A total of four people were hospitalized following a house fire in Peoria. Three are reported in critical condition, including one person who was transferred to the burn unit of Springfield Memorial Medical Center. Peoria fire Battalion Chief Ryan Calhoun says there were a total of seven occupants of the home at 2806 N. Wisconsin Ave. Most of them had been alerted by a child who woke up to find the blaze. Firefighters arrived at the residence at 2:08 a.m. Sunday to find fire showing from the front of the house, venting out of the kitchen window. One of the occupants said two people were trapped inside. One of them was an adult female who was able crawl out of the bathroom window at the rear of the home. She stated another person was trapped in the bathroom. Calhoun said multiple crews entered the house simultaneously.  

The DeKalb Fire Department responded to a call Friday after a vehicle submerged in water at 7:25 a.m. on Friday at the East Lagoon, 100 Castle Drive. Fire personnel found the driver standing on top of the roof of the submerged vehicle, approximately 50 feet from the shoreline, according to a City of DeKalb news release. "Voice contact with the driver confirmed that he was not injured, but needed assistance," the news release reads. "Firefighters donned dry suits and water rescue equipment, waded to the vehicle, and assessed the driver's medical condition and vehicle's stability." Fire personnel waited for boats from Sycamore Fire Department and NIU to rescue the driver because of the cold water temperature. Once a boat arrived, the driver was brought to shore and given a medical evaluation.  

A portion of Illinois 140 was closed for several hours Saturday in Bond County due to a chemical fire at a rural Pocahontas agricultural service center operated by CHS Shipman, a farmer-owned cooperative. "There were some chemicals (in a concrete bin) that caught fire, but it was basically contained to the pile," said Dennie Koberczky, assistant fire chief for Pocahontas-Old Ripley Fire Protection District. "It didn't burn any of the buildings." Fire departments from throughout the region showed up to help, as well as hazmat (hazardous materials) units from St. Clair and Madison county emergency management agencies. Crews worked from about 1 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday. No injuries were reported. "We did have a major road shut down because smoke from (sulfur-containing material) was going right across the road, and it could cause breathing problems if people inhaled it," Koberczky said.  

A Hull, Illinois, man was taken into custody Sunday after he set a car and multiple houses on fire, authorities said. Hull Fire Chief Sam Reed said Sunday afternoon that authorities were still investigating exactly how many fires the man started. Reed did not name the man, but said he was being held in the Pike County Jail. Reed said only one house sustained serious damage, which he said belonged to the perpetrator. Those targeted said the experience has left them rattled. "This doesn't happen here," resident Tammy Hale said. "So am I safe to come home? Am I going to come home and my house is going to be on fire? Hale said she was grocery shopping when she heard a man was setting fires to homes in her neighborhood. "The actual cops, they told me they pulled up in the yard and have it on the dash cam of him actually setting my car on fire," she said. "It's melted all the way down to the frame. It got the fence a little bit here."  

Firefighters battled the fire on the river bluffs near Grafton on both Saturday and Sunday. The focus for the firefighters was to contain hot spots over the weekend from the blaze. Firefighters from QEM, Godfrey, Jerseyville, Brighton, and Fieldon were present at times throughout the weekend with the river bluffs fire. QEM Fire Chief Gerry New said a part of the Great River Road was shut down near Raging Rivers Sunday afternoon, while firefighters battled the blaze, but as of this evening, they have opened the road to traffic.  

VIDEO: A large fire broke out on Bald Head Island on Saturday at around 8 p.m. Three units in Lighthouse Landing and one home were destroyed in the fire. Drone video provided to WRAL News showed large areas reduced to ashes in the aftermath of the blaze. The massive fire took 60 firefighters to put out. Alan May, director of Bald Head Island Public Safety, said both firefighters and neighbors did their part to prevent it from becoming worse. While flames scorched through the four homes and trees, neighbors were dousing the untouched properties in case the embers flew too far. And the call to action didn't stop there. "They stopped what they were doing.  

Las Vegas's MGM Grand Hotel and Casino fire, which occurred on November 21, 1980, killed 85 people and injured 700 more. The fire, caused by an electrical fault associated with a refrigerated pastry display case, originated in an unoccupied restaurant on the casino's first floor. The fire was discovered by hotel staff early in the morning when, by that time, it had evolved to open flaming and was increasing in size and intensity. Soon after that, the fire reached flashover condition and spread rapidly across the casino floor. Within approximately 15 minutes after the fire was discovered, the entire casino was involved in the fire. The fire was limited to the first-floor casino, however, smoke spread vertically into the hotel tower floors. The casino was not protected with automatic sprinklers or automatic fire detection and alarm system.  

PHOTOS: Nobody is quite sure how long the four-and-a-half foot tall safe was nestled in the back half of a closet at the Old Pine Community Center in Society Hill. It had been there so long — turned backward so its handle and dial didn't show — that staffers at the center assumed it was just a large metal box or an outdated piece of mechanical equipment. And the wheels on the bottom of the heavy object were so rusted that nobody could move it, said executive director Mark Atwood. "It was a part of the place," he said. But when the Old Pine Community Center, which has been the only tenant of the building at Fourth and Lombard Streets since it opened in 1977, was in need of more room this year, they called in a junk-removal company to help get rid of it in October. "A large guy got it rocking, got it moving, and got it out," Atwood said.  

FAO Schwarz and the Uniformed Firefighters Association helped bring holiday cheer Sunday to the children of fallen firefighters. As CBS2's Christina Fan reported, 50 kids and their families were treated to a full day of fun. Joy overflowed from the back of a fire engine in front of FAO Schwarz, where Santa Claus, FDNY mascot Hot Dog, and toy soldiers brought smiles to widows and their children, fulfilling a promise made to their fallen heroes "We thank you so much for coming and being a part of this. You make our day more than we make yours," said Andrew Ansbro, president of the UFA. For 40 years, the union has been providing smiles to families of firefighters killed while on duty. Sunday's celebration was especially meaningful to Erika Oelkers and her three daughters, who lost FDNY firefighter Tom Oelkers in May to 9/11-related cancer.