Peoria Fire Department is gearing up for fall recruitment by thinking outside the box to attract talent. Interim Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger said recruitment numbers have been down for a while. "What we're used to is hundreds of people wanting to be a firefighter, and now we're running into dozens of people wanting to be firefighter," he said. "We're actually cautiously optimistic to be honest with you, and we've done a lot of recruiting efforts with our recruiting team." In an effort to reach a wider audience, Sollberger said they are using new recruitment tactics, like the City of Peoria Career Fair this fall. "It would be a unique and just really trying to get focused on people wanting to be employees for the City of Peoria," he said. Another method is using social media.  

River Forest has joined a state program that has the potential to provide an extra $125,000 in ambulance fee reimbursements annually. Village officials actually entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (IDHFS) to participate in the Illinois Ground Emergency Medical Transport Program (GEMT) in March 2020. At the July 11 village board meeting, the four trustees present voted unanimously to approve amending the ambulance fees ordinance to meet IDHFS requirements. Trustees Erika Bachner and Lisa Gillis did not attend. GEMT is a federally funded Medicaid program that has been in existence for years but was introduced to Illinois via legislation in 2019. The program allows municipalities an opportunity to collect an additional Medicaid reimbursement for ambulance services, above and beyond what the state reimburses the village for Medicaid claims.  

From Thursday, July 14, through Wednesday, July 27, all Schnucks stores will be participating in the "Hydrate Our Heroes" beverage drive to support local firefighters, law enforcement officers, and other first responders. During the event, anyone who's able can visit any of Schnucks' locations to drop off beverage items that will be given to local first responders. Those looking to donate should look for collection volunteers or a donation bin at the front of their local Schnucks store. Schnucks has more than 100 locations in several states, including Indiana and Illinois.  

A suburban camp is a literal dumpster fire, a blazing mess, on purpose. Morning Insider Lauren Victory takes us to Romeoville to explain. "We're just gonna win. That's our strategy. We're just gonna win," said 13-year-old Reuben Roberts ahead of a friendly camp competition involving a dumpster set on fire. "Just put it out. Just trying to put it out," said Robert of his mindset during the challenge which involved spraying a firehose to douse the flames. The teen's type of focus is needed for the real-life problems encountered by firefighters. The idea at Romeoville Youth Fire Camp is to expose kids to all sorts of scenarios. "I was like, 'Woah! This is crazy,' because I've never done this before," said Reagan McNair, 10, after her turn dousing the flames of a pickup truck on fire.  

VIDEO: Logan Schneider thought his day was done on his family's cherry farm last week when it was really just beginning. "Looking at what happened, I don't know how we both got out," he said. Logan was riding a tractor in the orchard about 12 miles north of Wenatchee last week when a helicopter hit overhead powerlines and landed on top of him. "I was pinned against the steering wheel, stuck with the nose of the helicopter sitting right behind me," the recent high school graduate explained. Logan freed himself from the wreckage only to find the helicopter pilot trapped -- dangling upside down in his harness. "I heard him screaming," said Logan. "I looked and I saw him upside down hanging. Fire was everywhere. When I was in the moment I really wasn't thinking. I was just doing." Logan was able to free the pilot.  

VIDEO: Every day at work, Dyllon Ryser gets to help people. Whether it's fighting fires, providing urgent medical care, or sometimes offering a pep talk on the side. "Good job. Keep up the hard work, man. Keep your head up, OK," Ryser said to a man needing first aid. "I know it's hard out there on the streets." All things that he says he loves doing with the Ogden Fire Department. "Just having that opportunity to see every situation and trying to help somebody is just the greatest." But part of what makes Ryser good at what he does is where he used to be. "I was 10 years old when that happened. My parents divorced and then my dad had nowhere to go, so he became homeless," he recalled. Ryser grew up on the streets of Salt Lake City in the Rio Grande area. "I had two younger brothers and one older sister. We kind of watched after them," he said.  

Maine is home to one of the most important training sites in the country for law enforcement canines. That's according to the people who pay for all of it. State Farm Insurance has been funding arson dog purchasing and training since 1993. Heather Paul, the company's national arson dog program coordinator, said the average residential house fire costs them $45,000 to insure. Each accelerant-detecting canine costs about $25,000 to buy and train. As they try to catch and deter insurance fraud, it's easy math to comprehend. "Arson is one of the most difficult crimes to solve," Paul explained. "The evidence burns up. It's a dirty, smelly environment. And, as a human, we don't have that superpower sense of smell." She added that the dogs are equally useful for ruling out arson as the cause of a fire.  

Peoria Fire Department is gearing up for fall recruitment by thinking outside the box to attract talent. Interim Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger said recruitment numbers have been down for a while. "What we're used to is hundreds of people wanting to be a firefighter, and now we're running into dozens of people wanting to be firefighter," he said. "We're actually cautiously optimistic to be honest with you, and we've done a lot of recruiting efforts with our recruiting team." In an effort to reach a wider audience, Sollberger said they are using new recruitment tactics, like the City of Peoria Career Fair this fall. "It would be a unique and just really trying to get focused on people wanting to be employees for the City of Peoria," he said. Another method is using social media.