It was a call he had answered hundreds of times over the last three decades, helping others in the community. And that is how he will be remembered, community members said Thursday.
North Sewickley Township Assistant Road Foreman Randy Syphrit was clearing damaged tree branches on Collins Road, brought down Tuesday night in the latest round of storms to strike the community this summer, when he was struck hard by another tree limb, resulting in devastating injuries, officials said.
The 52-year-old lifelong township resident was taken to an area hospital for treatment, but succumbed to his injuries Wednesday. His unexpected death sent shockwaves through the community and devastated those who have known him through his work with the township and his role as an assistant chief for the local fire department.
Beaver County Times
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Bucks County Community College recently recognized 18 volunteer firefighters who completed Fire Fighter I national certification training through the college-run Bucks County Public Safety Training Center.
Bucks instructors led one daytime class this summer at the Lower Bucks Public Safety Training Center in Croydon.
The firefighters, who hailed from departments in Bucks, Montgomery, and Northampton Counties, were honored at an August 14 ceremony at the college's Newtown campus.
Brent Vosseller of the Hecktown Volunteer Fire Co., Lower Nazareth Township, Northampton County, was named outstanding student by instructor Robert Hershman.
BCCC is the third-largest public-safety training provider in the U.S., according to the college.
Newtown Patch
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A 75-year-old Berks County man died Thursday, days after being rescued from a house fire.
Firefighters rescued Richard Minford from a Sunday afternoon fire at his Washington Township home. Minford and his wife were taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where he died at 2:32 a.m. Thursday, according to the Lehigh County coroner’s office.
The coroner’s office said the cause of death was “injuries and smoke inhalation” and ruled the death accidental.
The fire initially was reported as a garage fire. The house was destroyed.
Allentown Morning Call
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A house in Mechanicsburg is a total loss after an early morning fire Thursday that quickly led to the home’s collapse.
Mechanicsburg Fire Chief Gary Neff said he arrived on-scene at 4:15 a.m. to a fully involved house fire in the 400 block of Glen Street, near Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School, as well as a fire at a neighboring home. The front of the house completely collapsed before firefighters even began to battle the blaze.
To make matters even more complicated, a person had to be rescued from the neighboring home that had also caught fire.
“It was a very good team effort from two police officers and two firefighters to locate that victim in the basement of the home,” Neff said.
Fire crews successfully rescued the woman, and no firefighters or residents were injured as a result of the fire, he said.
Carlisle Sentinel
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VIDEO: Crews are at the scene of a three-alarm fire that broke out early Friday morning at a shopping center on North Duke Street in York City.
The fire at the Yorktown Mall in the 100 block of North Duke Street was reported around 4:50 a.m. Aug. 23, according to York County’s Department of Emergency Services.
One person was injured, according to a 911 Center supervisor.
The shopping center houses a CTown Supermarket, a Family Dollar store, a state Wine and Spirits store and Pandaria Bakery among other businesses.
The fire reportedly began in the bakery.
By 9 a.m., all of the shopping center stores visible from the outside had been marked condemned and unsafe.
York Dispatch
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A man is in critical condition after sustaining burns in a meth-related incident in Stroudsburg, police said.
The man claimed he was burned by someone throwing acid on him in an alley, but it now appears that was not the case, Stroud Area Regional police said in a news release Thursday.
Officers found a man with severe burns in an alley between North Sixth and Seventh streets around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
He told police an unknown person dumped acid on him, but police said in an updated news release it appears the incident happened in a home on North Sixth Street.
Responding officers learned there may have been a fire in the back of the house. When firefighters went inside, they reported a strong odor of butane and found burns on the floor near the back door, police said.
WFMZ-TV Channel 69
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