VIDEO/PHOTOS: One person was killed Wednesday after a tree fell on a trailer home on South Main during a severe thunderstorm. The incident occurred in the Rockford Riverview mobile home park at 2530 S. Main around 10 a.m. The Winnebago County Coroner confirmed one person, a 55-year-old woman, was dead. Family members identified her as Joy Gerken in a GoFundMe set up to raise money for her funeral. The Rockford Fire Department said three people were rescued from the home. The National Weather Service recorded gusts of up to 60 mph during a severe thunderstorm which swept through the northern Illinois region this morning.  

A Chicago Fire Department diver drowned while on a rescue call on the Chicago River in 2018, caused by a lapse in air management and inability to maintain buoyancy in the water. The report suggests that if Juan Bucio had an alarm to alert him that his main air tank was empty, he may have been able to switch to his reserve supply. The 43-page report was completed in June, three years after Bucio disappeared under the waves of the river near 26th and Ashland while searching for a missing boater. Bucio was pronounced dead after he was pulled out several minutes later. The report suggests more training and fundamental scuba skills for CFD divers. It concluded that a dive computer (which is not required) could have helped alert Bucio of low air rather than relying reading gauges in the dark murky river.  

A helicopter pilot who made an emergency landing Wednesday on Milwaukee Avenue in Prospect Heights before the craft flipped onto its side credited his flight instructor and God for his survival and minimal property damage. "I did the best I could in that situation," said 35-year-old Niles resident Ovidiu Astalus, who walked away from the wreck with a dislocated shoulder and minor injuries. "I did what I was taught to do." The emergency occurred about 6:40 a.m. Wednesday, shortly after Astalus took off from the nearby Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling. Astalus' company, Crown Point Truck & Trailer Repair, owns the Robinson R44 Raven II aircraft, and he was headed to a helipad at the firm's Morton Grove headquarters. The helicopter was built earlier this year, federal aviation records indicate. Astalus was the craft's only occupant Wednesday.  

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The Ride to Remember 9-11 will take place this year in Springfield to honor the lives of the First Responders and the Heroes that lost their lives that day. The event has been held annually for 19 years in the Capital City. This year vehicles will begin lining up at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11 at Hall's Harley-Davidson, 2301 N. Dirksen Pkwy. Police officers will escort the procession from the dealership starting at 5 p.m. Vehicles will then head to the Illinois State Capitol grounds to the 9/11 Memorial site. A ceremony will be held there at 6 p.m.  

A firefighter with the Osceola County Fire Rescue is in the hospital after being struck in the head with an ax while caring for a patient, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said. Personnel from Station 62 were dispatched to a home in Kissimmee Wednesday after receiving a call of a woman having trouble breathing, according to a news release. Investigators said the victim was administering treatment to the woman when the attack happened. The woman's son came out of the home with an ax and hit the victim in the head with it, records show. The fire rescue personnel was taken to the hospital. Investigators said the fire rescue personnel "is in stable condition" but did not say how badly the victim was hurt. Osceola County Fire Rescue public information officer Andrew Sullivan said the firefighter will be kept overnight for observation.  

A Prince George's County home was evacuated Thursday morning after a fire during the early morning hours. The fire was reported around 5:45 a.m. in the 12000 block of Aspenwood Lane in the Laurel area. Officials say the fire has extended through roof of the home and that the house has been evacuated. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

PHOTO: Kids look up to Smokey Bear and his important fire-prevention messaging. Now they'll also get the chance to look up – way up – at Smokey's familiar face and trademark hat Aug. 19-21 during the U.P. State Fair in Escanaba. The New Mexico-based hot air balloon made in Smokey Bear's image will ascend on a tether several times near the Michigan Department of Natural Resources' Pocket Park during the fair. "Smokey Bear is an icon in his 77th year of telling people how to prevent forest fires," said Paul Rogers, DNR fire prevention specialist. "This balloon is a pretty impressive sight." How impressive? The balloon – known as a "special shape" because of its unique contours: Holds 145,000 cubic feet of hot air; Is 97 feet tall, including the basket; Measures 72 feet across at Smokey's hat brim; and Is made of 4,670 square yards of nylon and takes 12 to 15 people for setup and inflating.  

PHOTOS: The original Bellport Fire House was built in 1893 on South Country Road. In 1937, it was moved to the rear lot facing Woodruff Street to make way for the new updated building. By 1975, when it was time to expand, the building was either to be demolished or moved. Luckily, for the history buffs, the fire department was able to have it moved to a leveled lot in the historic district of the village on Bell Street, the former site of a historical barn, which had been moved to the Bellport Brookhaven Historical Society property just across the way. The land is now leased from the village at no cost to the department through a shared service agreement. "The history of the Bellport Fire Department is part of the history of Bellport Village," said Bellport Village mayor Ray Fell, describing the site as an asset.  

More than 98% of US residents now live in an area where there is a "high" or "substantial" risk of COVID-19 community transmission, up from 19% of residents only a month ago. This sharp turn has been driven in large part by the highly infectious Delta variant and low vaccination rates in many regions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) measures community transmission using two metrics -- the number of cases per 100,000 people and the test positivity rate, both measured over the previous seven days. The latest figures from the CDC show an alarming rise in the number of counties that are considered at high risk of community transmission. On Monday, 2,361 counties in the United States were listed in the "high" tier, a stark increase from 457 counties in the same tier at the beginning of July.