The Mundelein Fire Department will gain two shift lieutenants under a deal that settles complaints over a 2018 command staff restructuring. The deal, approved by the village board Monday, reverses the changes made in that controversial shuffling. Under the arrangement, the department will have six lieutenants, up from four. Additionally, the number of full-time firefighters will drop from 20 to 18. To accomplish that, two firefighters will be promoted to lieutenant, Village Administrator John Lobaito said. The agreement is effective immediately. The village board enacted the 2018 organizational changes after officials said the fire department was top heavy. The changes left two supervisors to manage six firefighters per shift, as well as administrative officers.  

Police and firefighter/paramedics from Highland Park responded about 6:45 a.m. Thursday May 14, 2020 to a report of a tree on fire in the back yard in the block of 2000 Green Bay Road. Highland Park Rescue Squad 33's crew on arrival reported a fire involving a 1-1/2-story home with heavy fire at the rear of the house. The fire also involved the garage with automobiles burning. The fire call upgraded to a Working Fire assignment. Firefighters from Deerfield, Lake Forest and Lincolnshire-Riverwoods were assigned to assist Highland Park firefighters. The information in this article is an early report published before any summary information was confirmed or released by police or fire authorities.  

If you live near the Frankfort Fire Protection District, you may have noticed the sound of bagpipes at sunset on some evenings. While it's not a noise most residents expect to hear in their neighborhood, firefighter/paramedic John Gritsuk has been playing his bagpipes for a "Sunset Solidarity" every night he's been on shift. Gritsuk joined the Frankfort Fire Protection District in 2007 and is a member of the Band of Brothers Pipes and Drums. Gritsuk serves as vice chairman of the group, which consists of bagpipers and drum players who are members of fire districts in northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland area. The group's primary purpose is to provide musical support for line-of-duty deaths for firefighters, police and military. However, the group also performs in parades and other events.  

When the first U.S. case of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, was confirmed on Jan. 21, it appeared to be contained — the patient was a man living near Seattle who had recently returned from Wuhan, China and immediately isolated himself, and the local health department had conducted contact tracing to make sure that anyone he had encountered was now quarantining at home. But as more people returned to the U.S. from China, and then Italy, the site of the second major outbreak, the number of cases started to tick upwards. And due to the nature of the virus — which is highly contagious but can present without symptoms for many people — it began to spread in communities where there were no known cases and no testing measures in place. From there, the number of cases soared — up to 1,000 by March 26, and to 1 million by April 28. That spread can be seen in the above graphic, which shows how the virus circulated through the country over the last few months.  

Police Chief Eric Clifford fears the city could again become addled by gangs, drugs and double-digit homicides if the department is forced to lay off about 40 cops because of a deepening fiscal crisis brought on by the coronavirus. "Quite frankly, we go to the bare bones minimum of what we do – protect life and property – and we have to start scaling back on what we do as a department," he said. "What I see is that the long-term effect is that we might start seeing a rise in gangs, a rise in the dealing of drugs, a rise in crime, and that's unfortunate because we put in a lot of good work over the last seven to 10 years stamping that down." Fire Chief Ray Senecal could find himself down about 33 firefighter/paramedics as well, which he recently said would make the already dangerous job of battling blazes even more perilous and hamper the department's ability to carry out other critical potentially life saving duties.  

Minneapolis' police officers and firefighters deserve a "significant portion" of emergency federal COVID-19 aid, union officials said, arguing that an infusion of potentially millions of dollars is needed to avoid cutbacks or layoffs. In a letter to lawmakers, the unions made their pitch for a bigger cut of funding under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act — with Minnesota receiving $2.2 billion in aid, roughly $700 million of which is going to first responders. They argue the proposed funding boost would come in handy as Minneapolis stares down an anticipated $100 million to $200 million budget shortfall. "Given that the Minneapolis Police Department constitutes approximately 9% of sworn law enforcement officers in the State and the Minneapolis Fire Department employs roughly 20% of all full-time licensed firefighters, we believe that Minneapolis should be in line to receive a substantial portion of the funds dedicated to assist police and fire departments," said the letter, signed by Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll and Mark Lakosky, head of Local 82, the firefighters union.  

The opioid epidemic is getting worse, and the COVID-19 pandemic could be to blame. For many folks who may be struggling, times of social isolation drive feelings of stress, anxiety and depression, and drug abusers use opioids to relieve this stress. Sara Goldsby, the director of the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services, says they have seen about a 30% increase in EMS response to overdose in the last few months. They say these are numbers that are similar across the entire United States as well as in South Carolina. "We know that people's routines have been altered," Goldsby says. "In fact, we see an elevated number of overdose incidents during the weekdays now, compared to we are used to seeing them over the weekends, so we know some things have shifted and changed with the social isolation and the circumstances."  

VIDEO: One artist is using his talent to create a reimagined version of iconic American images to honor essential workers amid the coronavirus pandemic. Scott LoBaido is popular for his murals of the American flag across the country. For more than 25 years, he's painted renditions of the flag on police stations, homes, cars, veterans buildings and more in all 50 states. LoBaido has now partnered with the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation for "Sunrise: A Tribute to First Responders." At 5 feet by 6 feet, the artwork is influenced by the iconic images of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima during World War II and firefighters raising the flag at ground zero on Sept. 11. In another touch to the image, LoBaido included a flyover of U.S. military aircraft in a nod to the recent America Strong flyover by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds, which was in honor of essential workers on the coronavirus frontlines.