Authorities on Tuesday named a 26-year-old man as the victim of a house fire June 30 in east Hernando County. ...more

July 9, 2008

A Fourth of July fireworks shell misfired in a northern Iowa town, sending a fireball skidding down a street into a crowd of spectators and injuring 37 people, officials said Saturday. ...more

July 6, 2008

The origins of a house fire that killed a man on Monday night remain unknown, but investigators have ruled out anything suspicious. ...more

July 3, 2008

The origins of a house fire that killed a man on Monday night remain unknown, but investigators have ruled out anything suspicious. ...more

July 2, 2008

Firefighters saved a downtown Sebring home from a fire early Tuesday morning. ...more

July 2, 2008

AVON PARK — When Mark Sauls first met Brandon Ball, he was just a kid hanging around the Avon Park Firehouse. "I worked with his dad and his grand-dad here," Sauls remembered. Ironically, the Avon Park Firehouse is where both the state fire marshals got their career starts — sort of — even though they are separated in age by several years. ...more

June 29, 2008

An arson suspect who State Fire Marshal investigators say was badly burned at the Rancher's Restaurant fire remained in the Falkenburg Road Jail in Hillsborough County on Thursday, awaiting extradition to Highlands County. Rancher's Restaurant was located at 15765 State Road 70 E., about a quarter mile from the Okeechobee County border. The 40-foot wide by 120-foot long structure was destroyed and the damage was estimated at $178,000, according to the State Fire Marshal's Office. ...more

June 26, 2008

TAMPA - An Okeechobee man who set fire to a Highlands County restaurant got caught up in the blaze and was taken to Tampa General Hospital, according to the state fire marshal's office. ...more

June 25, 2008

HIGHLANDS COUNTY — A burn victim was charged Tuesday in connection with an arson fire that burned down the Rancher's Restaurant early Sunday morning, said Lt. Brandon Ball, with the State Fire Marshal's Office. Robert Lee Marcum, 34, of Okeechobee, was arrested after a warrant was issued for his arrest, prior to Marcum's release from a Tampa General Hospital burn unit and being charged with arson and burglary, Ball said. ...more

June 24, 2008

HIGHLANDS COUNTY — A fire that burned down the Rancher restaurant early Sunday morning was set deliberately, according to Sam Venzeio, State Fire Marshal spokesman. The 40-foot-wide-by-120-foot-long eatery was located at 15765 State Road 70, on the border of Highlands and Okeechobee counties, he said. The fire was called in at 1:12 a.m. Sunday. "We have developed a person of interest," Venzeio said Monday. "But, we're not releasing any name." One man, who is not a firefighter, was hospitalized at Okeechobee Hospital with serious burns and later was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital. His condition was unknown. ...more

June 23, 2008