The Boston Fire Department thought they had problems with Mayor Tom Menino when they were resistant to random drug testing. Now the federal government has reason to investigate them. It appears that some firefighters have been making disability claims at higher rates by claiming that they were filling in for a supervisor, hence making more money and getting more in their pensions. The US government is hard up for money, and the FBI wants to......

The Globe reports that an electrical fire broke out on the 12th floor of One Beacon around noon today. As of right now, two people have been sent to the hospital, and Andrew Ryan reported that one person was burned severely. Jessica Fargen at the Herald found more details on the victims. They were employees of the building's management company, and they were working in an electrical transformer room. WBZ described the scene: "Hundreds of......

Today's Globe featured a story on the tremendous pull that police and fire unions have on city government. Roderick Fraser Jr. heads the fire department, but Local 718 Ed Kelly has his own ideas for the direction of the fire department. Mayor Menino's disputes with the fire department, particularly over the issue of drug testing after the Tai Ho Restaurant fire, which killed firefighters Paul Cahill and Warren Payne, are notorious. It still isn't clear......

Whether or not you think pot is a big deal, the fact that a Boston Firefighter was arrested for buying pot today doesn't bode well for the fire department's resistance to the mayor's desire to start random drug testing. Anthony Gaston is accused of, according to the Herald, "smoking a joint inside a department car." Making things weirder, he wasn't even scheduled to be at work. He was also allegedly carrying prescription pain killers. Other......

--Three firefighters were injured in a blaze in Weymouth. At first, officials suspected arson because the home was about to be sold, but they've since declared it accidental. [WBZ] --Firefighters could use a dose of good PR, but it's not coming. On the heels of cheating accusations, some firefighters are under suspicion of boosting their disability pensions by claiming their injuries took place when they were filling in for higher-paid superiors. [Boston Globe] --In a......

--News the Boston Fire Department doesn't need: An anonymous person has accused firefighters of cheating on a promotional test in November. [Boston Globe] --In Hyde Park yesterday, a four-alarm fire that started at Maria's Hair Fashion damaged eight apartments, two restaurants, the salon, and another business. No one was seriously hurt, but this is the second time a salon belonging to the same owner has burned down. [Boston Herald] --Mary Marques, the oldest resident......

People are feeling jittery again. A strip mall in Ashland was evacuated earlier today – all because of a fax message to a Bank of America that included an awkward ClipArt image of a hand setting off a bomb. Turns out "the fax was sent by a marketing group for a promotion to kick off a special offer from the bank." We're not sure why marketing companies don't think before they fax. Didn't they learn......

This from WBZ: A two-alarm fire that started at about 8:20 pm shut down the Longfellow Bridge. Trains were stopped, traffic was diverted, and heavy smoke forced the Charles-MGH station to shut down. The MBTA has posted the alert on its website and offered a few terse details: "A homeless man started a fire underneath the Longfellow Bridge. As a result the Boston Fire Department has stopped all traffic. Subway Red Line service is being......

Afraid that Boston would succumb to the C line controversy that’s rocked Gothamist commuters the Boston Fire Department told NSTAR to cut power to a couple thousand Bostonians for a short time yesterday evening. MBTA power substation near JFK/UMass Station blew up when gas had leaked into the area where a generator started up to create the power to run trains on the Red Line. MBTA has told commuters that they should expect fewer......