For the second time within five hours, arson struck a Central Peoria home Wednesday night. At 3:17 p.m, Peoria firefighters were call to the first blaze at 1503 N. Sheridan Road. Crews arrived to see light smoke coming from the front entrance and eaves of an unoccupied, two-story wood frame home. An investigator determined the fire was set after discovering burned paper on a couch on the main level and carpet on the second floor of the home. Firefighters also found burned articles in a clothes drawer on the second floor of the home. No injuries were reported. The fire caused $10,000 in damage. At 8:27 p.m,, firefighters were called back to the same address regarding a report of smoke coming from a second-floor window.  

Police and firefighter/paramedics from Wheeling responded about 7:41 p.m. Tuesday June 23, 2020 to a report of a serious crash with possible ejection and entrapment on Lake Cook Road east of Northgate Parkway. Engine 42's crew on arrival reported on vehicle fully involved with fire, a vehicle split in half, and extrication underway. One driver was dead at the scene, one driver died at a nearby hospital and another driver was listed in serious condition with injuries that were initially believed to be non-life-threatening. According to a witness at the scene, a male crash victim was obviously dead at the scene. The witness also reported that firefighter/paramedics attempted to resuscitate a female victim, who had been trapped in a silver SUV, with CPR and Advanced Life Support.  

Just one day after a fire, a disaster mitigation crew on Wednesday began clean up of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, one of the city's oldest churches. Additionally, the congregation is planning an evening outdoor prayer service for 7 p.m. Thursday in the church's garden at 10 E. 3rd St., Alton. The fire, found shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday, remains under investigation. "The cause is still under investigation in conjunction with the Alton Fire Department and the Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office," said Alton Deputy Fire Chief Brad Sweetman Wednesday. "Anytime, we have a fire in a church, the state fire marshal's office is always brought in as a partner in that investigation," he said. "So the cause is undetermined at this time."  

A car veered off the road and rolled several times before landing on its top in a ditch late Wednesday. At 11 p.m., the Peoria Fire Department was called to the 3300 block of West Willow Knolls Road. Crews arrived to find a severely damaged Ford Mustang on its top in a drainage ditch. The vehicle was unoccupied, its side air bags deployed. The driver, who had been wearing a seat belt, approached firefighters and said he had exited the vehicle before their arrival. He was alert but taken to a Peoria hospital. A witness said the car had left the road and rolled several times before landing in the ditch, the department said. The car was a total loss. Peoria police are investigating the cause of the wreck.  

City public safety officials and Mayor Bill Peduto on Wednesday showed off a new "silent" alarm system that alerts only the fire and EMS stations that are being dispatched to the call, rather than blasting the call on a radio for every station and first responder on duty to hear. The $2.8 million, decade-in-the-making alarm system will cut down first responders' stress levels and streamline services, officials said. "Most of the people in the bureau would tell you [listening to radio calls] is part of the job, that's just what we do, it doesn't affect me," said the city's Bureau of Fire Lt. Dan Doyle at Firehouse 37 in Manchester. "... Your body reacts to it, even though you're not going to be the one going out on that call, you kind of jump real quick to make sure you can go about your business. Twenty, thirty, forty years of that really packs a punch."  

VIDEO: A man working atop the iconic Fresno State water tower had to be rushed to the hospital today after being overcome with heat, eventually going into cardiac arrest. "The extended work period up on top there, the strenuous work that they were doing with the heat and the high humidity today, it just overcame him," said Battalion Chief Mike Gibson of the Fresno Fire Department. The man was one of three divers who were scheduled to do maintenance work on the inside of the water tower on the Fresno State campus. Fresno Fire says he had a pulse and was breathing in the ambulance on the way to Saint Agnes Hospital. According to the Fresno Fire Department, rescue crews had to remove the other two workers from the tower as they were not in a condition to make the 130 ft. climb down on their own. Those two workers were not transported to the hospital. Fresno Fire says extra personnel were called in to prevent their own crews from heat exhaustion  

There are continued calls to keep two Baltimore City fire units from closing, the closures are proposed as part of city budget cuts. Firefighters and their families held rallies on Wednesday to voice those calls in public. Firefighters, both active and retired, held rallies outside two fire houses in the city, protesting the proposal to take two engine units out of service permanently, due to city budget cuts. The protests happened outside the fire stations on Bush Street in Pigtown and Cold Spring Lane in northeast Baltimore. Those are the houses that are home to the two units the city is considering taking out of service. The closures aren't for the entire fire station itself, just the engines responsible for certain equipment -- Engines 55 in Pigtown and Four in northeast Baltimore. On Wednesday, fire union leaders joined City Council members calling for Mayor Jack Young to keep the companies open.  

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest forecast of expected U.S. coronavirus deaths, predicting that between 130,000 and 150,000 Americans would die of the novel virus by July 18. The updated forecast put out by the CDC Wednesday consists of a combination of data from over 20 national models, which also predict an increase in fatalities in several states over the next four weeks, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah, which the CDC says will exceed the number of reported deaths of the last month. The new death toll forecast comes as coronavirus hospitalizations and caseloads have hit new highs in over a half-dozen U.S. states in the past week. At the end of May, the CDC said that the number of U.S. coronavirus deaths would exceed 115,000 by June 20.  

The state Natural Resources Board has unanimously approved allowing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to begin drafting regulations to enforce restrictions on firefighting foam that contains chemicals known as PFAS. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as PFAS, are chemicals that are found in products ranging from firefighting foam to nonstick cookware. The chemicals have raised concerns because they don't break down easily in the environment, and research has linked the substances to thyroid disease, decreased fertility in women and cancer. Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill earlier this year that bans the use of firefighting foam containing PFAS except in emergencies. The bill also­­­­­ allows testing and storage under specific conditions. The DNR must come up with regulations to put the restrictions in place by September.