South suburban first responders are rehearsing for real-life situations involving attackers armed with knives, guns and other weapons. One training scenario played out Monday morning in Park Forest. New this year is a new approach for the rescue task force: sending paramedics in with the police. In south suburban Park Forest, the police and fire departments are practicing for an emergency, specifically a large-scale attack, from somebody armed with a weapon. "The state of things today, it's a realistic thing that someday we might have to do, so we need to be trained on it," said Taylor Bordewyk, Park Forest firefighter. They created a fictional scenario of a man armed with a machete entered a jazz concert at the Park Forest Freedom Hall killing one person and injured others, before barricading himself in a closet inside the venue.  

A backpack caught fire on a Southwest Airlines aircraft at Chicago Midway International Airport Monday morning according to the Chicago Police Department. Officials said the call came in just after 10:30 a.m. stating that a backpack had caught fire on Southwest flight #285, outbound to Austin, Texas. The fire was put out and contained to the cabin on the aircraft, according to Chicago Fire Department. They also said the incident was due to either a battery or charger. Chicago police, Chicago Fire Department and airport officials all responded. Bomb and arson units were also called to the scene. No one was injured. The Southwest Airlines plane was at the gate when the incident occurred.  

Goldy, the firehouse dog for the Norwood Park Fire Protection District, was able to lend a paw this month and help paramedics and firefighters train with the department's newest equipment — pet oxygen masks. The department purchased three Wag'N O2 Fur Life pet oxygen mask kits in October that will allow first responders to treat pets that are suffering from smoke inhalation after a fire. The kits can be used to administer oxygen to a variety of household pets, from mice to small horses, and each comes with three masks labeled for different size pets. "We recognize that pets are an important part of people's lives and families," said Lt. Ron Schneider, whose idea it was to invest in the masks. "Whether it be a child's pet or a pet for companionship for an elderly resident or even a service dog for someone with a medical issue or disability."  

It was the beginning of a hero's sendoff. Worcester fire officials promised Tina Menard and her three children a hero's sendoff for Lt. Jason Menard. It's a promise no fire department wants to fulfill, and one Worcester firefighters have had to deliver eight other times in the last 20 years. Firefighters, police officers and paramedics from across Massachusetts lined up outside Mercadante Funeral Home in Worcester on Sunday afternoon, paying their respects to Menard, who was killed in a four-alarm fire early Wednesday morning at 7 Stockholm St. Menard, 39, has been called a hero by fire officials and residents alike - as flames overtook the third floor of the building around 1 a.m. Wednesday, Menard pushed fellow Ladder 5 firefighter Chris Pace out a window to safety.  

The firehouse on Foulkrod and Darrah streets in Philadelphia's Frankford section has been without its engine for a decade, leaving some neighbors feeling vulnerable. "Because of all the families that are around here, all the people around here, they need the engine to save lives," said Sylvia Pickens, who lives across the street from the firehouse. During the recession in 2009, the Philadelphia Fire Department made cuts to save money, eliminating engines from firehouses in Frankford, Roxborough, Old City and South Philadelphia. "It really was a terrible time in the fire department because when you lose an engine, when you lose any kind of firefighting asset, it affects the whole community," said Deputy Commissioner Craig Murphy. "In my 32 years, a company that was decommissioned has been recommissioned."  

A recent report on the Durham Fire Department's response to the April 10 gas explosion downtown could bolster the department's request for 75 more firefighters. The Fire Department has about 385 people who fight fires. Having more would improve response times and on-scene efficiency, reducing injuries and property loss, according to a presentation the department gave the city in March, about a month before the explosion. The City Council approved an initial three new positions at a cost of $248,011. A six-year plan to hire all 75 firefighters would cost $4.8 million. "I am very interested in seeing their request come back to us, and I am sure we will look at it favorably," Mayor Steve Schewel said in an interview Monday.  

Corporations can be held legally responsible for the state's costs in investigating and fighting fires that are carelessly started or spread by corporate employees, a state appeals court ruled Monday. There has been no dispute that corporations can be required to pay compensation for deaths, injuries and property damage from fires caused by their employees, the source of at least $18 billion of the debt that drove Pacific Gas and Electric Co. into bankruptcy. But corporate responsibility for the state's firefighting expenses is a separate issue governed by state laws, whose meaning is a subject of disagreement among appellate courts. A state appeals court in Sacramento ruled in 2017 that the laws did not authorize the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, to recover costs from corporations whose employees may have negligently caused wildfires.  

Capt. Shawn Campana needed an escape. The stress and pressures of working in Miami-Dade Fire Rescue were beginning to weigh on her. Enter Charlie, a 3-year-old Greyhound she adopted in 2015. "There's light again," Campana said of Charlie, "and there hasn't been in some time. He was the only thing that made that happen." Four years later, she stood next to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and County Commissioner Sally Heyman as the trio announced the expansion of the K9 Response Program. The program, which Campana started in 2016, is designed to help first responders cope with occupational stress and victims in crisis situations. As a former firefighter, this program holds special place in Gimenez's heart. "I know firsthand how tough it can be to see the loss of life that we often have to face," Gimenez told reporters Monday at Haulover Park in Northeast Miami-Dade. The program, a leader across the nation, has two functions.