VIDEO: One student from Lanphier High School got a chance to explore the job of his dreams. William Cody Billings has always dreamed of being a firefighter, but he got a chance to see what it is like alongside Springfield Fire Chief Ed Canny. When it comes to Billings' health journey there were many uncertainties. "He spent three weeks in the NIC unit, the doctor said he would never be able to walk because he had CP," said his father Larry Franklin Sr. Despite all these uncertainties, however, his dream of becoming a firefighter remained the same. "He used to have a battery-operated fire truck that he rode in the state fair parade with them every year. When he got too big for the fire truck, they put him in the regular truck," Franklin said.  

Fire investigators say the cause of a Freeport garage fire is accidental after it became fully engulfed in flames on Thursday. Crews arrived at 12:30 p.m. to assist with a detached garage fire on the 1200 block of South Maple Avenue in Freeport. Firefighters were able to quickly douse the blaze which left nothing in its wake. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Damages to the garage are estimated at $10,000. Nearby structures are still being assessed for other damages.  

Firefighters in Casa Grande received concerning test results when nearly half of a hazmat team tested for elevated levels of arsenic during their annual heavy metal testing. None of the seven firefighters knew they had high levels of the naturally occurring chemical that can cause cancer. Six of the seven are stationed at the same firehouse in Casa Grande. "That was our immediate concern that something in the station was doing this," said Casa Grande Fire Department Chief Dave Kean. Kean said he gave bottled water to the team and paid an independent lab to test the water at the firehouse. The results obtained by Arizona's Family came back clean. Now, he's trying to find the link between firefighters with arsenic in their system. "We are doing some, lack of a better term, contact tracing," he said.  

VIDEO: There are currently about 45 fire trucks and engines in service with the Denver Fire Department. But one engine in particular, that no longer fights fires, holds a job that might be comparable in importance. And there was a time that it might have been lost forever. "If it could talk, it would be a bedtime story that would last a decade," retired Denver firefighter Dan Farley said, smiling when referencing his 'passion' for nearly 15 years. Farley is the director of the Denver Firefighters Museum. Part of his job includes the upkeep of several antique fire trucks that call the museum home. The centerpiece of that collection is Engine Number Four. "It was used for public relations for the museum," he explained. The so-called ‘rig' is from the 1950s, and was used by the museum until one day in May of 2012.  

VIDEO: Firefighters save lives. But Friday night, the team at Chesterfield Fire Rescue in Burke County had no idea they'd be saving one of their own. A call came in sending firefighter David Hart to a camper trailer fire on Bristol Creek Avenue this past Friday. Hart was first to arrive and was preparing the water pumps when he noticed he didn't feel right. When he collapsed, his fellow firefighters rushed to help him, immediately starting CPR and using a defibrillator to bring him back to life. "It was under five minutes, but it felt like eternity," Amanda Buff, who first performed CPR on Hart, said. "This is like an everyday thing for us. We respond to cardiac arrests all the time, but it feels more personal when it's one of your own people." Hart said Friday's scare was his eighth heart attack, and said he was dead for almost five minutes before his team resuscitated him.  

Firefighter Andrew Burton won the title of 2023 World's Strongest Firefighter at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, competing against firefighters from as far away as Great Britain and the Czech Republic. "Firefighting and being a strongman are both important to me," Burton said. "I don't only want to identify with my work. I feel like I am both a firefighter and a strongman. Both are about moving efficiently. Being a firefighter and strongman complement one another." During the two-day event, Burton competed against more than 120 men and women to earn the title of "World's Strongest Firefighter." As a seasoned strongman competitor, he came into the competition with a winning strategy: Have a good time. "You don't need to blow all your energy in the preliminary competition," he said.