Four Chicago firefighters and one other person were injured Sunday morning, when a fire engine and a car collided in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. Fire Department officials said, around 7 a.m., Engine 122 was involved in a crash with a passenger vehicle at 75th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. A CTA bus shelter was demolished in the collision. Police said the fire engine was headed north on King Drive and its lights and sirens were running when it hit the other vehicle, which was headed east on 75th Street. Four firefighters were injured in the crash. One was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious but stable condition, one was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center in serious but stable condition, and two were taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital in fair condition. All but one had been released from the hospital by Sunday afternoon.  

The La Salle County Coroner's Office said a 67-year-old woman and 27-year-old man were the victims of a Sunday morning fire in Streator. Lois J. Green and Christian Green were identified as the deceased in a Monday news release. Calling Sunday one of its saddest days, the Streator Fire Department said the two died in a in the fire at 1013 E. Wilson St. Firefighters were called at 2:27 a.m. to a fire where the Greens were in the single-story home filled with heavy smoke, according to a press release issued by the department. Arriving in less than two minutes, two firefighters immediately entered the home through a window and were able to remove a victim from a bedroom. Two additional firefighters entered the home, then found and removed another victim from another bedroom.  

Officials with the Limestone Township Fire Protection District say their department is in a crisis. The key problem is staffing. The department has 32 members, but only 10 are considered consistently active. Limestone Fire Chief Mike Whalen said he has met with other area departments who say they are suffering the same problem. The state training requirements for department members are steep, which means fewer people join. It takes about two years of training to become a paramedic, Whalen said. Additionally, laws require firefighters to get 250 hours of continuing education annually. With that kind of training, Whalen said, those who complete it eventually seek a full-time job, often in the suburbs, where pay is higher. So essentially, Whalen said, departments such as Limestone subsidize larger departments by footing training bills.  

A man who firefighters said had a gun when they responded to a fire, is behind bars. Crews said at 6:15 p.m., the fire happened at 1691 E. 1100 N. in the Milford area. They found flames coming from an upstairs window and, when they tried to enter the building, they said a man holding a gun threatened a firefighter. The Iroquois County Sheriff's Office was then called to the scene and secured it. Milford police also responded. Olan E Morris III, 33, was identified as the subject and was transported to Iroquis Memorial hospital. Following his release, Morris was taken into custody and transported to Iroquis County Jail. Morris was charged with Residential Arson and Possession of Methamphetamine. Police said evidence was found of shots fired in the home, but it's unclear if they happened while firefighters were on the scene.  

The DeKalb Fire Department opened its doors Saturday morning to families from DeKalb School District 428 in need of winter supplies for their children. The event was held in conjunction with the national nonprofit organization Operation Warm. Operation Warm's mission is to provide ‘warmth, confidence, and hope to children in need through the gift of brand new winter coats.' The organization works with communities all over the U.S., and has distributed more than 3 million winter coats since its beginnings in 1998. DeKalb firefightere union President Noah Millard said that the DeKalb firehouse has been an Operation Warm partner for five years. Working with the DeKalb Classroom Teachers' Association, Thrivent Financial, the Knights of Columbus and Jason Fowler of Compass Mortgage, the firehouse has distributed about 750 coats to District 428 children as of 2019.  

The FDNY-Uniformed Firefighter Association is criticizing the decision to shut down streets around Rockefeller Center for pedestrians during the holidays. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that the city would expand pedestrian space in the area and close streets to traffic, saying the increasing number of people in the area is "creating a real safety issue." Gerald Fitzgerald, president of the firefighters union, put out a statement Sunday saying he believes there will be increased citywide gridlock as a result of the changes — and that gridlock could affect emergency vehicles. "The move to increase ‘pedestrian space' surrounding Rockefeller Center is misguided and makes this city less safe – plain and simple. As it is, traffic is interfering with our firefighters' abilities to reach the scene of a fire, but this new plan will have wide-felt repercussions in the form of traffic from river-to-river," he said.  

In view of the Nov. 13 house fire that claimed the life of 39-year-old Lt. Jason Menard, the department's second line-of-duty death in less than a year, City Manager Edward M. Augustus, Jr. Friday announced his intention to name a task force to look at firefighter safety. The task force will do its work alongside the typically yearlong federal review the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health conducts as a matter of course after a firefighter dies on duty. Augustus announced his intentions the same day a strongly worded editorial by Kathy Spencer was published in the Telegram & Gazette. Spencer is the widow of Lt. Thomas Spencer, one of the six city firefighters who died in the Worcester Cold Storage & Warehouse Co. fire on Dec. 3, 1999. She is also the mother of a current Worcester firefighter, Daniel Spencer. Spencer's piece, among other suggestions, called for better training.  

When buildings and vehicles are set ablaze, toxic chemicals are released into the air. Those chemicals can last by hanging on to firefighters' gear, even taken back to the station after fires are put out -- causing troubling consequences for health and safety to those in duty. According to a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study, firefighters are twice as likely to get skin and testicular cancer and mesothelioma. Fairfax Fire and Rescue is looking to reduce those numbers with a new approach. The department partnered with the National Fire Protection Association Research Foundation on a four-phase study that aims to improve equipment that can filter through the carcinogens and make for healthier firefighters. The partnership aims at a "holistic approach" to improving that gear and reducing cancer exposure.  

Fast food chain In-N-Out was responsible for a 2017 grass fire in rural Arroyo Grande, a lawsuit filed by Cal Fire in San Luis Obispo Superior Court alleges. According to the lawsuit, a wildfire sparked Sept. 20, 2017 on a property owned by In-N-Out at 9815 Huasna Road in Arroyo Grande. The fire was caused by a tractor mowing grass on the property, Cal Fire says in the suit — noting that the property was covered in "dry annual grasses and scattered brush, which created a receptive bed of flammable vegetation." According to the lawsuit, chaff built up on the mower deck before being ignited by a hot clutch and then blown off the mower deck, landing in the dry grass below. It quickly spread to the surrounding vegetation, aided in part by warm and windy temperatures that day.  

Use an ambulance, don't pay the bill and face criminal charges. That is what's happening in one Westmoreland County community. EMS companies all over the area are facing huge debts. Rescue 14 in Adamsburg in Westmoreland County is no different. But the district attorney has signed off on its new groundbreaking method of bill collecting. So far, it's working and the unit has collected thousands of dollars. Over the years, Rescue 14 Operations Manager Don Thoma tried to get money from patients in civil court, but he said it took too much time and too much money. He came up with the idea to file criminal complaints for theft against them after he heard of another ambulance company doing it. Target 11's Rick Earle asked him if he ever feels bad about filing charges. "It's not like I don't care," Thoma said. "It bothers me that they don't care."