The leader of the Champaign Fire Department has been recognized by his peers as the career fire chief of the year. Gary Ludwig, Champaign fire chief since November 2014, received the honor Wednesday from the International Association of Fire Chiefs at a conference in San Antonio. For 26 years, the organization has chosen one career and one volunteer fire chief for their leadership, innovation, professional development, integrity, public service and contributions to the fire service. "To say I am honored and humbled to receive this prestigious award is an understatement," Ludwig said. "However, I am under no illusion that there are many behind anyone receiving an award of this magnitude." Prior to his service in Champaign, Ludwig worked for 10 years at the fire department in Memphis, Tenn.  

The City of Naperville is excited to announce that the Naperville Fire Department has been awarded its sixth consecutive accreditation from the Center of Public Safety Excellence. The accreditation process allows organizations to study internal performance and ensure that they are placing an emphasis on being data-driven, strategic-minded and community-focused. .. "Our department is committed to maintaining the standard it has set over the previous 25 years of accreditation and will continue to use data-driven decision making to provide efficient, high quality service to all Naperville community members," said Naperville Fire Department Chief Mark Puknaitis. "Accreditation is an international recognition of achievement and every member of the department should take great pride in the level of service we provide this community."  

A Litchfield ambulance was enroute to assist with a medical call when they became involved in a wreck and rolled their vehicle on its roof. According to the Litchfield Fire Department Ambulance, at approximately 12:46 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, Ambulance 817 responded from the Westside Fire Station northbound on Old Route 66 to assist Ambulance 816 on medical call. Officials said as Ambulance 817 approached the intersection of Sargent Street with lights and siren activated, it collided with a passenger car which caused the Ambulance to overturn landing on its roof in the parking lot on the northwest corner of the intersection coming to rest on a unoccupied parked vehicle. Both Firefighter Paramedics in the Ambulance were able to self extricate, notifying County dispatch they were involved in an accident requesting assistance, and immediately began to treat the driver of the passenger vehicle.  

The Rockford Fire Department announced that Michele Pankow would be the new Fire Chief a year ago Tuesday. Pankow said that after almost 30 years with the fire department, her first year as chief has flown by. "I never in a million years 30 years ago that, you know, that this is what I'll be doing," Pankow said. Pankow knew that she would become a firefighter when she was just 22-years-old. Fast forward nearly three decades and she is not only a firefighter, but is now the head of the Rockford Fire Department. "It does seem like it was just yesterday that the announcement was made, and I was kind of taking in just exactly what all that meant and man, the first year has just flown by," Pankow said.  

The Peoria Fire Department confirms in a news release an electrical problem caused Wednesday afternoon's fire near the intersection of North Knoxville Avenue and West Detweiller Drive. There were no injuries to the 20 firefighters called to the scene or the one person who was home when the fire broke out. In a news release, Battalion Chief Tom Sander said fire crews were called to the 8200 block of North Knoxville in the North Valley Neighborhood and found heavy smoke showing from the single-story residence. Bulk of the fire was found in the kitchen area, and there was smoke damage throughout the home. Ameren crews were called because of arcing electrical lines.  

A patient was killed and a paramedic left critically injured on Wednesday night when an apparent explosion ripped through an ambulance outside Adventist Health Castle hospital. An EMT in the front of the ambulance was also treated for injuries and is in stable condition. At a news conference outside the Kailua hospital late Wednesday, a visibly shaken city Emergency Services Director Dr. Jim Ireland said it remained unclear what caused the ambulance to erupt in flames. "This is something I've never seen before," he said. Ireland said the patient who died was in the back of the ambulance with the paramedic, an eight-year veteran of the city. The paramedic has been transferred to the Straub Medical Center, he added. "It's just very hard to be in the situation where our team is the one who is injured," Ireland said.  

When Oakland Fire Chief Reginald Freeman responded to a report of a fire at the Wood Street encampment in July, he first noticed the heavy, black smoke that had drifted into the air. The encampment had reported many fires in the months before, but this one was unusual — bringing traffic on the nearby highway to a standstill. Dozens of firefighters searched for a fire hydrant. Eventually one was found nearly 1,000 feet away from the fire. Under city code, fire hydrants should be within 500 feet of homes, but the encampment's location isn't meant to house people, so the hydrants are tough to reach. As firefighters doused the flames with water, propane canisters exploded, reminding Freeman of the time when a firefighter lost part of his jaw after a canister exploded at a different Wood Street fire.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: The city of Asheville, specifically Asheville Fire Department, is represented at 19,341 feet! Lindsey Glover summitted Mount Kilimanjaro last week, and when she got to the top, the Local 332 Executive Board member and senior deputy fire marshal proudly posed with her Asheville Firefighters Flag. "It was definitely challenging. It's one of those things, being in the fire service, we do a lot of things and push our bodies -- but this was something for such a long period that it was really challenging," Glover shared with News 13 on Aug. 24. "You also get this amazing sense of accomplishment when you finish it. I thought it was important to represent North Carolina, Asheville, Asheville Fire Department because it's such a big part of my life, and I probably, honestly, wouldn't be able to have done that hike without the support from the fire department, the training from the fire department."  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Cedar Rapids Firefighters underwent special training throughout the day Wednesday at the fire station on 1st Avenue. Situation in Motion or SIM-IA is a mobile education program from the University of Iowa to train emergency health care workers hands on skills that could prepare them for trauma and unexpected situations. Brian Rechkemmer, the SIM-IA coordinator, said the simulators have been around for a few years, but update when there is new technology. "I think it's great that we can go out and do this training for EMS providers across the state of Iowa," Rechkemmer said. "It's always been a passion for me because I think there's a lot of these rural departments that, like I said earlier, they cannot get out to do this training, so if we can bring the training to them, we can provide better care for the patients that we serve across the state of Iowa."  

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), in partnership with Pierce Manufacturing Inc., announced the 2022 IAFC Fire Chief of the Year honorees. Volunteer Fire Chief, Marshall Turbeville, of the Northern Sonoma FPD in Sonoma County, California, and career Fire Chief, Gary Ludwig, of the Champaign Fire Department in Champaign, Illinois, have been named this year's honorees. The IAFC begun recognizing one volunteer and one career Fire Chief of the Year in 1996. A selection committee appointed by the IAFC reviewed nominations for active chiefs of departments who have shown exemplary contributions in the areas of leadership, innovation, professional development, integrity, public service, and contributions to the fire service. The annual "IAFC Fire Chief of the Year" awards were presented at Fire-Rescue International (FRI) in San Antonio, Texas on August 24.