A firefighter was injured and residents in four units of an apartment building were displaced following a fire in McHenry Sunday morning. The McHenry Township Fire Protection District responded around 7:45 a.m. Sunday to the 700 block of North Mill Street in McHenry for a report of a structure fire. Police and firefighters arrived to find a two-story apartment building with smoke coming from the second floor and roofline, according to Battalion Chief David Harwood. Emergency responders searched all eight apartments in the building and evacuated residents. A fire was quickly located and extinguished in a second-floor apartment, Harwood said. A McHenry firefighter was transported to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry for a minor injury. He has since been treated and released.  

Peoria firefighters are calling for the resources cut to the department to be restored. On Oct. 1, 2020, Peoria Fire Station 4 on SW Jefferson Street was closed due to COVID-19 budget projections, but that decision was reversed about six weeks later. "So many calls come from that area of town and that's when we made the decision as an administration that we probably need to reopen station 4," said Chief Jim Bachman of the Peoria Fire Department. As Station 4 reopened, Station 8 on West Hurlburt street, along with Engine 2, were put on the chopping block. "That helped some of our calls in that area, but did leave a hole in Station 8's territory and Engine 2's territory," Bachman said. Due to cuts made dating back about 18 months, Ryan Brady, the president of Peoria Firefighters Local 50, said the city has lost nine firefighters on the streets.  

An auto repair shop and 20 cars caught on fire Saturday evening in west suburban Bartlett. The Bartlett Fire District responded to a structure fire in the area of Lambert and Spaulding at 6:15 p.m. where the shop was on fire along with the cars that was next to the building. 37 firefighters including responders from South Elgin, Elgin, Streamwood, Hanover Park, and Fox River Countryside assisted in the fire, and was under control at 8:42 p.m., the department said. The building has been deemed uninhabitable. Nobody was hurt in the fire. The fire remains under investigation by the Bartlett Fire District investigators. The Bartlett Fire District reminds everyone to have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in their homes, whether a single-family dwelling, an apartment, or a condo. Visit the Bartlett Fire Department website for additional fire safety tips.  

Police, firefighters, and paramedics from Elk Grove Village responded about 8:33 p.m. Sunday, October 3, 2021 to a report of a house fire in the block of 1400 Holdmair Ct in Elk Grove Village. Firefighters received a report of a possible electrical fire in a kitchen with one person not able to get out of the house on their own. Firefighters were working on a search for the person by about 8:39 p.m. and was rescued and brought out of the house by 8:44 p.m. Engine 10's crew had water on the fire by 8:42 p.m. The fire was reported knocked by 8:45 p.m. Quint 8's crew was assigned to finish the primary search that discovered one victim. Engine 10's crew reported the fire was out but they had heavy smoke conditions, and were ventilating as they worked on the primary search.  

PHOTOS: One Wilmington woman who was stuck in traffic for a couple of hours Friday afternoon because of the gigantic semi-trailer fire along Interstate 80 in Joliet didn't want her chicken chunks to go to waste. Kiley, a Wilmington resident, told radio personality Nick Jakusz at FM radio's 95.9 The River that she decided give away her chunks from Chicken-N-Spice to other motorists also stuck in traffic because of the I-80 semi-trailer fire. Kiley works at Elens Maichin Roofing & Sheet Metal Inc. in Joliet, and she was on her way back to work at the time she encountered the semi-trailer on fire. Traffic along the eastbound stretch of I-80 in Joliet was backed up all the way to Interstate 55 on Friday afternoon because a semi-truck carrying aerosol cans caught fire around 11:15 a.m.  

The driver of a gasoline tanker was killed in a fiery crash Saturday morning along Interstate 287 in New Jersey, state police said. The tanker truck overturned around 6:45 a.m. in the southbound lanes of the highway at MP 66 in Mahwah, a spokesperson for the NJSP said. Video from the crash site shows a massive fire on the interstate's shoulder, with thick plumes of black smoke filling the skies above. Lanes of traffic in both directions were impacted throughout the morning while fire and polices crews responded. "There is a gasoline tanker crash on Route 287 in Mahwah that is causing a smoke condition over the village this morning," the Suffern Police Department said in a Facebook post. The New Jersey State Police said the truck's driver died at the crash site. His identity was not released.  

This Oct. 3 through Oct. 9, the United States is honoring the brave firefighters and first responders who risk their lives to protect Americans in Fire Prevention Week. During this week of awareness, it's important for Americans to learn fire prevention and safety and commit to taking the necessary steps to prevent fires. This year, more than 44,000 wildfires have burned nearly 5.3 million acres of land, the White House Administration said. President Joe Biden says climate change is a driving factor for the fires across the west coast. To fight back, the Biden Administration is proposing to invest billions of dollars to strengthen the nation's preparedness, resilience and response to wildfires, to not just save lives, but to save industries and create new jobs.  

PHOTOS: Firefighters from across New Mexico dashed upstairs, sprayed their hoses and dragged dummies. They were competing in Carlsbad's annual Firefighter Combat Challenge held Friday and Saturday on Canyon Street in downtown Carlsbad. The event saw fire departments and other agencies compete in a series of obstacles intended to simulate real, on-the-job challenges firefighters face when saving lives and battling blazes. And its all done in full gear, weighing up to 75 pounds. First, they must run up a tower, then pull a weight to the top via rope. After returning to the ground, competitors run through a series of obstacles before spraying a water hose onto a target and dragging a heavy dummy across the finish line. They are timed in each run, seeking the championship and bragging rights.  

PHOTOS: This weekend, Craig Fire/Rescue celebrated 100 years of service, full of fire truck rides, cornhole games and tours of the department's state-of-the-art equipment. However, that wasn't always the case. Dan Davidson, director of the Museum of Northwest Colorado, said that before Craig established its fire services, the tools that the community did have were primitive. Volunteers, horses or early automobiles would pull a cart with the hose bundled on top to the nearest fire hydrant or water hookup. "Their first fire truck was a 24 Model-T LaFrance," Davidson said. "It was mainly for quick responses, and that was in the mid 20s. Before that (and the formation of the fire department), they sort of only had an old hose cart. In Craig's earlier case, the reason they got (the truck) was because they lost a lot of large buildings to fires. They were tired of burning down their own buildings." Craig in 1921 was booming, Davidson added.  

Two volunteer fire departments have come to an agreement with Camp Lejeune to better protect residents of Onslow County. County officials say the arrangement calls for the marine corps base's fire department to respond off base to help the Verona and Turkey Creek volunteer fire departments when called. In the case of the Verona Volunteer Fire Department, the partnership will have the department respond to locations on the base near them, and the base's fire department respond to locations off-base but nearby. The Turkey Creek Volunteer Fire Department has a similar arrangement and will also provide savings for residents and businesses in the fire district. According to county officials, because of the department's increased capacity to fight fires, over 100 homeowner families will have a reduced fire rating and save "a significant amount" on their homeowners' insurance.