Firefighters

IN THE latest episode of the firefighters' union vs. Mayor Nutter, the union filed a motion Thursday to hold the city in contempt of court for not implementing its recent arbitration award, which included raises. Earlier this month, the Nutter administration appealed the award - again - after Common Pleas Judge Idee C. Fox upheld it. Nutter said the award would be too expensive, costing more than $200 million over the current five-year plan and an extra $84 million in the current fiscal year.

AUTHORITIES HAVE released the name of a man who died in a Christmas Eve fire in a Delaware County home. The Delaware County medical examiner's office said that James Heffernan, 51, was the victim of the Sharon Hill blaze. Delaware County fire crews were called to the one-alarm blaze at about 6:30 p.m. Monday. Firefighters found the victim's body trapped under debris, and officials said that he was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical-examiner's office said Wednesday that he died of smoke and soot inhalation and burns.

TO ALL THE MEDIA members and fans out there, don't count your chickens before they are hatched. I understand that the Eagles have had two straight bad seasons and this is unacceptable to all of us, but what makes you so certain that Andy Reid will be fired? Oh, how could I forget? Mr. Lurie stated that 8-8 would be "unacceptable" and for some reason the media interpreted that as: if the Eagles go 8-8 or worse, then Andy would be fired. Didn't the Eagles go 8-8 last year? And didn't Mr. Lurie say it was unacceptable during his press conference after last season?

WEBSTER, N.Y. - The ex-con who lured two firefighters to their deaths in a blaze of gunfire left a rambling typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people," police said Tuesday as they recovered burned human remains believed to be the gunman's missing sister. Police Chief Gerald Pickering said that 62-year-old William Spengler, who served 17 years in prison for the 1980 hammer slaying of his grandmother, armed himself with a revolver, a shotgun and a military-style rifle before he set his house afire to lure first responders into a death trap before dawn on Christmas Eve. "He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people," Pickering said.

HOUSTON - A traffic stop turned into a fatal shooting on Christmas Eve when a gunman killed a police officer and bystander in the parking lot of a Houston body shop, police said. The confrontation followed a chase that began shortly before 9 a.m. Monday when the suspect sped off in his car rather than pull over as an officer had requested, Houston police spokesman John Cannon said. As the suspect fled, he sideswiped a white truck, which also took off after him, he said. The suspect, identified in the Houston Chronicle as Harlem Harold Lewis, 21, and the driver of the white truck eventually pulled into a nearby Maaco body shop, where Bellaire Cpl. Jimmie Norman approached the vehicle.

The dozens of firefighters who arrived at a train derailment in Paulsboro on Nov. 30 knew the toxic chemical vinyl chloride had been released into the atmosphere. But some of the responders say they were equipped with inoperable monitoring devices unable to detect the extent of their chemical exposure. The faulty equipment, those firefighters say, reflected the county's years-long "lackadaisical commitment" to emergency preparedness and led them to resign from Gloucester County's hazardous-materials team days later.

A sewage pipe in Burlington Township broke Saturday night, leaking raw sewage into the Burlington Center Mall at the height of the holiday shopping season. Firefighters, the Burlington County Health Department, and other responders were called to the scene, where some shoppers reported feeling sick Sunday morning. No one was taken to the hospital, a spokesman for the county Office of Emergency Management said. The mall never closed, he said. - Andrew Seidman

A COMMON PLEAS judge Friday rejected an attempt by the firefighters union to halt the involuntary transfer of senior firefighters around the city beginning early next year. Judge Leon Tucker heard five hours of testimony before ruling that the city had the managerial right to transfer the firefighters and that the transfers will not harm residents or firefighters. The transfers are slated to begin in late January or early February for 95 firefighters with 10 or more years on the job. Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers testified that the plan will free up space at the companies that get the most fire calls - which are the most popular spots - so that rookie firefighters can get experience.

IT'S A FAMILIAR sight these days. Firefighters lined City Council chambers to heckle a Nutter administration policy and cheer those questioning it. About three dozen firefighters showed up in union colors to a public-safety committee hearing Wednesday that probed the administration's decision to, once again, appeal a ruling that would give firefighters retroactive pay raises and other financial awards. City Finance Director Rob Dubow reiterated the administration's position that the city would have to pay more than $200 million over five years, resulting in cuts of about 2 percent to 5 percent for many city departments.