A new fire chief has been named for the city of Carbondale. Carbondale City Manager Gary Williams announced Rob Miller has been selected as the new Carbondale Fire Chief. Miller has been with the city of Carbondale for a quarter of a century. He entered the Carbondale Fire Department as a firefighter in 1998, was upgraded to an arson investigator in 2006 and promoted to Captain in 2018. Later in 2018, Miller was promoted again, this time to Assistant Chief of the Carbondale Fire Department. Before transitioning his career in Carbondale, Miller was a police officer in DeSoto for three years. Miller will start the role as Chief of the fire department, starting on April 15, 2024, following the retirement of Chief Mike Hertz.  

VIDEO: It would be all-hands-on deck for local authorities in case any of bridges crossing the Illinois River meet the same fate as the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Fondulac Park District Police Chief Chance Barlow remembers when three ironworkers were killed making McClugage Bridge repairs in April of 2000. He said safety training has been a major focus since then. As recently as last August, a crane caught fire on a barge near the McClugage during a peak traffic time. The bridge was closed to traffic for a while, but no one was hurt. Authorities have an emergency action plan to follow for major incidents like this. "It was because of the construction crew's pre-planning with us that we had a pretty quick response with all of our agencies, and we were able to mitigate that problem pretty quickly," said Barlow.  

VIDEO: Dozens of girls got to make a dream come true Thursday morning. They got to feel like superheroes as firefighters for a day. Girls, Inc. partnered with the Chicago Fire Department to host their annual "Firefighter For a Day" event at the Quinn Fire Academy on the city's near West Side. The girls got to try on firefighting gear, which was a little big but fun. They practiced some safety drills and met real-life firefighters and other women in leadership roles. Chicago Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said everyone gets pretty excited. And that's the goal. "We're grooming them so they can think of this as a career. So many people tell you what you can't do. But they can see what's possible and what you can do. So I told them never say you can't do anything. You can do anything you can put your mind to," said Nance-Holt."  

PHOTOS: Forty-five years ago, Central Pennsylvania suffered a historic tragedy when one of the nuclear reactors at Three Mile Island experienced a partial meltdown. The accident, which occurred at the Generating Station along the Susquehanna River on March 28, 1979, went down in history as the most serious nuclear power plant accident in United States history. According to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, researchers were able to determine that the meltdown had "negligible effects on the physical health of individuals or the environment" — but that's not to say there weren't any lasting impacts. The accident prompted tighter regulations on nuclear power plant operations, as well as sparking fear in the hearts of those living in Central Pennsylvania and beyond.  

Vincent Dransfield turns 110 years old Thursday, but the lifelong Passaic County resident doesn't seem to be slowing down. He still lives at home, socializes with a wide range of friends and family, keeps up with the New York Yankees — opening day is his birthday — and even continues to drive his Hyundai sedan on local errands. "I guess I'm doing all right, for my age," Dransfield said by phone from the Little Falls house where he has lived since 1945. He playfully gave some of the credit for his longevity to a half-century of drinking Ovaltine, the flavored milk drink. Though, he said he sticks with the simple malt version, "not the chocolate Ovaltine." "I guess that contributed to it, and being a nice guy," he said. He remains on the roster of Singac Volunteer Fire Co. No. 3 in Little Falls, where signed up more than eight decades ago and once served as fire chief.  

PHOTOS: Montgomery County ESD 1 firefighters often are asked why their fire trucks are blue. "Our trucks are easy to be spotted," said Fire Chief Jason Oliphant, standing next to the Sierra Blue fire truck, which earned the trucks and the department "The Smurfs" nickname, according to the agency's website. The agency is one of the few in Texas with blue fire trucks, which tends to attract attention, Oliphant said. In 2022, the West Orange Volunteer Fire Department east of Beaumont had a blue truck with some streaks of silver. In 1981, the Willis and Panorama volunteer fire departments joined together to form the North Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Department, according to the agency's website. At the time, the agency had several fire trucks that were red, white and green — giving the agency the nickname "The Rainbow Fire Department," the website states.  

The government is warning people to immediately stop using a fire-extinguishing device shaped like a ball. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says Elide fire-extinguishing balls can fail to extinguish a fire, leaving people at risk of injury and death. However, the CPSC says Elide Fire USA has not agreed to recall the balls or help customers with a fix for the products. According to Elide Fire's website, the ball activates by itself within seconds of flames touching it. The ball breaks open and dispenses a dry chemical to extinguish a fire. The CPSC says the products can fail to effectively disperse the chemicals and fail to put out fires. It says the balls do not have a pressure gauge or pressure indicator, a locking device to reduce unintentional discharge, or a nozzle to direct the discharge.