PHOTOS: A church in Douglas County is destroyed in a early morning fire Friday. Firefighters on scene tell WAND News crews were called at 2:10 a.m. for a report of Sunnyside Mennonite Church on fire on Route 133 in Chesterville. The Arthur Fire Chief says the fire started in the attic and is considered an accidental fire. The Arthur Fire Chief says this is a big loss for the community saying 150 people in the area are part of the church's congregation. Arcola, Arthur, Cooks Mill, Chesterville, Atwood and Humboldt fire departments all assisted in the church fire.  

Some of the 12 candidates for City Council in the April 6 election differ sharply on whether the city should revive the Mattoon Fire Department's ambulance service or leave it inactive. In between those two opposing points, candidates suggested having a third party analyze ambulance service date and have the department's trained paramedics respond to more emergency medical calls with Mitchell-Jerdan Ambulance Service. The candidates said the city should place a priority on meeting its fire, police and other public safety responsibilities. Incumbents Dave Cox and Sandra Graven, and challengers James "Jim" Closson, George "Butch" Gullion, Zachary Haifley, Scott Harris, Dustin Hay, David Phipps, Steve Ratliff, Rob Scheffer, Trent Seiler and Jennifer White are running for the four available seats.  

VIDEO: Firefighters respond to a structure fire at a home in Rockford Thursday night. The Rockford Fire Department tweeted about the fire at 10:47 p.m. It is happening at the corner of Kilburn Avenue and Acorn Street. According to authorities, the house is abandoned and was already set for demolition. As a result, firefighters are letting the fire burn the house down, at which point, they will put out the flames.  

Tyler Lindsey of Effingham didn't have the money to take college-level courses after graduating from Effingham High School in 2017. So, he recently jumped on an opportunity that would lead to earning him an EMT certification. "I always wanted to be in emergency services and just really didn't have the money to go to college to get the degree to become an EMT," Lindsey said. Lindsey is no stranger to responding to emergency situations. While he was living in Beecher City, he was a volunteer firefighter for the Tri-County Fire Protection District. He signed up for an on-call position with the Effingham Fire Department, however, he did not get a position because they were holding off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lindsey was one of several applicants selected for a "Earn While You Learn" program offered by Abbott EMS that would allow him to receive a paycheck while getting his EMT certification.  

VIDEO: Storms in April are nothing new in St. Louis. In fact, we've come to expect them. But there was a storm no one saw coming back in the spring of 1976. And, as you'll see in this edition of Vintage KSDK, this one blew helmets off firefighters and could have wiped out the entire city. "This is a firestorm," explained Charles Kamprad, the St. Louis fire chief at the time. "It's magnitude is 500 times greater than a five-alarm fire would be." Another fire in the city in May 1849 would come to be called the "great St. Louis fire". A firefighter died in that disaster, and a significant part of the city was destroyed. But this fire in 1976 posed a threat that had the potential to be just as devastating. It happened on April 2, 1976. Flames broke out in the vacant Heyday Shoe Building at 21st and Locust. The building had been empty for years after being gutted by a previous fire, which set the stage for this one to spread quickly.  

VIDEO: The way Matt Boney describes it, what happened on Wednesday sounds like the biggest-hearted game of telephone ever, which managed — for 40 minutes — to turn a nightmare into the birthday surprise of any 6-year-old boy's dreams. On Tuesday, Spring Valley firefighter Jared Lloyd, 35, died in the smoke and flame of the Evergreen Court Adult Home fire. The volunteer with Columbian Fire Engine Co. No. 1 was an Optimum service tech and the father of two boys: Darius, 5, and Logan. Wednesday was Logan's 6th birthday and just his second day — of all of his 2,192 days — without his dad. He told his mother, Lloyd's girlfriend, that what he wanted for his birthday was a firetruck. When word got out, that telephone game got started. Jared's boy wants a firetruck. We've got firetrucks. And ambulances. And dumptrucks. And police cruisers.  

On March 11, the House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee introduced the Next Generation 9-1-1 Act of 2021 as part of the LIFT America Act (H.R. 1848). This legislation will provide $15 billion to update our nation's 9-1-1 infrastructure, protect this infrastructure from cyber threats and ensure that first responders will be able to efficiently use Next Generation 9-1-1 technology to save lives. The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is strongly advocating for this bill's passage and is urging Congress to include this text in the upcoming House infrastructure package. This bill provides the tools to effectively carry out the modernization of the nation's 9-1-1 infrastructure. Of particular importance are the portions of this legislation that address interoperability, cybersecurity, training and consultation with first responders and other end users of the 9-1-1 system.  

PHOTOS: Firefighters were on the scene of a structure fire at the Alvin's Island retail beach store in Destin on Thursday. Firefighters from multiple agencies were on the scene and a ladder truck with firefighters was inspecting the roof of the building. West and eastbound lanes of U.S. Highway 98 shutdown for an extended period of time as they battled the blaze. The store is located across from Sundestin condominiums at 1073 U.S. Highway 98. Alvin's Island owns a handful of stores along U.S. 98. The store that is on fire is store #11. The cause of the fire is unknown. Firefighters were still on scene Friday to put out hot spots.  

PHOTOS: While things have begun to change in recent years, female firefighters are still relatively rare. But what's even more uncommon is to have two female firefighters, in the same small department, expecting babies at around the same time. Heather Jones thought it was rare enough that she decided to ask fellow firefighter, Cindy Simon, to join her in a photo shoot that turned out to be an excellent recruiting tool for the Gibraltar Fire Department. Jones said she thought it would be a fun idea so she contacted Love, Ashley Photography, who has taken her family pictures in the past, to take maternity photos. "At first it was just maternity pictures for our families," Jones said. "I invited Cindy because I thought it would be cool to take pictures together because not too often are there two active pregnant females in a fire department. Cindy and I are both on the fire department's recruiting committee and recently we have been promoting we are hiring and seeking new members."