JoAnn Dawson says she believes an arsonist ignited a fire in the outdoor hot tub and the fire eventually destroyed her home. Monday morning, home surveillance from a neighbor's home on Illinois Avenue captured Granite City fire crews working to save the house. "One of his family friends was beating on the window and said my house was on fire," Dawson said. "We were upset about it." Dawson owns the home but lives two blocks away. She said the home was vacant at the time of the fire. She was planning to sell it this year. "I really did enjoy living here, Dawson said. "My grandma felt ill, that's why I moved out." In the video you can see a man running alongside the home. Seconds later, the back of the house ignites into flames. Neighbors said it only took minutes for the fire to consume the house. "I doesn't really surprise me because I've heard people are going around burning empty houses and stuff like that," Dawson said.  

PHOTOS: Area firefighters battled terribly cold conditions for a garage fire that spread to a residence in the 300 block of St. Mary's Place in Bethalto on Thursday afternoon around the 2 p.m. range. Fire Departments from Bethalto, Rosewood Heights, Meadowbrook, Cottage Hills, Wood River and East Alton were called to the scene with the Madison County Emergency Management Unit and Bethalto Police. The fire is still smoking around 2:20 p.m. Thursday, but appears under control. No fire cause has yet to be determined. The Madison County Emergency Management Unit is there, along with the rotation, to make sure firefighters stay safe in the freezing weather conditions.  

A man was found dead in a burning vehicle Thursday in Lawndale on the West Side, according to police. Firefighters found the man in the driver's seat of a burning vehicle about 10:20 p.m. in the 2800 block of West Polk Street, Chicago police said. The fire was extinguished and the man was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The Cook County medical examiner's office has not released details on the death. Area Four detectives are investigating.  

Fire engulfed an apartment building at 501 Locust St. in Quincy Thursday afternoon as firefighters struggled with cold weather. Firefighters said the first of four alarms came in around 2:40 p.m. When they arrived on scene, crews said they saw smoke billowing out of the windows as the structure began to collapse. They were able to put out the fire around midnight, Friday morning. Firefighters said they worked to protect the home next door.  

PHOTOS: Alton Fire Department personnel train constantly at the highest levels, perhaps to standards as high as any fire agency its size across the country. Another example came this week on some frigid days at the Spencer T. Olin Golf Court Pond. Alton Battalion Chief Matt Fischer coordinated the ice rescue training. Chief Jesse Jemison said Fischer is the department's resident expert on ice rescue. He trained some time back in New England, Chief Jemison said. "The past few winters we haven't been able to train on the ice because it wasn't cold enough," Jemison added. "When it became cold this winter, I talked to Mary Campbell at Spencer T. Olin and she allowed our people to train on the ice. We have 18 or 19 new guys with less than four years of experience and they had never done any training like this. East Alton Fire Department also brought some of their guys over. East Alton has multiple ponds and it is important for them to have this type of training."  

Firefighters are battling a massive house fire early Friday morning. The fire started around 2 a.m. at a duplex on Montgomery Drive near New World Drive. Firefighters arrived to find flames shooting up through the roof of the house, which was nearly fully engulfed. The strong winds made the fire more difficult for firefighters to get it under control. A second alarm was requested after flames got so bad that firefighters were ordered to evacuate the duplex. The occupants on both sides of the duplex made it out safely. No injuries were reported. American Red Cross is assisting the displaced families. The home is believed to be a total loss with damage estimates at $200,000. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.  

On Broadway, just south of Lincoln, is another Wichita landmark that is hidden in plain sight: the Kansas Firefighters Museum. The museum is small in size but uses the space wisely. The walls, ceilings — every square inch, it seems — is full of memorabilia. There are photos, plaques, logbooks and, best of all, old fire equipment. The museum has the station's original horse-drawn wagon; a chemical truck that was pulled and pushed by four men; and a 1921 American Lafrance fire engine. David Wilson — "DD" to his friends — is a retired firefighter and recording secretary for the museum. He's passionate about the vocation and its history. "I've been researching Wichita firefighters, and [now] the state," Wilson said. The museum was once Wichita's Fire Station No. 6; it was built in 1909. "At the time, seven firefighters were here and those seven firefighters worked seven days a week," Wilson said.  

Yes, Stipe Miocic still works as a firefighter when he is not fighting inside the UFC octagon. The current UFC heavyweight champion is a long-running member of the Oakwood and Valley View Fire Departments in his hometown Ohio, where he works as a dedicated firefighter and a paramedic. Over the years, many have cast doubt over his ability to balance the two professions, but Stipe Miocic has proved them all wrong by giving his best to both his careers and not compromising with either. In fact, Miocic has occasionally participated in fights to raise money for the Firefighter's Foundation and other charities associated with the cause. Stipe Miocic has been a firefighter for over a decade now, starting well before he was even a known name in the world of MMA. He now has a net worth of more than $4 million and makes between $750,000 to a million for every fight he contests in, which means he has absolutely no need for a second job.  

February 10, 2021, marked 40 years since the second deadly hotel fire in three months shook Las Vegas to its core. The city was already reeling from the November fire that claimed 87 lives at the old MGM Grand (today Bally's). Then, on February 10, 1981, it was a terrible case of déjà vu. This time it was the Hilton (now the Westgate), which was the largest hotel in the world at that time. "The flames went right through the hallway," one hotel evacuee described to News 3 as firefighters were still mopping up. "It scorched all the halls. It was so fast." "I was in the casino when they closed it down," another woman said after reuniting with her husband. "I went right to the phone to tell him there's a fire in the hotel, to try to get out as fast as he could." It had started as a normal night at the Hilton with a packed house in the showroom featuring dancer Juliet Prowse and singer Andy Williams.  

Together, they have fought fires, cut back metal to extricate accident victims from cars, taken turns compressing the chest of someone whose heart isn't beating and, since last fall, warmed baby bottles and changed diapers. A shared love of helping their neighbors led Hopewell Volunteer Firefighters Jim and Annie Ferry to fall in love with each other. Jim was first to be smitten with emergency service. In 2003 his grandmother suffered a massive heart attack. Her town's volunteer EMTs responded and revived her. "I was blown away," said Jim. "I thought, how is this possible, and what is this world of emergency medicine that I know nothing about?" The next year, he volunteered in Plainsboro, where he lived at the time. "I got hooked on having the ability to help people in some of the worst times in their lives," he said. He used his the skills he learned to switch careers, becoming a paid Princeton EMT, and later persued more training and became a volunteer firefighter as well.