VIDEO: A house fire in Zeigler took the life of three people Monday. The Zeigler Fire Department responded to a house fire with people trapped inside at 611 Vaux Street, just after noon. Firefighters reported the home was fully engulfed in flames upon arrival. Police officers from Zeigler and Christopher, along with Zeigler firefighters, attempted to enter the home to rescue any victims, but were unable to do so. Firefighters then began working to get the fire under control. One woman was found outside of the home and was airlifted from the scene to a burn center. Franklin County Coroner Marty Leffler confirmed a total of three people died in the fire, one adult and two children. At this time, the names of the victims are being withheld until identification can be confirmed and autopsies are pending. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

Springfield Fire Chief-designee Brandon Blough and outgoing chief Allen Reyne have been on parallel lines in their time with the department. They came in on the same day, Sept. 13, 1999. They both interviewed for the chief's job two years ago — and swapped ideas about what they would be asked — when Reyne landed the job. So asked what changes might be in the offing, Blough, Mayor Jim Langfelder's choice to succeed Reyne who officially retired Monday, said he would build on a lot of the technological changes Reyne implemented. "I don't think there's a lot of wholesale change coming," said Blough, a 21-year veteran of the department in remarks following his introduction as the new fire chief, pending Springfield City Council approval Dec. 15. "We have a lot of changes in place Chief Reyne (implemented)." That includes, Blough said, headsets that will help with communication on the fire ground and tablets that have been placeD on all fire apparatuses that will eliminate hand-written notes.  

One of two children critically injured in a Decatur house fire has died, investigators have confirmed. Two children at ages 7 and 13 were hurt in the Sunday fire, which happened on West Main Street just west of Monroe Avenue. Fire officials said paramedics pulled a child out of the house. A second was found unconscious in the home. The child who has died was a 13-year-old girl, per Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon. She died at the HSHS St. John's Pediatric ICU after being transferred there from Decatur Memorial Hospital. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday. Authorities have not released a name of the 13-year-old victim.  

A fire in a home on Apple Lane in Bourbonnais on Saturday claimed the life of David Olvera, 63, of Bourbonnais. Firefighters from multiple departments were dispatched at 6:28 p.m. to Tri-Star Estates for a mobile home on fire with an occupant inside and that oxygen was in use in the home, Bourbonnais Fire Protection District Chief Ed St. Louis said in a release. There was smoke and flames showing when firefighters arrived. The residence suffered extensive damage in the blaze. After extinguishing the fire, Olvera's body was found. Kankakee County Coroner Bob Gessner said an autopsy is scheduled.  

A building used for storage in Lockport was destroyed by a fire but no one was injured in the incident. At 11:17 p.m. Sunday, firefighters with the Lockport Township Fire Protection District responded to a report of a structure fire in the 14600 block of Archer Avenue, according to Lockport Fire Chief Frank Blaskey. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found a metal pole building on fire, Blaskey said. The building is used for storage on the property, he said. Firefighters "immediately went to a defensive operation working to extinguish the fire," Blaskey said. Because the building was located in an area with no fire hydrants, several mutual aid departments were called in with tenders to shuttle water to the fire, Blaskey said.  

PHOTOS: Firefighters respond to the scene of an SUV fire around 3 p.m. Monday along Lincolnway Drive in Dixon. Dixon police blocked off the intersection and kept onlookers at bay as the thick smoke billowed into the sky. The SUV was parked on Lincolnway near the corner of Hennepin on the north side of the river. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames, and no one was injured.  

VIDEO: Fire Chief Michael Williams has seen and fought his fair share of fires in his 34-year career in Brockton. But when it comes to 2 1/2-story homes, few fires rival the difficulty of the one battled late Monday night in the city. "This is one of the toughest fires I've ever fought in a 2 1/2-story home," Williams said at the scene. "It all relates back to that wind condition. We had a really hard time containing the fire and then extinguishing it. I can only attribute that to the wind conditions." With fire shooting through windows and the roof and winds whipping, firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze in a two-family home late Monday night and into early Tuesday morning. The Brockton Fire Department responded to a report of a house fire at 582-584 Crescent St. at about 10:55 p.m. The first firefighters on scene found smoke coming from the rear of the home. They then located fire at the back of the home, Williams said. The fire then quickly began shooting through second-floor windows of the home.  

An oversized, multicolored quilt, deemed the "Quilt of the Angels," was draped over the altar at the Church of the Holy Family in Little Italy for Sunday's 5 p.m. Mass. The names and ages of all 95 victims from the Our Lady of Angels School fire in 1958 are stitched on each patch. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" said Larry Furio, a survivor of the tragic blaze that resulted in stricter fire safety codes nationwide. Tuesday marks the 62nd anniversary of the Our Lady of Angels School fire that killed 92 elementary-school students and three nuns. On Sunday, about 50 people gathered for Mass at the Church of the Holy Family to remember the lives lost, the families of the victims, the survivors and the first responders. During the ceremony, Furio and his lifelong friend and fellow survivor, Frank Giglio, read off the names of each victim. Several people in the congregation wiped tears from their eyes while others bowed their heads.  

In an exclusive interview with ABC10 News, a firefighter shared his heroic story of helping battle the massive fire that erupted aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard this past July. "It was a crazy situation," said Deputy Fire Chief Robert Sepulveda with Navy Region Southwest Fire Emergency Services. "We [had] about 400-plus firefighters on-scene at the time," he stated and added, "I was on the front lines with the firefighters and was directing the fire attack on the forward side of the ship at that time." His first shift lasted for 30 hours. It took almost a week to knock it all down. "What I was feeling at that time was obviously fear and wanting to make sure that everyone was safe on-scene and make sure I had that command presence to be able to unify everybody," he told ABC10 News. He has now received a civilian of the year award for his heroic actions.  

The committee that decides who gets the coronavirus vaccine first meets virtually Tuesday as officials prepare for distribution that could potentially come within two weeks. Look for discussion of two questions: Where should people in long-term care facilities be in the vaccine line and the power of states and governors to shift priorities for who gets immunized first. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is an independent group convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to offer advice on who should get specific vaccines and when. It typically deals with less time-sensitive questions such as what age people should get the shingles vaccine (50 and over) or whether adults need a whooping cough booster (under discussion.) When a pediatrician says, "It's time for the second polio immunization," it's based on ACIP recommendations.  

In a project for the Defense Department's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), computer scientists have turned to artificial intelligence and aerial imagery to construct a detailed damage assessment solution. The tool can be used remotely and automatically to determine the amount of damage to buildings and structures from a natural disaster or catastrophe. The prototype, known as the xView II model, was tested this fall, with the goal of rolling out a more finalized operational version next year. "One of the biggest problems that faces our first responders today is building damage assessment," Gupta shares. "Building damage assessment is actually a very critical task that happens early on in order to support the rest of the disaster response. But it is a very dangerous task. For example, with the wildfires in California, [they] pretty much have a 24- to 48-hour period to go in, figure out what buildings are damaged, how badly damaged they are, and where the damage occurred."