A dozen fire departments early Wednesday rushed to an ethanol plant in Hennepin for what turned out to be a small industrial fire that caused minimal damage and no loss of production. "General safety protocol" went into place because of a fire in duct work that supports giant steam driers at the facility, said Marquis Senior General Counsel Don Rayfield. By 8 a.m., the fire was fully under control, said Rayfield. There was never any threat to "life or limb," he added. The cause is not known, but Rayfield said steam driven driers aren't supposed to catch fire or involve fire in any way. In addition to the Granville Hennepin Fire Protection District, departments called to the scene were Standard, Bureau, Oglesby, Princeton, Peru, Ladd, Henry, Lostant, LaSalle, Troy Grove, and Malden  

VIDEO: Sixty years ago this week, one of the largest aviation disasters of its time happened in Chicago's suburbs when a flight from Midway Airport went down minutes after take-off. Few may remember the tragedy. It was September 1, 1961. TWA Flight 529 was hopscotching across the country. It had just taken off from Midway Airport and was headed for Las Vegas. Frank Trout was a 17-year-old volunteer firefighter back then. Just after 2 a.m., the siren sounded and summoned his squad to a farm field just West of Route 83. "We were totally unprepared for anything like this," Trout said. "We went looking for anyone who was alive. Some people were still strapped in their seats." All 78 souls aboard died that day. It was, at the time, the deadliest single-plane disaster in US history. And it happened near the height of the U.S. crisis with Cuba.  

We now have a clearer picture of how June's massive Chemtool fire impacted neighbors. The presentations includes data put together by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), and WCHD to explain why the Health Impact Survey was conducted, show results from the Health Impact Survey, and explain what those results are telling us The health department released the results of its 2,000 residents surveyed. Health officials said 45% reported symptoms related to the fire, debris, or smoke. The top five symptoms are coughing, difficulty breathing, asthma, chest tightness, and burning in lungs. Meanwhile, 28% of those surveyed reported some kind of mental health symptom. The most common was anxiety.  

The City of Springfield plans to continue using a citywide alert notification system called AlertSense. The system is used to notify residents of emergencies, police or fire activity, and transportation delays that could be taking place in your neighborhood. The city has been using it for 10 years and the last time they sent a public alert was on August 19. According to the city, only about 5,000 residents use the alert system out of 115,000 in Springfield. Having it in place is expected to cost around $18,000 a year. Mayor Jim Langfelder said despite the current number of people who use it, it's still keeping a good number of residents informed and updated. "That's what the text alert is all about, it can be used for an Amber Alert or anything that happens in your community, it can be storm-related or the incident with CWLP or anything in general," Mayor Jim Langfelder explained.  

VIDEO: Sixty years ago this week, one of the largest aviation disasters of its time happened in Chicago's suburbs when a flight from Midway Airport went down minutes after take-off. Few may remember the tragedy. It was September 1, 1961. TWA Flight 529 was hopscotching across the country. It had just taken off from Midway Airport and was headed for Las Vegas. Frank Trout was a 17-year-old volunteer firefighter back then. Just after 2 a.m., the siren sounded and summoned his squad to a farm field just West of Route 83. "We were totally unprepared for anything like this," Trout said. "We went looking for anyone who was alive. Some people were still strapped in their seats." All 78 souls aboard died that day. It was, at the time, the deadliest single-plane disaster in US history. And it happened near the height of the U.S. crisis with Cuba.  

City leaders are working to make every 911 call just a little more efficient. Thousands of calls come in to the dispatch center every day. But what happens when there is a language barrier during that emergency call? "Sometimes, we have trouble communicating and finding out the information we need," said Ronnie Sturch, Jonesboro E911 Director. He said bringing in a system that provides translators would make the process easier in an emergency. Sturch spoke with some of the dispatchers - they said they usually have an average of 10 calls a month where there is some type of language barrier. Right now, they are doing what they can to make sure the caller receives the help they need. Sturch is in the process of working with Voiance, a company that provides translators for 911 and non-emergency calls.  

September 1st marks the start of National Recovery Month. National Recovery Month is observed annually in September to give communities resources for individuals recovering from drug abuse. The theme for this year's recovery month is, "Recovery is for Everyone: Every Person, Every Family, Every Community." Right now, the Bluefield Fire Department treats one overdose a day. Bluefield Fire Chief Chad Bailey feels disheartened about the epidemic. "It's horrible. That's someone's loved one that's struggling with drugs. And drugs can take over their thinking process," Chief Bailey said. For an individual to be administered Narcan, a patient has to go through an assessment by first responders. "We receive a call that the patient is acting strange or not breathing, we perform a patient assessment and take vitals. After that, we then determine if we can administer the Narcan," Bailey said.  

An 8-year-old boy decided to give his lemonade stand earnings away for a huge cause: a real-life fire truck for his community. Andrea Dembeck, from Danville, Pennsylvania, told FOX News that her third grader Andrew decided he wanted to run a lemonade stand this summer to help the Friendship Fire Company's efforts to get a new ladder truck. The Friendship Fire Company has been raising money for a new ladder truck since at least June 18, 2020, according to a GoFundMe page. According to the page, the truck is expected to cost $1.3 million. Dembeck told FOX that Andrew had done a lemonade stand two summers ago, before the coronavirus pandemic and when she suggested doing another stand this summer, she said Andrew "couldn't wait to do it."  

Health officials are watching another new coronavirus variant, dubbed "mu," which they say has concerning mutations that could allow it to escape vaccine-induced immunity. The variant, also known as B.1.621, was first detected in Colombia in January 2021, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). On Monday (Aug. 30), WHO classified it as a "variant of interest," or VOI, and named it mu. The VOI label means the variant is increasing in prevalence in multiple areas and has mutations that are likely to affect viral characteristics, such as transmissibility or disease severity, Live Science previously reported. In contrast, officials use the term "variant of concern," or VOC, once reliable data show that the variant has increased transmissibility — such as what's been seen with the delta variant — or other worrisome features, such as the ability to evade vaccines.