The Peoria fire department just added 16 new faces to its team, something the department hasn't done in three years. Jim Bachman, Peoria's fire chief, said the last time a graduating class came on board from Peoria's Fire Academy was in June of 2018. Bachman said uncertainties led to the department's hiring drought. "Back in 2020, we lost Engine 2 and there was some speculation as to whether or not we were going to lose Engine 20," Bachman said. "Rather than put a class on and hire some firefighters and then end up losing another engine, we held off until we knew we were keeping that other engine in service prior to hiring a bunch of people and then having to turn around and possibly lay people off."  

Firefighters saved an elderly person who was trapped inside a bedroom during a house fire in Lisle early Monday. The fire broke out just before 2 a.m. in the 6700 block of Aspen Road. When fire crews got to the scene, they found smoke and fire coming from the back of the single-story house. Two residents had safely escaped the blaze and informed firefighter that someone was still trapped inside. Firefighters extricated the person from the bedroom and carried them to safety through the front door of the house. The resident was evaluated by emergency responders who were at the scene. No one was hospitalized as a result of the blaze.  

The family of a Chicago firefighter who was critically wounded in a mass shooting over the weekend is speaking out. Police and family are calling on the public to help solve the crime. FOX 32 spoke with this siblings of Timothy Eiland and they tell us he is recovering very well and is responding to them by opening his eyes. Tim was leaving his nephew's birthday party when gunfire erupted. The 32-year-old Chicago firefighter was off duty at the time and surrounded by his family. "I was standing right next to them. Whoever started shooting threw firecrackers to distract," said Tim's brother, Micah Eiland. Elishama Wright is Tim's sister. "I hear everybody running and screaming, and it was blood gushing out of his face," she said.  

VIDEOS: Smoke continues to pour from the yard of the Republic Services Recycling Center in North Las Vegas as firefighters work to put out a blaze that sent black smoke billowing over the northeast valley Monday morning. The large 2-alarm fire at the recycling center just north of Cheyenne Avenue at Commerce Street is still burning. About 60 firefighters have remained on the scene. According to North Las Vegas Police Department firefighter Nino Galloway, the fire started from a "hot load" left at the recycling center. "Hot load" refers to the contents of a garbage truck. "Sometimes things catch fire," Galloway said. "It could be anything. You could have … in recycling you might have some batteries in there that spark. You could have somebody that put a cigarette in there," he said.  

VIDEO: A 13-year-old Wisconsin boy is being credited with saving his four younger sisters from a house fire while their parents were at the grocery store. He tried to put the fire out himself but couldn't, his dog eventually leading him away. Days after a fire tore through her home with her five kids inside, Kelly Omar searched through the rubble for anything she could salvage. She and her husband ran out last Monday to grab dinner for the family. The parents had been gone about 10 minutes when their kids, ranging in age from 6 months to 13 years, smelled smoke on the first floor. "My sister said it was really smoky and we looked behind us, and the playpen was on fire," said Briar Omar, 13. The oldest of the kids, Briar acted quickly. "My sisters, that was the first thing I thought of, and I just knew I needed to get them out of the house," he said.  

The St. Paul Fire Department has proposed a new $600,000 program in the 2022 city budget to embed social workers with firefighters, police officers and other city workers, hoping to improve responses for mental health and people experiencing homelessness. Fire Chief Butch Inks presented the initial plan to the city council last week, but he promised to release full details in the next 30 to 45 days. Giving the example of a deputy fire chief helping residents at an encampment during a snowstorm last December, Inks said the new rapid response team of social workers could have a "24/7 capability" after regular business hours to supplement the work of emergency services.  

There are so few women in Daly City's Fire Department that the women's bathroom was converted into a private restroom for male captains. In Alameda County, department-wide communications frequently refer to all firefighters as "he" or "him," despite the longtime presence of women like Fire Captain Kimberly Larson. "It's not that women don't want to be firefighters, and aren't capable of being firefighters," said Larson. "It's just that we're never told, never exposed to it; it's never seen as an option." Larson has set out to change that. She's inspired by specialized camps for women, such as First Alarm Girls Fire Camp, a Bay Area-based training camp designed to introduce young women to non-traditional careers like firefighting. In 2018, Larson founded NorCal Women in the Fire Service, an organization that puts on the annual camps for high schoolers across the Bay Area, including on San Francisco's Treasure Island.