Two firefighters were injured while rescuing a resident and a cat from a house fire Sunday in north suburban Evanston. Crews were called at 9:09 p.m. for the fire at the single-family home in the 2200 block of Sherman Avenue, according to a statement from the Evanston Fire Department. Firefighters arrived to find the south side of the house engulfed in flame with heavy smoke throughout, officials said. They removed a "confused resident" from the front doorway and rescued the family cat from inside the home. The fire was extinguished within an hour of the initial call, the fire department said. The resident, whose age and gender were not released, was taken to a hospital in good condition. Two firefighters were also taken to hospitals with "minor soft tissue injuries," according to fire officials.  

State Sen. Jason Barickman has introduced a bill aimed at giving some financial relief to volunteer firefighters and EMTs. Barickman, R-Bloomington, and Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, are co-sponsors of the measure, which creates a $500 tax credit that qualifying volunteer firefighters and EMTs can claim when they file their Illinois income taxes. Because it is a credit and not a deduction, it will provide a direct reduction in the amount of taxes owed, or potentially even increase their tax refund. The lawmakers filed the bill to help volunteer firefighters and EMTs pay for expenses that often include things such as medical and fire equipment, training, licensing, and insurance. They also hope that by reducing the financial burden of volunteering, the legislation can help local fire departments to recruit new volunteers to bolster their efforts at protecting the public.  

DeKalb County's E911 Board needs a new coordinator because the current one is planning to retire at the end of the year. Glenna Johnson has been in her position since 2008 and before that, she worked in the private sector. She said her career route was not the typical one. "What I did was a little unusual," Johnson said. "It's usually the other way around. It's usually they leave this side and then go to the industry." She, and the E911 Board, have discussed how to proceed before she retires and when she retires. Sycamore Fire Chief Pete Polarek said he wanted to know when Johnson would be leaving her post. "The reason why I ask is if we know where the end is, then obviously we know ... what the timeline roughly needs to be in order to have a smooth transition," Polarek said.  

Multiple people were displaced after a fire Saturday in a high-rise apartment building in north suburban Evanston. Crews were called at 7:15 p.m. for reports of the blaze in the 1600 block of Chicago Avenue, according to a statement from the Evanston Fire Department. The fire broke out in an 11th-floor unit, but a sprinkler system kept it from spreading, officials said. Firefighters put out the remaining flames when they arrived. The unit where the fire started sustained "significant smoke and water damage," according to the fire department. Multiple other apartments were also damaged by water and several residents were displaced. No injuries were reported, fire officials said. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but no foul play is suspected.  

VIDEO: Black smoke hung over miles of farmland in southeast Kankakee County Saturday as a tire fire burned in Pembroke Township. Pembroke Fire Protection District Chief Mark Baines said a call came in just before 2 p.m. that someone was burning brush and the fire got out of control. It spread nearly an eighth of a mile to reach the property near East 6000S Road and South 17000E Road where 300 to 400 tires were piled up. Saturday's windy conditions helped carry the brush fire to the tires and also made getting the blaze under control difficult, Baines said. The National Weather Service was reporting 12 mph sustained winds and 17 mph gusts on Saturday afternoon. With the assistance of multiple departments, including a crew from neighboring Iroquois County, Pembroke firefighters had control of the blaze by 4 p.m. and crews were working surrounding areas to ensure it wasn't able to spread.  

The Cumberland County Coroner's Office has released the names of the two people killed Monday morning in a fire in Monroe Township. Jerome Guise, 34, of Boiling Springs, was a firefighter with the Mount Holly Springs fire department, Coroner Charley Hall said. Guise was killed when the front porch of the home on the 1500 block of Boiling Springs Road collapsed while he was fighting the fire. Resident Jessica Diehl, 36, died inside the home during the fire. A man who lived there was severely injured and rushed to the hospital. A dog was also killed in the fire, officials say. "All the firefighters around here are volunteers. They have a very dangerous job," Pennsylvania State Police spokeswoman Trooper Megan Ammerman said at the scene. "The fire and police, we're all family. It's a very difficult time for the firefighters in the area, especially."  

They're not the Bravest when it comes to the coronavirus. The FDNY won't dispatch its firefighters to potential coronavirus patients, leaving its paramedics and EMTs to handle them alone, The Post has learned. The department issued an order Friday temporarily relieving firefighters from responding to calls of the second highest priority for patients with fever, coughing, difficulty breathing or even those who are unconscious. A fever, cough and trouble breathing are the most common symptoms of the novel coronavirus, officially called COVID-19. "We can't believe they would put out this order during one of the biggest citywide health crises. The fact that they're abdicating all of this is just astounding," one paramedic told The Post. "You're talking about people who call themselves the Bravest." EMTs and paramedics, with their ranks already depleted, believe the order will further strain the system.  

When the Jaws of Life don't work and a man is dying, a little ingenuity and a big engine could prove to be the best combination. West Springfield and Westfield firefighters pulled a crashed vehicle apart with a fire truck to extricate a seriously injured driver Wednesday, said West Springfield Lt. Andrew Lyne. Paramedics were worried he might not live through the episode, Lyne said. As West Springfield firefighters were called to a large blaze at the Courtyard by Mariott hotel on Riverdale Street Wednesday afternoon, one engine was sent to the report of a head-on crash on Prospect Avenue just before 3 p.m. Lyne, the commander of Engine 2, said responders found a car and a large dumpster-hauling truck had collided head-on. The impact of the crash dislodged the engine of the car, spinning it 180 degrees and pushing it into the passenger compartment — something Lyne said he has never seen in 28 years as a firefighter.  

Some residents in northeast Albemarle County are concerned about a proposal to move daytime fire-rescue staff farther away from their area. As part of County Executive Jeff Richardson's proposed budget for fiscal year 2021, Albemarle County Fire Rescue would reallocate weekday, daytime fire-rescue staff from Stony Point Volunteer Fire Company and East Rivanna Volunteer Fire Company to the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department and Pantops Public Safety Station to meet system-wide response time standards and call volume. The reallocation was proposed in response to a request by the Crozet department to ACFR to provide supplemental weekday, daytime staffing. "We provided that as an option versus hiring the additional staff that's needed to staff Crozet Fire Department, mainly because we haven't really looked at that configuration since staff was put out there over 20 years ago," ACFR Chief Dan Eggleston said in an interview Wednesday.  

Florida lawmakers were on the verge of sending Gov. Ron DeSantis legislation Friday that requires panic buttons at every school, the latest security measure being implemented on campuses after the Parkland school shooting two years ago that killed 17. The measure, known as "Alyssa's Law," would establish an electronic link between schools and law enforcement — and reduce the confusion that became so apparent as a gunman roamed the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day 2018. The Florida Senate unanimously approved the measure, which would require schools to set up a so-called panic button system that, when activated, would simultaneously alert school staff and first responders to life-threatening campus emergencies.