Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other city officials gathered Friday morning to sign a new contract for Chicago firefighters. City Council ratified the collective bargaining agreement last month, and it comes on the heels of agreements with the Public Safety Employees Union Unit II and the unions representing the police sergeants, lieutenants and captains. Covering more than 5,000 firefighters and paramedics, the Local 2 contract encompasses the time period July 2017 through June 2021 and will give members of the Chicago Fire Department raises in line with those awarded to other public safety units, while saving the city about $10 million due to a number of reforms, the mayor's office said. The reforms include requiring active members to contribute an additional 1.5% of their salaries toward healthcare costs. While preserving eligibility for retiree health care at age 55, the new agreement also requires future retirees between the ages of 55 and 60 to contribute 3% and those between 60 to 62 to contribute 1.5% of their retirement annuity toward their benefit.  

It has a big name but it's a product that's supposed to be a big help against the coronavirus that comes with a big savings as well. This week, the city of Charleston received and began using equipment that produces a sanitizer solution, something that's been expensive and hard to come by with the virus pandemic. Eastern Illinois University also has the equipment and it's been in use there for about three weeks. Charleston Fire Chief Steve Bennett said the equipment uses water softener salt, water and an electrical process to produce hypochlorous acid. It's a safe disinfectant that's used to clean foods, he said. The concentration is still "medical grade" that can be used to disinfect against COVID-19 and other diseases, Bennett explained.  

Firefighters battled a blaze at a Forest Park home Thursday afternoon. The fire started shortly before 5:45 at a home in the 1100-block of Elgin Avenue. A teacher, her husband and their 12-year-old son lived in the top unit of the home. A relative said the fire started in the attic, and while all three were able to make it out safely, they lost everything in the blaze. What caused the fire is not immediately known. Large flames were seen shooting through the roof as emergency crews sprayed water on the home. Officials have not yet released any further details. Relatives have started a GoFundMe to help the family displaced by the fire.  

One person was killed in a crash Friday in northwest suburban Wauconda. A box truck hit a passenger vehicle shortly before 3 a.m. on northbound Route 12 just south of Route 176 in Wauconda, according to a statement from the Wauconda Fire District. The driver of the passenger vehicle was thrown from the wreck and died at the scene, fire officials said. The driver of the truck was treated at the scene but refused transport to a hospital. The truck was blocking both lanes of Route 12 when emergency crews arrived, authorities said. Northbound Route 12 remains closed between Route 176 and Old Rand Road while authorities investigate, according to Wauconda police.  

Using technology that most everyone already has, regional dispatchers hope to give first responders the ability to see what they will encounter even before they arrive at the scene of an emergency. "When you make a phone call often to 9-1-1 its in a stressful environment or the rate of anxiety is high for the caller, so they are not good information providers at least not at the detail level that we would like to have," said Roddy Walter, director of WARCOG, a consolidated dispatch center that serves the communities of Ashland, Orrville, Wooster and the fire service for Kidron Ohio. For the next 30 days WARCOG will be giving a system called "911eye" a trial run. The system allows dispatchers to send an encrypted message to 9-1-1 callers that lets them tap into the caller's cell phone to get an accurate GPS signal of their location within five meters, and with the caller's permission allows them to tap into the callers cell phone camera.  

A new peer-to-peer program is providing St. Lucie fire personnel with much-needed resources during difficult times. "Firefighters know what other firefighters go through," St. Lucie County Fire District Division Chief Aaron Shaw said. "And if nothing else, it's just a way for us to vent and speak to each other." This week, Shaw, Lt. Jesse Almand, and firefighter-paramedic Rusty Wiles were recognized for their work with the St. Lucie County Fire District's already existing behavioral health programs. "I was asked two years ago by the fire chief to take our current programs when it came to behavioral health and improve and expand them," Shaw said. Now they, along with a select group of firefighters, are taking it a step further with the new peer-to-peer program. "A lot of people don't want to come forward with it and that's why I'm trying to come forward to show people, you're not weak and it's OK to get help," Wiles said.  

Firefighters don't just fight fires, many are also paramedics, EMTs, and registered nurses. Now, they're also COVID first responders. Firefighters are used to quickly evolving situations. That's why they were able to jump into action once the COVID-19 pandemic hit. "We hope for the best, but prepare for the worst," said Jaime Lopez. Chief of EMS Training Jaime Lopez has overseen the implementation of the newly COVID-dedicated call center. He says the Laredo Fire Department receives around 30 calls a day in a 24 hour shift. That's down by about half since the pandemic began back in March. A team of nurses also evaluates potential COVID patients over the phone just as any emergency room would. "They find out their COVID symptoms, if they have any family members that are COVID positive, how long they've been COVID positive, what their signs and symptoms are."  

You would think axes or power tools would be a favored tool in firefighting. But for the Waterloo Fire Department, that's not the case. They put a lot of value into their washing machine. With their jobs involving putting themselves at risk daily, Battalion Chief Bill Beck said that also includes the risk of cancer. "Studies after studies show that we die of cancer more than the general public does," Beck said, "before we would take our dirty gear to a commercial laundromat, and we don't w ant to do that or put the public at risk in that way." Working in hazardous conditions, almost daily, it is important they have the right appliances to lower that risk. Their washing machine, or better known as the extractor, takes in 60 gallons of water and washes five sets of gear at a time. Using their soap designed for fire gear, the extractor helps get rid of the bloodborne pathogens left on their uniforms.  

VIDEO: Kevin Cunrod is a Susquehanna Valley EMT. He is a Manheim firefighter. And in his off time, between calls, he's a TikTok star. "There are a lot of first responders out there who are down and they're stressed," said Cunrod. "If I can help them to not be stressed or my partners not to be stressed, I'll keep doing it." Cunrod's positive videos have amassed more than 22,000 followers in just a matter of months on his TikTok page. He didn't even begin using TikTok until after the state shutdown in March. "After the COVID crisis when everybody got locked down my wife was laughing one day and was like, hey I'm watching TikTok," he said. "I started watching it after that and I was like, I'm going to try this. So, at 49-years-old I tried TikTok for the first time and fell in love with it."