The Evanston Fire Department doesn't just have one chaplain, but two. Monté Dillard and Heath Howe, Evanston Fire Department's chaplains, started their positions in the summer of 2020. Fire Chief Paul Polep said the chaplains are vital support for members of the fire department. He said they provide a system of support built on trust the chaplains have earned with department members. "In a fire department or a police department, the more you see the more you can become calloused to things," Polep said. "Having a support system, like the chaplains that we have, to be able to reach out and bring yourself back to normal, it's a good thing." Their work is multi-faceted, but centers around building relationships with members of the Evanston Fire Department, Dillard said. Along with other responsibilities, this requires visiting the firehouses and arriving at the scene during crises.  

One person was seriously injured after an extra-alarm house fire in the Logan Square neighborhood Tuesday morning, the Chicago Fire Department said. Flames raced through a three-story Logan Square home as a family scrambled to get out. Wayne Thompson said his smoke detector started going off and the smell led him to the door of his enclosed second floor porch. "I open the back door and it just it was just blazing," Thompson said. "I hit the ground and I tried to kick the door closed but I couldn't get it I couldn't get it ." Chicago fire officials said the call for the fire at 2244 North Washtenaw Avenue came in at about 6:20 a.m. "The first company was on scene within three minutes," CFD Deputy District Chief Robert Jurewicz said. "They had heavy fire in the rear. They started an aggressive attack. At 6:29, Battalion 17 called a still and box which brought in several more companies."  

Oswego voters rejected an Oswego Fire Protection District referendum that sought a 1 percent tax increase, according to unofficial vote totals. With all 40 precincts counted, the question received 9,362 "yes" votes, or 46.78 percent, and 10,651 "no" votes, or 53.22 percent, according to the Kendall County Clerk's Office. The fire department's Board of Trustees unanimously voted Aug. 8 to place the question on voters' General Election ballots after it failed to pass by one vote in June's primary election, officials said. It was the third attempt to pass the "rescue" tax increase. "The Board feels that this issue is so important and since it was so close, the decision to move forward a third time was approved," fire officials said in an Aug. 10 news release.  

The coroner's office has identified a 54-year-old man and father of three who was found dead inside his Lake in the Hills home after firefighters responded to a fire. The McHenry County Coroner's Office said an autopsy was conducted Monday on William E. Andres III, 54, of Lake in the Hills. The Huntley Fire Protection District responded around 11:28 p.m. Saturday to the 3000 block of Impressions Drive in Lake in the Hills for a call of a structure fire. Huntley Fire Protection District Deputy Fire Chief Patrick Fortunato said firefighters arrived to find a two-story duplex residence with heavy smoke showing from the rear of the building. Initial reports from 911 callers and witnesses indicated that a resident was possibly still inside the home.  

Firefighters battled heavy flames Wednesday afternoon in a commercial building on Broadway Street in Lowell. While flying overhead, Sky5 could see flames and smoke spreading through the building and bursting through the roof. The roof collapsed in several areas. "There was initially a mayday with a firefighter, but everybody's been accounted for and they're all right," Chief William Charron with the Lowell Fire Department said. One firefighter was evacuated from the scene for injuries. Dense smoke from the blaze filled several neighborhoods in Lowell. The owner of the building told WCVB's John Atwater that the building was vacant, so no one was inside. An auto body supply store used to operate out of the space, but the owner says that all of the chemicals they used had been removed from the building.  

VIDEOS: An El Paso Firefighter who's not only fighting flames, is also fighting the stereotypes. Jacqueline Manriquez is the focus of this week's Breaking the Bias segment. "At the end of the day, when you bunker up, I don't think you can categorize yourself as a female or a male," Manriquez said. "You're just categorized as a firefighter. If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. Manriquez lives that motto every single day. "I started with the fire department back in 2012, so it's about to hit 10 years," Manriquez. It's been 10 years of hard work, dedication, love for her El Paso community and blood sweat and tears. "I was a regular trainee at my academy, it was a traditional academy, which is a six-month academy. I was the only female back then with about 50 males," Manriquez said.  

New details in the arrest of a Forest Service burn boss during a prescribed burn in Grant County last month are raising the possibility that the sheriff who arrested him could in turn be subject to prosecution. On Oct. 19 a prescribed burn being executed by the U.S. Forest Service, with help from Oregon Department of Forestry and contract crews, escaped the burn area, scorching approximately 18 acres of adjacent private land in Bear Valley, about 7 miles north of Seneca. While that "slopover" fire was actively being brought under control, Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley, responding to a 911 call from the landowners, arrived on the scene and arrested Rick Snodgrass, the federal employee in charge of the operation, on a misdemeanor charge of reckless burning.  

Engine No. 1 is roaring down Livingston Avenue, lights flashing, sirens blaring, horn honking, engines racing, pulses pounding. And in the back seat, Antonio is wearing his custom-made turnout gear, fire helmet and a big smile. After being sworn in as an honorary member of the New Brunswick Fire Department by Mayor Jim Cahill on Wednesday, Nov. 9, he and this four-man crew are simulating what it would be like to dash through the city to the scene of a call. "Are you having a good time, Antonio?" asked firefighter Francis Serge as Engine No. 1 turned onto Jersey Avenue. "Oh, yeah!" replied Antonio, with a laugh and a thumbs-up sign. Antonio spent his 10th birthday with dozens of members of the city's fire department, the mayor, City Council President Suzanne Sicora Ludwig and others in an event organized through the local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  

VIDEO: Today, the Richmond Hill subdivision looks like a typical south Indianapolis neighborhood. But longtime Hoosiers will never forget what happened here 10 years ago. An explosion in a home rocked Richmond Hill on Nov. 10, 2012, killing Jennifer and Dion Longworth, who lived next door. There were heroes that night, including a family who heard and felt the blast. Dozens of homes were damaged in the blast. Thirty houses would eventually be torn down. As neighbors began cleaning up and rebuilding, investigators would comb through the debris in Richmond Hill looking for clues. It was not an accident. Police said the blast was intentionally carried out by the ringleader, Mark Leonard. Prosecutors said the plot centered around insurance money. Monserrate Shirley, who lived in the home that blew up, denied any wrongdoing.