LONG BEACH, Calif. — A resident of a burning oceanfront high-rise apartment jumped to his death from an 18th-story balcony as a crowd of people watched helplessly, authorities said Thursday.

The flames appeared to be restricted largely to the apartment of John Carlyle Crews, 60, who was unable to escape, authorities said.

"He was screaming, 'Help me, I don't want to die. Somebody please help me,"' witness Saida Caal told the Long Beach Press-Telegram. "He was catching on fire, and he just jumped off the balcony."

A crowd of more than 25 people saw the man leap late Wednesday, said firefighter Will Nash, a spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department.

"You could really see the black smoke," said Tim McTavish, a real estate agent who watched the fire from his back yard about a block away. "We heard a bunch of screaming. A loud scream, a death kind of scream."

The building, called Galaxy Towers, did not have sprinklers because it was constructed in 1966 before the equipment was mandated, fire department spokesman Chris Milburn said.

The fire occurred less than a week before city officials are scheduled to consider a sweeping plan that would require sprinkler retrofits in many of the city's older buildings. The action was prompted after two people died in a December fire at a building that also did not have sprinklers.

The city has an estimated 133 apartment buildings and high-rises with at least 50 residential units that do not have sprinklers, city officials said.

LAS VEGAS — The Miss America Pageant has been dropped by Country Music Television, leaving the 86-year-old competition without a TV outlet for the second time in three years.The Viacom-owned network, which had rights to air the pageant through 2011, notified the Atlantic City, N.J.-based organization that it will not exercise its option to televise the contest "in 2008 and beyond," the cable network said Thursday.Pageant officials said they've begun the search for a new TV home."It's been a very good two-year run," said pageant head Art McMaster. "But we're going to get out there and make the calls and see what the best offer is."The news is another blow to an American institution that has struggled to find a place in modern popular culture. After 50 years on network television, ABC dropped Miss America in 2004 when ratings fell to a record low. Nashville, Tenn.-based CMT picked up the pageant, moved it to Las Vegas from its home in Atlantic City and updated its look with reality-TV elements.CMT executive vice president Brian Philips cited the network's focus on original programming, not ratings, for the decision.