The Annual Illinois Fallen Firefighter Memorial and Firefighter Medal of Honor Awards Ceremony is now set for Friday, September 10. One of the firefighters that will be honored at the ceremony will be local hero Godfrey Fire Captain Jake Ringering. Captain Ringering lost his life while battling a structure fire on March 6, 2019. A wall collapsed killing Ringering and seriously injuring Godfrey firefighter Luke Warner and two Bethalto firefighters. The Fallen Firefighter Memorial service will be held at the firefighter memorial on the grounds of the Illinois State Capitol beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. Following the ceremony at the capitol, the Medal of Honor Ceremony will take place at the Bank of Springfield Center. More information about the annual fire truck muster will come at a later date. The OSFM will be following the latest COVID-19 guidance set in the Restore Illinois Plan to help maintain the health and safety of those attending the events.  

A U.S. Post Office Annex in Springfield was damaged in a fire. At 10:05 p.m. on Monday, April 19, the Springfield Fire Department received a report of a small fire at the U.S. Post Office Annex, located in Sangamon Center North at 1927 E. Sangamon Ave. Upon arrival, crews could see flames and smoke through the windows. Firefighters cut a lock to get in the building. Officials said the flames were quickly extinguished. The office space sustained about $25,000 worth of damage. No one was inside at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. The office reopened on Tuesday, April 20. The fire remains under investigation.  

A family is mourning the loss of three family dogs. Urbana firefighters were called around 11 a.m. to a home in the 2000 block of South Boudreau Drive for a reported house fire. The owner was not at home at the time of the fire. Fire crews were able to locate one of the dogs inside the home and attempted to give it CPR and oxygen. The three dogs were taken to a veterinarian for emergency care in Urbana but did not make it. A significant amount of damage was done to the home during the fire. The owner has been displaced.  

A shed caught fire in the backyard of a home in the 400 block of Florian Drive, near Marshall Road, igniting a detached garage just feet away, causing both to sustain heavy fire damage Tuesday, April 20. Firefighters were dispatched to the scene at 12:36 p.m. Tuesday and had the fires out by 12:55 p.m., Des Plaines Fire Chief Daniel Anderson said. Flames only spread from the shed to the garage and did not spread to any homes. Anderson said because gasoline was present in the garage and shed, a light foam was sprayed after the fire was out to quell any possible gasoline flare-ups. The shed was a shell of blackened, charred wood, while the garage appeared to sustain less damage. Anderson said flames caused damage to some utility and power lines overhead. Reporters at the scene saw crews from Xfinity repairing cable and communications lines. No injuries to firefighters or civilians were reported. Anderson did not have an immediate estimate of damage.  

VIDEOS: A massive fire broke out at a historic Domino Sugar refinery in Baltimore on Tuesday, resulting in a large storage dome collapsing under the flames. Helicopter video posted on Twitter by reporters for WJZ showed the storage dome collapsed, with fires still burning at either end. Other photos and videos of the fire showed smoke plumes wafting across much of the city as firefighters continued to battle the blaze. A tweet from a local firefighter's union indicated that first responders were battling the blaze with trucks as well as firefighting boats dispatched around Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The Hill has reached out to Domino Sugar for comment on the fire. The historic refinery, and its iconic Domino sign, have been a landmark in Baltimore since the early 1950s. Company officials were in the process of replacing the aging neon sign with an updated version that was set to be unveiled officially on July 4.  

Firefighters answer the call for help daily. Now there's an app to help them when they're in distress. Redline Rescue is a peer-to-peer support portal that connects firefighters who need mental health help with others. They can log on, answer a few screening questions via drop-down lists, and within minutes, locate peers to talk. "It was surprising how many of our family members here were suffering from what they see, from what they experienced," said Lt. Dustin Hawkins, who works for Indian River Fire Rescue. Hawkins suffered in silence for more than a year after an explosive accident aboard a marine unit when he was in his mid-30s left him burned and scarred. After his accident, the lieutenant, who also serves as a chaplain for both the department and union, "got back on the truck as quickly as possible." He was still healing, with skin grafts sticking to his uniform.  

Mobile hotspots should connect people to the internet — not the local fire department. That's why Verizon recalled 2.5 million Ellipsis Jetpack mobile hotspots. The exact problem, as stated in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall alert: "The lithium ion battery in the hotspots can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards." And this has happened, as the notice says, "Verizon has received 15 reports of devices overheating, including six reports of fire damage to bedding or flooring and two reports of minor burn injuries." The alert includes the rare safety tip if you have to use the product. Consumers should turn it on, plug it in and get an automatic software update that will allow the device's ID number to be viewed on the scrolling screen and one that keeps the hotspot from charging while it's on and plugged into a power source. After getting that update, turn the hotspot off when it's not being used and unplug it.  

Henrico Firefighters are giving back to kids in the Highland Springs community with baseball. They hosted a clinic over the weekend as part of a new partnership to support the community they live in. The firefighters stepped up to bat to teach new techniques to kids in the Highland Springs Little League. William Boger, the President of Henrico Professional Firefighters' Association and firefighter of over 18 years in the county, said he just wants to give back. "These volunteers [with Highland Springs Little League] here are doing such a phenomenal job getting this out in the community and trying to draw interest," Boger said. "They have had the largest registration they've ever had " In this partnership, the firefighters have also donated equipment, sponsorships and scholarships to the program — which was re-established in 2019.  

In 2018 there were about 181,500 highway vehicle fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The vast majority of those were gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles. For whatever reason, we expect and accept that. But with EV fires it's different. The National Traffic Safety Board addressed these EV fires in January with a report noting that there are two main safety issues. First, the inadequacy of vehicle manufacturers' emergency response guides, and the gaps in safety standards and research related to high-voltage lithium-ion batteries involved in high-sped, high-severity crashes. Additionally, EVs pose a risk of electric shock to emergency responders, and then there's the thermal runaway problem. That is a process that is accelerated by increased temperatures, in turn releasing energy that further increase temperature. It's an uncontrolled positive feedback loop.