Tag archive: Fireman

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Arson at PA Governor’s Residence

In the wee hours of Sunday, 13 April 2025, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were awakened by state troopers pounding on the door of the official Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg, PA.  An intruder had been spotted scaling the iron security fence surrounding the property, smashing a window with a small sledgehammer to gain entry, and starting a fire.  The south wing of the residence was badly damaged, but fortunately the governor, his wife, four children, and several houseguests who had been celebrating the Passover seder there a few hours earlier, escaped without injury.

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Asteroid Sleuth: The Case of the Man-Killing Manure

Folks, this story is the shit!  Literally.  In the late morning of 13 June 2024, two men died in a manure tanker accident at Champion Dairy Farm in Kirkland, NY; both were volunteer firefighters.  Nathan Doody, 33, was attempting to retrieve a piece of equipment that had fallen into the tanker, became overcome with fumes from the fermenting feces, and fell into the tank.  Coworker Tyler Memory, 29, tried to assist, but also swooned and fell.  Farm personnel called 911, the pair were recovered and medevacked to Wynn Hospital in nearby Utica, where they were pronounced dead.

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Fire & Water: The Mark Batista Drowning Case

On June 9, 2023, 39-year-old Mark Anthony Batista, a New York firefighter and EMT with Brooklyn Engine Company 226, drowned at the Jersey shore while trying to rescue his daughter, who had become trapped in a rip current.  Batista was unsuccessful, losing his own life in the attempt; his daughter was rescued by first responders called to the scene at 8:30 AM, and his body was discovered and retrieved about 10:00.  A 15-year veteran of the FDNY, Batista is survived by his eleven-year-old daughter, his wife and two stepsons.  The tragedy occurred at Sylvania Beach in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ.

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Fatal Housefires Focus on Kids

I chose to profile this story, tragic as it is, because it makes an excellent example of how this process unfolds, both celestially and in my own psyche.  As a former resident of Philadelphia, and still within that media market, I regularly watch the morning news on 6 ABC, predominantly for weather forecasts.  When I heard about a housefire near my old stomping grounds on January 5th which took 12 lives, 8 of them children, I got that familiar tingle at the nape of the neck that tells me to investigate, astrologically.

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