Forreston Fire Protection District has acquired a new 2020 Alexis Pumper/Engine and have placed it in service. The truck was purchased as a demo from Alexis Fire Equipment and the cost will be partially offset by the previous sale of the 2005 Peterbilt fire engine that it is replacing. The new Engine 5901 features a 1000 gallon tank, 2000 gallon per minute pump, and the SAM (Scene Apparatus Management) Control System with wireless tablet. All specifications can be found on the department website. This new apparatus allows FFPD to continue to serve its community as best as possible by making the sometimes difficult task of providing life saving water for a fire scene, a a lot easier to manage. FFPD firefighters have already been training on this truck and have enjoyed the ease of the new SAM system. FFPD hopes to host a public viewing soon when the weather and local health precautions allow.  

At Monday's Village Board meeting, Mayor Paul Braun appointed Robert Kopec to the position of Fire Chief of the Flossmoor Fire Department effective April 5, lifting the responsibilities from Interim Fire Chief Greg Berk. Kopec was selected from a competitive pool of candidates following a recruitment process by the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. In Flossmoor, the position of Fire Chief is a mayoral appointment with a confirming vote by the Village Board of Trustees. The position reports on a day-to-day basis to the Village Manager. The Village Board of Trustees unanimously approved the appointment of Kopec, who joins the Flossmoor Fire Department after serving as Deputy Fire Chief and Fire Chief for seven years at the City of Country Club Hills Fire Department.  

Nearly a dozen dogs are looking for a new home after being rescued from a fire in rural Winnebago Monday. The Win-Bur-Sew Fire Protection District provided an update on its Facebook page, saying it is working with Winnebago County Animal Services to find 11 dogs a new home. The fire department responded to the 8100 block of W. State Road Monday morning for a garage fire that spread to a home. Officials found nearly a dozen dogs tied up outside the home, and had to be rescued by firefighters at the scene. Win-Bur-Sew officials said currently 11 pit bull type dogs (10 female and 1 male) from Monday's fire incident are at the shelter. All are doing well with a couple being monitored for secondary effects to smoke inhalation. One dog's eyes are being treated for smoke exposure/irritation. The owner has relinquished ownership of the dogs and they will start becoming available for adoption Friday, March 19. Animal Services will be spaying/neutering 2-3 dogs a day, after which they will be available for adoption.  

VIDEO: An Ontario neighborhood rocked by a deadly, massive explosion involving fireworks remained evacuated Wednesday, with residents reeling from the series of blasts that shattered nearby windows and sent up a huge plume of smoke. Authorities - including the FBI and ATF - are investigating Tuesday afternoon's explosion of what were believed to be a cache of commercial-grade fireworks in Ontario. The incident occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 400 block of West Francis Street. About 50 firefighters still worked to douse the flames three hours after the initial blast. Fire crews remained at the scene Wednesday morning. Videos posted to social media showed flames and a thick plume of smoke rising from the home, and then a long series of fireworks shooting up into the air, sending nearby pedestrians running for cover.  

VIDEO: For a lot of people, getting over COVID-19 is more than getting over just the initial illness. Recovery from long-lasting symptoms can take months and can require medical help, as a Mesquite Fire Department firefighter recently found out. Rob Williams said he had hoped the worst was over after being released from his COVID-19 stay at the hospital. Weeks, even months later, he suffered from fatigue, joint pain and anxiety that he would never return to normal health. "I've had injuries before. They can always give you like, 'This will take you 4-6 weeks to recover,'" he said. "With this, it is was like, 'We don't know for how long it's going to take.' And that mental side may be harder than dealing with the sickness." "I had joint pain so bad that it hurt to walk. If I made it into the kitchen, I was tired and had to lay down and take a break," he said.  

George Stephens has been the chief of the North Garden Volunteer Fire Company for 20 years, and a firefighter even longer. He joined the company as a young man after he watched firefighters struggling with inadequate tools and unreliable water resources try to salvage a house. "Despite their heroic efforts, the house burned to the ground. It was the home of the custodian at my elementary school," he said. "I realized I had just watched on the sidelines. That day I asked myself what I was doing to help and got involved." A lot has changed since he first volunteered. "Initially we only responded to fires, but over time we were responding to more car accidents," he said. "We decided to get medical certifications because we wanted to do more for our residents than just hold their hand and comfort them until the ambulance arrived." Yearly calls have more than doubled since the early 1990s, from 300 to more than 800 in a typical year.  

There will be no St. Patrick's Day parade in Cleveland for the second straight year because of the coronavirus pandemic, causing many to wonder where they'll find their holiday cheer. But don't worry, we have you covered. Our St. Patrick's Day gift to you is a live video performance by the popular Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums band on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. EDT. They will perform on the bagpipes in a live video that will be broadcast on Facebook by reporter Hannah Drown. The performance will start around 12:30 p.m. If you're not on Facebook, the video player will be added to this post once it begins. The Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums is a fixture at the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in downtown Cleveland. They have won the award for Best Bagpipe Band at the Cleveland parade 11 times since 1992. Most of the band's pipers and drummers are members of fire departments throughout Northeast Ohio.  

March is Women's History Month and all month long Fox 40 is recognizing notable figures from the Southern Tier, like the woman who is remembered as the hero of Binghamton's deadliest fire. July 22nd, 1913 was a sweltering hot day in the City of Binghamton. On Wall Street, employees at the Binghamton Clothing Company were opening up windows to try and catch a breeze. "They made overalls. Had about 100 employees," says Roger Luther, the Broome County Historian, "Nellie Connor, at that point, had worked there for about 30 years." Nellie Connor was the forewoman on the fourth floor of the factory. "By all reports, she was loved by her employees," says Luther. The workers Connor supervised were mostly immigrants and mainly women. On that hot July afternoon, workers started to notice the building seemed to be getting even hotter. Sometime around 2:30pm, someone discovered a small fire that had started under the staircase.