After more than two hours of discussion, the Peoria City Council narrowly voted down borrowing $10 million and decommissioning two fire engines to balance out a city budget decimated by COVID-19. In addition to cutting Engine 4 from the Jefferson station on the South Side; and Engine 20 in far North Peoria on Wilhelm, the cuts proposed by At-Large City Councilman Sid Ruckriegel would also have meant laying off at least 17 firefighters. However, Truck 1 and several additional firefighter jobs would be spared. City Manager Patrick Urich said $10 million in working cash bonds can be issued without the need to repay taxes to pay back the money, given current revenue projections.  

Natalie Harris was on her couch Tuesday night when she saw orange flashing outside her kitchen window. At first, she thought it was just bike lights. She approached her top-floor window and could feel heat on her skin from flames outside. Harris thought to herself that she needed to "get the h--- out" and put her dog Annie on a leash and cat Frederick in a carrier and left down the front staircase. Her next-door neighbor, a retiree, was breaking open a fire extinguisher box in the second-floor hallway, she said. She continued down the stairs and later looked around for her neighbor, thinking he made it out behind her. "I was looking for him out here," Harris, 45, said. "Then, I saw him on a stretcher."  

A fire that left two people dead and a child injured in Glendale Heights this week has been deemed suspicious. Police said, shortly after 10 a.m., officers responded to the Waters Edge Condominiums complex on the 100 block of Dunteman Drive, where they saw a fire in one of the condo buildings. Video showed a wall of fire consuming the building. The Bloomingdale Fire Department and other neighboring fire departments responded and extinguished the fire. The Bloomingdale acting fire chief told CBS 2 on Tuesday that the cause of the fire is under investigation but is suspicious and is being handled by the DuPage County Arson Task Force. Two people were found dead in the fire, but a cause of death has not yet been determined. Their names had not been released Tuesday. Police said a child also was injured, and was taken to the hospital and has been treated and released.  

As civil unrest continues right over the border in Wisconsin, some local fire and police departments were called to assist in Kenosha in recent days. The Wisconsin city issued a curfew again on Tuesday night after widespread fires, protests and violence continue following the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Several Lake County fire departments headed north to help, but at least one law enforcement agency declined to offer its services over legal and safety concerns. The Lake County Sheriff's Office was called to assist in managing the protests and civil unrest but was unable to send officers, Lake County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Christopher Covelli told Patch. "While we'd be willing to provide assistance to help and keep protests peaceful, we run into serious legal constraints when crossing into another state," he said. All law enforcement agents and officers in Illinois, including officers at local sheriff's offices and police departments, only have authority to enforce criminal law in Illinois, he said.  

VIDEO: No one was injured fighting an inferno Tuesday that collapsed the roof of the Moose Event Center on Howard Street in Hibbing, according to fire officials. But what does hurt to the small town, is the loss of a building that houses many businesses and memories. "As I stood outside and watched it just kept, no matter how much water it got worse, and worse, and worse," said Marybeth Perreira, who watched from the Androy Hotel across the street. Around 10:30 Tuesday morning smoke swallowed the Moose Lodge 1510 and Event Center. "Approximately 30 minutes after arrival we had a full roof collapse on the structure," Hibbing Fire Chief Erik Jankila said. "We made a tactical decision to go defensive early on in the fire. It wasn't worth risking somebody's life to put them into a building that's partially collapsed," he said. The cause of the fire is unknown and still under investigation.  

The majority of calls Honolulu firefighters respond to are medical ones, and many are suspected COVID-19 cases. But the head of their union said the Honolulu Fire Department is making those sickened or quarantined prove they were exposed on the job. If they can't, the union said, they could be denied benefits. "Our firefighters are on their own with workers' comp.," Bobby Lee, Hawaii Fire Fighters Association president, told Hawaii News Now. "If they get COVID, they file a claim and they're subject to the determination of workers' comp whether it was job related or not." Determining the source of exposure can be difficult because firefighters can work coronavirus calls multiple times a week and not fall ill until days later. "It's next to impossible to try to prove where you got it from and firefighters don't have the luxury of saying ‘no i don't want to respond,‘" Lee said. Outbreaks at fire stations around Oahu also forced many into quarantine or isolation.  

PHOTO: A farm in Massachusetts is paying tribute to the first responders who sacrificed their own safety to help others during the coronavirus pandemic. This year's corn maze design at Schartner Farm in Bolton serves as a thank you to first responders. Along with the words "Thank You," the maze features the Star of Life, which represents emergency medical services personnel; a police badge; a firefighter crest and the caduceus, also known as the Staff of Hermes, which is often used as a symbol of medicine. With the maze theme, the farm is also offering all first responders a free pass for the maze. Schartner Farm plans to open the maze Sept. 19 and keep it open through the end of October.  

It's been almost eight months since Chinese scientists identified the coronavirus and doctors are still discovering new symptoms that can ravage the body and leave lasting damage months after recovery. While more than 813,000 people have died from the disease, most of the more than 23.6 million people with confirmed infections have recovered. But it hasn't affected all of them the same. Once thought of as just a respiratory illness, COVID-19 is marked as much by the variety of potentially perilous ways it harms the body as it is for the signature pneumonia it often causes, alarming doctors and public health officials. Because the coronavirus attacks a variety of cells in the body, there isn't one thing that connects every symptom or one treatment that seems to help every case.  

Dorchester County firefighter and Summerville resident Dave Moore is planning to walk 100 miles across the Lowcountry in 48 hours to raise money for U.S. veterans, families of fallen heroes and local first responders. According to a news release from the Travis Manion Foundation, Moore will start his trek at 7 a.m. on Sept. 11 at Laurel Hill County Park and will walk/run continuously across the Lowcountry, in full turnout gear, until completing the mileage. Moore's 100-mile event will coincide with the 9th Annual 9/11 Heroes Run – Charleston, SC. Due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year's 9/11 Heroes Run will be virtual, allowing registered participants to run, walk, or ruck a 5K route at their own convenience and choice location. "The (Travis Manion) Foundation is committed to honoring our nation's fallen heroes and strengthening the character of our nation's youth," Moore said.