their homes over the past four months, all due to a crumbling structure sitting adjacent to them. Part of the exterior wall of the derelict building at 5986-5992 Park Ave. collapsed in March, forcing the tenants living in the building next door to the left out of their homes. Last Friday, Montreal firefighters responded to a call just after 2 p.m. after someone noticed bricks falling off the crumbling building's opposite wall, and ordered the evacuation of Emond's building — next door to the right — due to the "imminent risk of a collapse," according to Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal (SIM) spokesperson Guy Lapointe. With the two buildings now sitting empty, Plateau–Mont-Royal borough mayor Luc Rabouin says it's a matter of weeks before the derelict building sandwiched between them finally comes down. But with little faith in the borough's ability or willingness to accommodate tenants given the experience of those two doors down, Emond and his partner decided to break their lease and move into another apartment offered to them by their landlord. Displaced tenants from the evacuation Friday were under the care of the Red Cross for three days. Those that are still unhoused are now being accompanied by the Office municipal d'habitation de Montréal. It can't, however, provide subsidized units to tenants whose revenue is too high, it said in a statement. 'A landlord who is playing cat and mouse' During a borough council meeting Monday, Rabouin said the borough will carry out the demolition of the building at 5986-5992 Park Ave. if its owners don't, adding that an engineering firm is expected to provide a plan by the end of the week. "We're dealing with a landlord who is playing cat and mouse with us, who is very difficult to reach, who gives us signs of good intentions that ultimately don't come true," he said. The building administrators, Daniel Lalonde and Jonathan Pigeon, had committed to demolishing the property on June 2, according to Rabouin. That was after the borough says it had to hire a private investigator to serve them a demolition order. Reached by CBC on Tuesday, Pigeon says he and his partner were not negligent and that there was no private investigator. He said his office had simply changed addresses and that he signed the borough's documents electronically. He blames the borough for the delay. "Everyone is in communication, there was never a cat and mouse [game], the demolition process is going well, the contract has already been awarded," he wrote in French in a text message to CBC. He said the demolition will take place after preparations for the site are complete, which is "supposed to happen shortly." Building should have come down in 2023: engineer's report In April 2023, an engineer assessed the building for Habitat 237 Grande-Île S.E.N.C., the company owned by Pigeon and Lalonde to which the building is registered. The building was already vacant at that point following a fire, according to the report, which CBC obtained through an access to information request. The report detailed unstable and degraded foundation walls and detached brick cladding, among other concerns. "We demand that this building be unoccupied and demolished as quickly as possible in accordance with city requirements," it concluded. "Major intervention on a portion of the existing structure is not acceptable or feasible." A month earlier, the borough had issued a notice to the owners flagging a couple building maintenance infractions. It cited its right to carry out the building's demolition at the owners' expense if they did not take the appropriate steps to secure the structure. Asked in May 2025 why the borough hadn't taken action, a spokesperson said intervening to demolish a building is an "exceptional step" that the borough had never taken before. Ian Cucurull, the owner of the building that was evacuated Friday, says he was lodging complaints to the city about the instability of the adjacent building as far back as 2021. "I complained to everyone," he said. "Everyone was in agreement that the bowing of the wall was very pronounced, dangerous even….We're now in 2025 and still, the building is still standing. I don't understand." Pigeon and Lalonde acquired the building in 2021 and began the process to obtain a demolition permit that same year, according to Pigeon. "We never abandoned the procedures, the city asked for new things every time to bring the building down," he said. The city has previously said the owners first applied for a demolition permit in 2023 and failed to follow up on the process when asked for additional documents. Borough says it will bypass call for tender process Cucurull says that up until recently, the borough had communicated with him that they were still considering issuing a call for tender for the demolition contract — a process that usually takes months. Rabouin said Monday that if the borough does end up carrying out the demolition, it will bypass that process to speed things up. "There was a wall that almost killed a tenant … it's not a joke," said Cucurull, referring to the partial collapse in March. "It's absolutely crazy and you can't demolish that building. I can't demolish that building. Only the city can do it." WATCH | Partial collapse of precarious building causes 1st emergency evacuation in March: These Montreal tenants were forced out after partial collapse of next door building 4 months ago Duration 2:14 Nearly a week after the building next to theirs partially collapsed, these displaced Montreal tenants still have no news of when they'll be able to return home. They're calling on the city to take action. Emond says he struggles to understand why it's taken the landlords so long to act. In the end, he chalks it up to them ultimately not caring about the impact the ordeal has had on vulnerable renters. Pigeon says it is due in part to the city recommending a contractor that was too expensive. Still, Emond says the harm done is significant.
