An apartment building on Chicago's Southwest Side completely gutted from an overnight fire near 64th and Whipple. Investigators said the fire likely started on one of the lower levels and, quickly spread throughout the building. When fire crews arrived just after 3:30 a.m. Sunday, a 36-year-old man was found dead inside. Neighbors woke up to some of that initial chaos. "It was the police sirens," one resident said. "I saw police everywhere around here, and I'm like 'hey, what's going on?' But, I couldn't see because it was so dark." Alderman Raymond Lopez, who represents the 15th Ward, confirmed the building is abandoned, and he said there may have been some homeless people inside who also may have started a fire to stay warm. People living around there said that's been going on for quite some time.  

A massive fire broke out at a Chicago Heights warehouse on Monday morning, city spokesperson David Ormsby said. The blaze has been raging on near 11th and Washington in the south suburb, Ormsby said. Multiple fire departments are responding to the extra alarm fire, which has fully engulfed the warehouse. Roads are closed at 12th and Washington while crews work to control the blaze, Ormsby said. So far, there are no reports of injuries.. Chopper 7HD was over the scene of the fire, capturing large billows of smoke emerging from the flames. Officials did not immediately provide further information about the fire.  

A Chase Bank in west suburban Bloomingdale went up in flames Friday night after a driver crashed into the building's gas line - rupturing it and causing an explosion. As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, firefighters spent hours working to get the fire under control on this frigid Friday night. Firefighters rushed to the bank at 136 E. Lake St. in Bloomingdale near the Springbrook Shopping Center, where heavy smoke was visible from the air. The first calls to the fire department came in at 5:20 p.m. The driver slammed into the bank building at 5:05 p.m. – just five minutes after the bank closed for the night. By 10 p.m., the gas had finally been shut off at the scene. But the wrecked car that sparked the fire was still lodged in the building. Damage was severe where the car crashed, but also on the opposite side of the bank structure. Earlier, people watched as a mix of orange and green flames were seen shooting from the bank.  

One person was killed Saturday morning in a fire at a condo building in suburban Palatine, according to local fire officials. Officials said firefighters responded to an automatic fire alarm at a building at 245 North Smith Street at approximately 6:37 a.m. and observed smoke and flames coming out of the second floor of the building. Several crews and a total of 39 firefighters battled the blaze, including a rescue crew that attempted to make a rescue on the second floor while other firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze. Officials said the fire was contained to the unit of origin and declared to be under control by 7:10 a.m. "I exited the building immediately. I kind of just grabbed my daughter who is 3 years old, and my dog and jetted into my car and took off as the fire trucks were coming," resident Lindsay Weaver said.  

A decades-old church that has spent generations in West Englewood is now just mounds of burned debris after a devastating fire tore through the church Saturday morning. "Getting up and knowing that I have a church home to go to was a big part of my life," said Pastor Edrena Bell, with Universal Temple of Christ and Training School. Decades of a family's blood, sweat, tears and prayers were gone within a matter of minutes. "I was just holding on for my son, who was just ordained last week to become the minister," Pastor Bell said. "To literally be standing there and watching them tear the building down, I think that was more heart-breaking than the actual fire itself." The fire quickly tore through the Universal Temple of Christ and Training School on Damen and 56th Street in West Englewood.  

A staple of Jefferson County is in ruins after a fire Sunday morning. Firefighters were called to Uncle Joe's Restaurant just after 9 a.m. Sunday after an employee called in a grease fire that got out of control. Around three or four employees were inside when the fire broke out, according to Captain Kyle Clinton of the Jefferson Fire Protection District #1. Clinton says all the employees got out safely and no one was hurt. The fire was trapped beneath a metal roof which required crews to make trench cuts in order to create entry points to douse the flames. Clinton credits fire hydrants at a nearby gas station that helped get water to crews quicker. "We had no trouble starting the fire attack," Clinton said. "We were able to get tremendous water supply very quick and effectively to be able to knock down the fire and gain control of it."  

As federal investigators worked to find out why a 150-car train derailed in northeastern Ohio, the state's governor warned late Sunday that unstable temperatures in a car transporting chemicals could lead to an explosion. The area most at risk of being affected by the Friday crash, that within a 1-mile radius of the crash in the village of East Palestine, was evacuated by early Saturday and remained off-limits, officials said. But Gov. Mike DeWine's office said an estimated 500 residents remained behind in the 1-mile zone. It said they were subject to an "urgent warning" to evacuate. "Within the last two hours, a drastic temperature change has taken place in a rail car, and there is now the potential of a catastrophic tanker failure which could cause an explosion with the potential of deadly shrapnel traveling up to a mile," the governor's office said in a statement.  

Low wages, a lack of work-life balance and burnout are among factors driving emergency medical services personnel around the country to quit ambulance duty. Last year, the turnover rate for full-time emergency medical technicians, known as EMTs, was 36% and for full-time paramedics, it was 27%, according to an American Ambulance Association survey. The turnover rate includes both resignations and firings, but nearly all of the EMTs and paramedics who left did so voluntarily. More than one-third of new hires don't last through their first year, the survey found. A federal study projected a need for 40,000 more full-time emergency medical personnel from 2016 to 2030. "The public doesn't see where there's no one in the station, and volunteer services are trying to muster a crew," said Dia Gainor, executive director of the National Association of State EMS Officials and former director of the Idaho EMS office for 19 years.  

Sabrail Davenport's heart ached when she learned a judge dismissed charges against a former village building department official resulting from the investigation into the fire in which her firefighter son died. Davenport fears no one will be held responsible for the deaths of her son Jared Lloyd, 35, and adult home resident Oliver Huested, 79. So far, Wayne Ballard's dismissals fold in with charges earlier being dropped against two adult home workers charged in the investigation of the March 22, 2021, inferno at the Evergreen Court Home for Adults on Lafayette Street. Two remaining cases related to the Evergreen Court investigation include charges against former inspector Ray Canario and Rabbi Nathaniel Sommer and his son Aaron, who faces felony counts including manslaughter related to causing the fire and deaths. They've pleaded not guilty, and their next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 14.  

A fire department in one of our hometowns caught word that bullying was happening in the community and they decided they were going to do something about it. They surprised one teen by eating lunch with him trying to show him he was not alone. "When Dawn Roberts adopted her son Jackson from China, she didn't know he had autism. "I mean it's difficult, but I wouldn't change. He's taught me a lot about myself. And he's fantastic, he's hilarious," said Roberts. One of the challenges they face is other kids at school bullying her son. "He had somebody ask him on the bus, what does dog taste like?" explained Roberts. Roberts says Jackson struggles to interact with others. "I know he eats alone, it bothers me, it makes me sad," added Roberts. But when the Bedford Fire Department heard about Jackson. They contacted the family and Liberty High School to surprise him by joining him for lunch.