The Rockford Fire Department controlled a structure fire that caused approximately $30,000 in damages on Wednesday afternoon. Crews were on the scene of a working structure fire at 1112 North Rockton Ave. by 12:23 p.m., according to the Rockford Fire Department. Spot fires between the attic and roof space continued to be problematic making the roof unsafe. Later on, firefighters were kept from making further entry for safety reasons and a demolition crew was brought to the scene to remove the structure. A hose line was laid and crews entered the building to perform an offensive fire attack. The fire was brought under control within 17 minutes of crews arriving on scene. Crews remained on scene to perform other operational duties. No injuries to civilians or first responders were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation at this time, according to the Rockford Fire Department.  

A somber procession made its way through Lacon on Wednesday as the community bid farewell to a young volunteer firefighter who died earlier this month. Chaise Mangold, 21, passed away five days after suffering burns from an explosion in his father's machine shed in rural Sparland April 10. Wednesday, fellow Lacon-Sparland firefighters led the long funeral procession, all lights and no sirens, down Main Street in Lacon. Other departments joined in from as far away as Washburn in Woodford County. Several people stood and watched as the procession went by. Mangold joined the Lacon-Sparland fire department three years ago when he was just 18. Mangold was an operating engineer working Minnesota Limited.  

The Effingham Fire Department Community Risk Reduction Strategy, "Take a Break for Safety" program, has once again returned some positive results for the Effingham community and local school children. Under the Take a Break for Safety program, the fire department, in cooperation with local Effingham city public and private elementary schools, enlisted grade school students as Fire Safety Ambassadors to perform Fire and Life Safety Inspections of their homes, with the help of their parents during the recent spring break. As an incentive, Public Education Coordinator Firefighter Kenneth Hayes partnered with Chris Debolt, owner of the Effingham Culver's Restaurant, to offer free ice cream to the winning classroom at each school that returned the most home safety checks. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), residential home fires are the leading property type for fire deaths (73.2%), fire injuries (76.5%) and fire loss (54.7%).  

Multiple fire departments responded to a large house fire in the 10000 block of Cotton Hill Road in Pawnee Tuesday night. It happened around 9:30 p.m. The Pawnee Fire Department called in help from the Chatham Fire Department, Auburn Illinois Fire Protection District, Divernon Fire Protection District, and Rochester Fire & Rescue. Flames could be seen coming from the home when crews first arrived on the scene. The fire was extinguished about three hours later after an aggressive interior attack on the flames by firefighters.  

Illinois State Police and firefighters and paramedics from Schaumburg responded about 9:50 p.m. Wednesday, April 21, 2021 to a report of a car fire on southbound Route 53 near Algonquin Road, and soon discovered the incident was a crash on the Route 53 bridge over I-90. The crash involved a rollover, a vehicle fire and a total of four or five vehicles wrecked. Firefighter/paramedics on arrival reported no extrication but one vehicle on fire and four or five vehicles involved in the southbound express lanes. A person driving in the northbound lanes of Route 53 was also injured when debris flew through the windshield. At least three people were injured in the main crash, and a fourth person was injured on the northbound side. Four ambulances were dispatched to the scene.  

VIDEO: Decatur fire crews responded to a working fire at the Walmart North on Prospect Drive just after 1:00pm Wednesday. When fire crews arrived on scene they found black smoke coming from the rear of the building. Firefighter believe it started on the roof in solar panels and spread to roofing material. The fire did not spread to the interior of the building. Decatur Fire Chief Jeff Abbott tells WAND News on scene the fire was put out just after 1:30pm. Crews remained on scene monitoring the situation until 2:20 p.m. The store was evacuated and no one was hurt during the fire. Chief Abbott says because the fire was in the back above storage there was no immediate danger to shoppers of employees.  

VIDEO: Two people had to jump from the top floor to escape a massive condo fire early Thursday morning in Norfolk. Dispatchers say they were notified around 3 a.m. of the fire in the 4600 block of Mayflower Road, at the Lafayette Cove Condominiums in the Colonial Place neighborhood. Assistant Fire Chief Garry Windley said that two people were rushed to the hospital after they jumped from the top floor of the building. The extent of their injuries is unknown at this time. A entire section of the building was fully engulfed in flames, blocking the exit for multiple units. The building eventually collapsed, and a neighbor said he felt vibrations. "Just after a few minutes you could see a skeleton of it already," said Tristan. He said three other people were evaluated at the scene.  

Lawmakers have introduced a bill to add vascular rupture to the list of injuries covered under the Volunteer Firefighters' Benefit Law in honor of a Whitehall firefighter who died in September after suffering a line-of-duty injury last May. James Brooks was second assistant chief of the Whitehall Volunteer Fire Company and was responding to a fire call in Dresden on May 2. He was reaching for his radio when he suffered an aortic rupture. He initially thought he had pulled a muscle and had intense pain when responding to the scene. Brooks spent months at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont. He had three strokes, which confined him to a wheelchair and left him with the use of only his right arm. Brooks died from his injuries on Sept. 17. Brooks had served in the department for 27 years. He had accumulated about a million dollars in medical expenses during his hospital stay.  

A group of off-duty EMTs and an off-duty police officer who all happened to be eating at the same Rahway restaurant sprung into action to save a man choking on his food Monday night. The six medics and the officer were dining at The Waiting Room in Rahway, when the man began choking on a piece of steak around 9:30 p.m. Elizabeth EMT Amber Henderson, 27, was the first to notice. "I happened to look over and saw a woman standing up and hitting a man on the back," she told Daily Voice. Henderson stood up slowly to see if the man was able to get the food out, but noticed very quickly that wasn't the case, she said. "I ran over and started doing the Heimlich, and a small chuck of food came out, but he was still choking -- and there was much more [food] left inside," the EMT said. Just as Henderson began wondering how she was going to save the man all on her own, off-duty Rahway officer Eddie O'Donnell realized what was happening.  

VIDEO: The southbound lanes of Interstate 35W were treated with a brine solution before a deadly 135-car pileup during February's winter storm, according to a preliminary investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the crash Wednesday. The massive pileup happened on the morning of Feb. 11 on the southbound side of I-35W near Northside Drive, north of downtown. Drivers who were reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed ventured onto slick roads coated with a thin sheet of ice from freezing rain that had fallen overnight and into the early morning hours. Cars, trucks and 18-wheelers collided one after another for a crash scene that stretched for nearly a mile. Six people lost their lives and dozens were injured.  

President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Americans to do their patriotic duty and get a COVID shot. He urged businesses (with the enticement of a tax credit) to give their employees the paid time-off to do so. The President's renewed appeals come as the country is fast-approaching an arguably more difficult stage of its vaccine roll-out—one where demand for the vaccine no longer outstrips supply. As of April 21, 133.4 million Americans—including 80.6% of seniors, 51.5% of adults, and 40.5% of the total population—had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's up from 123.9 million people a week ago. Roughly 87.6 million Americans, or 26.4% of the population, have been fully vaccinated. In total, since the rollout began in December, the U.S. has administered 216 million vaccines of the 277.9 million distributed across the country.