VIDEO: Five children died in an East St. Louis apartment fire Friday morning. Assistant Chief of the East St. Louis Fire Department George McClellan said the fire started when the mother of the five children went to pick up another adult from work. When the mom returned home, the fire had already started. She tried to run into the building herself and get the children, but she was unsuccessful. The fire started at about 3:45 a.m. When fire crews arrived at the scene located at 29th Street and State Street, they found two adults outside of the home, and five children were reported inside of the home. All five children have the same mom. Four children were pronounced dead at the scene. The fifth child died on the way to the hospital. Firefighters found two children in a bedroom. The other three were found in the kitchen. The children's ages range from 9 years old to 2 years old.  

Nominated by fellow community members, Steve Fleming was humbled when WAND News showed up unexpectedly to the Lovington Community Ambulance building to share he was August's "Beyond the Siren" feature. Fleming was nominated because of his dedication to the Lovington community and the ambulance service. His colleagues shared Fleming responds to 99% of the calls for help. Keep in mind, Lovington Community Ambulance Service is operated by volunteers. "I can tell you he goes above and beyond for our service," shared Pamela Anklam, EMT for Lovington. "I honestly don't think our service would survive without him." Anklam has served with Fleming for more than 25 years. However, she's known the 65-year-old his entire life. She shared Fleming brings comfort to people on some of the worst days of their lives.  

There were no injuries in a fire at a Latham house, responders said. Firefighters said the house was fully involved when responders came to the scene, located in the 2300 block of 300th Street. It was upgraded to a second alarm due to the location and because more water supply was needed. One person inside was able to escape. Crews cleared the scene at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. The fire is under investigation.  

National Night Out returned to cities and communities throughout the United States a year after the police-community bonding celebration was canceled due to the pandemic. Residents took back the night in Oak Lawn on Tuesday. Oak Lawn police and firefighters put on a true public safety show for families, including a car extrication demonstration. Kids tried on SWAT gear, climbed into fire trucks and toured the police station. There were plenty of give-aways to all who came. As an added attraction, the "Sikorski 327 Special" stock racing car was on a display. Residents got to sit inside the gutted-out, steel-reinforced Oak Lawn police squad car that raced in last month's "Five-0 At The Dirty-O" stock car race. Officer Mike Sikorski competed with other Illinois law enforcement agencies in fundraising and on the track to raise money for Special Olympics Illinois's Law Enforcement Torch Run at the Route 66 Speedway in Joliet.  

VIDEO: Jon Stewart is featured in the trailer for No Responders Left Behind, a new documentary on the fight for first responders of the September 11th attacks to receive healthcare benefits. The documentary is largely focused on the work of activist John Feal and his FealGood Foundation, which has worked to reclaim healthcare rights for the thousands of first responders who are suffering from life-threatening and debilitating illnesses due to the toxins released at Ground Zero on 9/11. "I see these guys, married with kids, who are losing their houses, their health," Feal says in a scene in front of the 9/11 Memorial in New York. In solidarity with Feal, Stewart fiercely spoke out against the failures of Congress to help 9/11 survivors in a highly publicized 2019 hearing. "When something like this takes this long, and is this hard, something is wrong with that system," Stewart notes later in an on-camera interview.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Officials are calling a fire that destroyed several vehicles and damaged a Decatur apartment building suspicious. Crews arrived at about 2:15 a.m. Thursday in the 500 block of West Macon Street. A dashcam video released Thursday afternoon by the Decatur Fire Department shows firefighters arriving to find a carport ablaze and thick, black smoke rising into the night sky. Overhead power and cable lines were on fire, as were the vehicles parked under the enclosure. "Crews deployed attack lines to extinguish the fire and protect the apartment building from fire spread," Deputy Fire Chief Jim Ohl said in a statement. "The parking garage was heavily damaged and the apartment building only had minor heat damage and was not involved in the fire."  

PHOTOS: Due to their construction that features a large primary battery and high-voltage wiring, electric cars need to be approached differently by emergency services in the event of an accident. For instance, first responders have to know where they should attempt to cut in order to free trapped occupants, and the XC40 Recharge will help them practice quick and safe extrication procedures. Present at the handover event, alongside Volvo USA's President and CEO, Anders Gustafsson, and VP of the Northeast Region, Eric Miller, Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro thanked the Swedish automaker for the donation.  

VIDEO: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Mana Mobile food truck is making a few stops in St. Louis as part of a nationwide tour to celebrate first responders. Thursday afternoon it was parked at the fire station downtown. The Rock's food truck pulled up a little before 4 p.m. Firefighters at St. Louis Fire Department House No. 2 have been enjoying the complimentary tacos. This is all part of The Great American Mana Mobile Road Trip where they are making stops in towns, communities, and cities across the country. Stops include military bases, firehouses, and hospitals to show gratitude to our first responders. Also along the way, the Mana Mobile will be stopping at main streets across America to help encourage people to support local businesses, many of which have been hit hard by the pandemic.  

VIDEO: Doctors and the CDC report that the Delta variant of COVID-19 spreads as easily as chickenpox, but what exactly does that look like when it's transmitted from person to person? Dr. James Lawler sees patients at Nebraska Medicine on a daily basis. He explained in simple terms, if someone is infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant, it attaches to cells in our respiratory system, lining our airways and our lungs. Dr. Lawler said the variant then "hijacks" the cell, causing it to spread to others quickly. "What happens is it releases its RNA," Dr. Lawler said while in front of a big screen of 3-D animations. "The cell then uses its ribosome to turn that RNA into virus protein." He went on to explain how these steps lead to infection, "The virus is essentially hijacking the cell to turn it into a virus factory. This is making thousands and thousands of copies of viruses in the golgi apparatus and turns into new virus particles and variants, and then, they come out of this cell and go on to infect other cells."