Baltimore firefighters killed as building collapses in US state of Maryland

Three Baltimore firefighters were killed and a fourth was injured when part of a vacant home collapsed while they were battling a blaze, the city's fire chief has said.

The Baltimore City Fire Department said in a tweet that firefighters were responding to a blaze at the three-storey terraced house on Monday when the four were trapped inside. Crews removed piles of debris to locate the firefighters, the department said.

Chief Niles R Ford told a news conference that injured firefighter John McMaster was pulled from the house immediately and taken to hospital, where he was listed in critical condition on Monday afternoon. Dr Thomas Scalea of Maryland Shock Trauma said Mr McMaster was on life support.

“Fingers crossed that he's going to make it and be just fine,” Dr Scalea said. “It's hard to know at this point.”

Two other firefighters were pronounced dead at the hospital, Chief Ford said.

The fourth trapped firefighter was pronounced dead at the scene, the chief said, his voice breaking at times. Chief Ford identified the dead as Lt Paul Butrim, firefighter/paramedic Kelsey Sadler and EMT/firefighter Kenny Lacayo.

Dr Scalea said Sadler and Lacayo suffered cardiac arrest at the scene and couldn't be resuscitated.

“Today, Baltimore has lost three of the bravest among us,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said. “Baltimore owes them the deepest gratitude and respect that we can offer anybody.”

Photographs from the scene showed firefighters being consoled by their comrades. Later, an excavator cleared the remaining debris, leaving a gap between two row houses.

Three firefighters were injured battling a blaze at the same location in 2015, The Baltimore Sun reported.

An excavator is used to pull debris off a building during efforts to retrieve the body of a deceased firefighter caught in the building's collapse. AP

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: ARDH Collective

Based: Dubai

Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi

Sector: Sustainability

Total funding: Self funded

Number of employees: 4

New UK refugee system

A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds

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Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.

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How has net migration to UK changed?

The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.

It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.

The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.

The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.

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