PHOTO: Firefighters have gained control of a fire at a business in the city's Humboldt Park neighborhood that grew to four alarms at one point in time. According to the Chicago Fire Department's 1st District Chief Jim McDonough, CFD responded to the fire shortly after 6 p.m. and all people inside the structure were evacuated before firefighters arrived, with all being accounted for once CFD got the fire under control. No injuries have been reported at this time. CFD also said the structure, found in the 2800 block of West Grand Avenue, contained a construction office complex, an active body shop, a landscaping company, and a car battery operation along with a number of other small businesses, and was a complete loss as a result of the fire.  

A West Town pallet company was still smoldering Wednesday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after it was destroyed in a massive fire. Strong morning winds reignited some flames at the site of the pallet fire, prompting a swift response from the fire department. Stacks and stacks of pallets burned to the ground in the 2000-block of West Hubbard Street Tuesday evening. The inferno sent smoke and flames into the sky, a blaze that could be seen for miles. Three hundred firefighters battled the monstrous fire for hours on Tuesday. "It was windy enough that once that thing started rolling, it created its own wind," CFD Chief Jim McDonough said. "We were very fortunate do to the aggressive attack, these guys works their butts off, to keep this thing in the original fire building."  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: A fire in downtown Springfield just kept spreading, leading to a building's foundation to collapse. After hours on scene, and more than a dozen extra firefighters called in, Springfield Fire Chief Ed Canny says that the fire on the 400 block of Adams is now under control. "I got a call from one of my tenants in the morning that they smelled smoke in the building," said Chris Nicklle, the owner of the building. The smell of smoke, to the sight of flames. SFD flocked to 413 and 415 East Adams Street to put out the downtown fire. Chief Canny explained earlier Wednesday the difficulty of this situation "There is multiple exposures in this downtown area. All of the buildings are connected," he said.  

A large fire creating huge amounts of smoke broke out at a building on Chicago's West Side Wednesday evening, the second massive fire in the city within two days—and even within 24 hours. Fire crews sprayed water from multiple angles at the building in 2800 block of West Grand Avenue, near the intersection with California Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Large amounts of smoke were visible from the air. Chicago Fire Department 1st District Chief Jim McDonough said the first companies were at the scene at 6:06 p.m. They found heavy fire in the cluster of structures, and everyone had evacuated by the time they arrived. The front part of the building, carrying an address of 2810 W. Grand Ave., is a three-story office building—which survived the fire, McDonough said.  

In 2023, 89 firefighters in the United States died from traumatic injuries, heart attacks, strokes, or aneurysms while on duty or within 24 hours of duty. This fatal injury count is a decrease over the 97 fatal injuries the previous year, but it is otherwise the second highest since 2013, during which there were 98 on-duty deaths. The increase in recorded fatalities over the past two years has been substantially influenced by the inclusion of deaths that occurred within 24 hours of duty. Prior to 2022, these deaths were not included in the study unless victims expressed a specific physical complaint while on duty. Of the 89 firefighters who died of on-duty injuries in 2023, 80 were municipal firefighters and nine were non-municipal firefighters. The municipal firefighters included 48 volunteer firefighters, 30 career firefighters, and two paid part-time firefighters.  

VIDEO: Video calls with 911 dispatchers may soon be a reality in Albuquerque. The city's fire rescue agency is looking to launch a new online video platform that they hope will help free up firefighter paramedics in the field. "This would give our dispatchers the ability to actually see the patient on scene," said AFR's EMS Division Chief Chris Ortiz. Ortiz said the department hopes to adopt a program that would allow dispatchers to see a 911 call in real time before crews even arrive on the scene. "They can't see the dispatcher on the other side, but the dispatcher can see them and in that, it will give a frame that will give the patient's heart rate and respiratory rate," said Ortiz. With a smartphone, the 911 caller would get a link to a website from a dispatcher. That link would then launch a live video call inside of the browser.  

The U.S. Senate passed S.870, the Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023, sending it to President Biden to be signed into law. S.870 incorporates language from H.R. 4090, the Fire Grants and Safety Act of 2023, introduced by Science Committee member Tom Kean (R-NJ). The bill will support and advance firefighter and first responder services across the nation, providing a five-year reauthorization for the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Program, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant (SAFER) Program. "I look forward to President Biden swiftly signing this bill into law to ensure the safety and well-being of our communities nationwide," Chairman Lucas said.