Forty-seven years after three volunteer firefighters died in the line of duty, they were remembered in Palatine on Sunday. The Palatine Fire Department held a memorial ceremony Sunday morning at the Firefighters Memorial at Brockway and Slade streets in downtown Palatine. In the ceremony, the Palatine Fire Honor Guard marched from Station 85 to the memorial, where a wreath was presented and a ceremonial fire bell was rung. The memorial honors firefighters John Wilson, Richard Freeman, and Warren Ahlgrim – who all died in an early-morning fire at a Ben Franklin store on Feb. 23, 1973. The fire started in the retail store and spread throughout the building. The firefighters died while working in the basement. Palatine Fire Chief Scott Andersen said it is important to remember their sacrifice.  

Oglesby and Utica firefighters toiled for more than an hour to extinguish fire in eight large, round hay bales around midday Sunday. Firefighters from Oglesby were manning the Utica fire station while Utica personnel were on a rescue call at Starved Rock State Park, so Oglesby firefighters headed out first to the fire in a field about a quarter of a mile away from the KOA campground north of Interstate 80. An Oglesby firefighter said a farmer who was burning some brush accidentally caught the hay on fire, and fortunately he used a tractor to break bales and move hay around. Despite that help, it took time to dig through the hay and completely extinguish the fire. Other departments, including West Brooklyn, had calls about grass or brush fires. Wyanet Fire Department received a call about a car fire in a rural location around 8:15 p.m., and they were trying to get to that scene or verify the report at 8:20 p.m.  

A person was killed Saturday in a fire at their home in west suburban Naperville. About 8:50 a.m., someone called the Naperville Fire Department about an alarm sounding from a first-floor apartment in the first block of Olympus Drive, Naperville fire officials said. When fire crews arrived about five minutes later, they saw smoke pouring from the apartment and immediately entered. One person was found dead inside the apartment, officials said. The fire, which was burning in the bedroom, was put out within five minutes. No one else was inside the apartment, officials said. No firefighters were injured during the response. Investigators believe the fire was accidental, and police do not suspect any foul play, officials said. None of the building's other occupants were displaced.  

The Wonder Lake Fire Protection District is asking voters to approve a referendum March 17 election ballot increasing its property tax levy. An average homeowner with a $100,000 home currently pays $153 in taxes to the Wonder Lake Fire Protection District. If the referendum is successful, that would go up by $33, so the homeowner would pay $186. The amount of taxes currently able to be levied for the fire district is $963,994. The amount the WLFPD is asking for is $1,152,054. One of the reasons this increase is needed, Wonder Lake Fire Chief Mike Weber said, is because the department is dealing with a 52 percent increase in general and workers compensation insurance. These are based on the pay of the worker, and will increase significantly when minimum wage becomes $15 an hour, Weber said.  

A local industrial fire caused nearly $1 million in damage but resulted in no casualties, the DeKalb Fire Department reported Saturday. The fire broke out around 7 p.m. Friday at Standard Roofing Company, 1100 S. Seventh St. It took firefighters from DeKalb and nine other nearby departments three hours to bring the fire under control, according to the fire department. The scene was cleared at 3 a.m. Saturday, according to the Associated Press. DeKalb Fire Chief Jeff McMaster said he would be leading the investigation into what caused the fire. McMaster couldn't be reached for direct comment Saturday afternoon.  

Local firefighters spot a fire before anyone calls 911. The Effingham Fire Department responded to a house fire at 605 West Fayette Ave. Saturday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. An off-duty Effingham Fire Captain spotted the fire and alerted on-duty firefighters. the home is just two houses west of Effingham Fire Station 1. Upon arrival, crews found heavy smoke with an active fire on the second floor that had already made its way to the attic. The crews initially went in to put out the fire but as conditions deteriorated they were withdrawn from the home. Once they gained control of the fire, firefighters re-entered the home and put out the fire.  

A new bill has been introduced in the South Carolina legislature that would create new a supplemental insurance policy for some firefighters diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is the leading cause of deaths in career firefighters, according to the Firefighter Cancer Support Network. While most fire departments – including the Aiken Department of Public Safety – provide cancer health care benefits to their employees, some firefighters believe the Firefighter Cancer Health Care Benefit Plan currently being discussed in the S.C. legislature would be a big step forward in improving their coverage. "The benefits to this one are a lot better than what the locals can offer," said Capt. Brian Brazier, who works in the ADPS fire division. "With as many firefighters as (the state) is looking to cover, the cost of this is going to be pretty high, but the money is there to do it. I feel like we need to support the fire services in the state."  

What seemed like an eternity was actually 19 seconds. After Ryan Newman's battered race car came to rest last Monday at the end of the tri-oval in a brutal wreck at the finish of the Daytona 500, it took only 19 seconds for the first emergency vehicle to arrive, according to a chronology provided by NASCAR officials during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "The tool truck arrived at the vehicle 19 seconds after it came to rest," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. "The fireman that you saw with the extinguisher was in that vehicle. One of the three trauma doctors assigned to the safety team for the race arrived at the car at the 33-second mark, and a paramedic entered the vehicle at the 35-second mark.  

The first responders' biggest fear was realized one night in December when someone called 911 for help in rural Erie County and nobody came. The first dispatch went to Union City Fire Co. When Union City couldn't crew its ambulance, the call rolled over to neighboring Waterford Volunteer Fire Department. Waterford couldn't raise an ambulance crew either, so the call went to nearby Mill Village Volunteer Fire Department. Again, no answer. Fifty-one minutes later, the county 911 center canceled the alarm, saying the caller was going to the hospital in a private vehicle. "It's here," a somber Union City Fire Chief Isaiah Edwards told his firefighters a week later at a station meeting. "We're dropping a ton of calls. It's going to be a mess. I don't have answers."  

A retired firefighter who pulled his brother's body from the rubble at Ground Zero died Saturday of 9/11-related pancreatic cancer, officials said. Daniel Foley watched his firefighter brother respond to 9/11 and not come back, FDNY Lt. Mickey Conboy said. Foley promised his parents he wouldn't come home until he found his brother. He found his brother's body on day 11 after the attack, but still went back to Ground Zero each day. "He didn't stop until we all were done on that last day in May in 2002," Conboy said. During his career as a firefighter, Foley was award three department medals for rescues he'd made, officials said. He rescued four children trapped in a back room during one blaze. Foley retired just over a year ago. "Danny Foley was the epitome of a great fireman," Conboy said. "Danny's left an indelible mark on all of us."  

On North Main Street stands a historic little two-story brick building that once was Aberdeen Fire Station No. 2. It was built in 1930 to provide protection to the city's north side, expanding coverage of the downtown Fire Station No. 1. It still looks much like it did back then, but No. 2 now is privately owned. The city sold it in 2008 after it built a new No. 2 at 1825 Eighth Ave. N.W. near the U.S. Highway 281 bypass. The city added a third station in 1973. It's west of Aberdeen Regional Airport on the east side of Aberdeen. It was remodeled in 2008. Fire stations and firefighters have a history as long as Aberdeen itself. In the late 1880s, two years after the city was settled, a livery stable caught fire, making town leaders realize that they needed firefighters.