Three Elk Grove Village firefighters, Lt. John Fordon, Lt. Todd Rishling and Andrew Laird, were awarded humanitarian service award medals by the Illinois Fire Department Mutual Aid at Tuesday's (Feb. 11) village board meeting. The three were sent on back-to-back deployments between May and July to rural Southwestern Illinois to assist those devastated by flooding. A 1,000 foot-long levy broke in Calhoun County, Illinois, north of St. Louis, which runs along the Mississippi River, causing massive flooding and cutting off residents. Rishling said an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital by road took 3-1/2 hours. Rishling, Fordon and Laird were deployed with a team of seven in the second wave of first responders sent to the area. They responded to ambulance calls by boat and provided other assistance. Rishling said the rural area was so remote, it was only equipped with 911 service the year before.  

When John Rupkey starts something, he sticks with it, which means the new Monticello Fire and Rescue chief may hold that post for a while. Recently named to replace the retiring Rick Dubson, Rupkey has been on Monticello's volunteer service since 1995, most recently as assistant fire chief. He is also a captain on the Cisco Fire Department. His day job is as the pharmacy director for Senior Care Pharmacy in Monticello, along with its predecessors, something he has done since 1994. Rupkey's interest in fire departments dates back to his youth, when his family would visit an uncle who was a volunteer fireman in Troy, Michigan. "As a kid he would take us to the firehouse, and I always enjoyed doing that and looked up to him. It was always pretty cool," he said. "I always thought when I got to small town, I would like to volunteer to be a fireman."  

The Plainfield Fire Protection District was awarded a fire prevention grant in the amount of $2,747 from FM Global. The grant funds will be used to purchase iPads with accessories to assist with pre-fire planning to efficiently collect and track data related to local community buildings. The building knowledge collected in pre-fire planning helps firefighters respond in an emergency and improves firefighter safety. Established nearly 200 years ago, FM Global is a mutual insurance company whose capital, scientific research capability and engineering expertise are solely dedicated to property risk management and the resilience of its client-owners. These owners, who share the belief that the majority of property loss is preventable, represent many of the world's largest organizations, including one of every three Fortune 500 companies.  

The Ohio House has once again approved a measure covering post-traumatic stress disorder for emergency responders who haven't suffered a physical injury. "Our brave first responders deserve to have PTSD illnesses treated under our law, even though the law does consider them comparable to a physical injury," said Rep. Tom Patton of Strongsville, who wrote the bill. "Making this change will ensure the much-needed relief for first responders who have served the public and suffer from PTSD as a result of performing their duties." Police and firefighters have been pushing for the coverage under the state insurance fund for injured workers for years. Representatives from the Ohio Association of Professional Fire Fighters, Ohio State Medical Association, Columbus Fire Fighters IAFF Local 67, and Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio testified in support of the bill during committee hearings.  

The Spring Coulee Fire was estimated to be the size of a basketball court when it was first reported at 3:59 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2019. Seven minutes later it was estimated to be the size of a football field. Three minutes after that evacuations were issued, flames were around 10 feet high and the fire had burned 5 to 10 acres. Seventeen minutes later, at 4:26 p.m., a call came over the radio that a firefighter was "down at the head of the fire." The fire's rapid growth was one of several factors that contributed to the serious injury and subsequent death of Okanogan County Fire District 3 Assistant Chief Christian Johnson, according to a report conducted by state firefighting agencies. The report, called a facilitated learning analysis, was conducted to determine what lessons could be learned from the incident.  

The Salt Lake City Fire Department debuted a new plug-in hybrid electric fire engine to the public at the Sugar House firehouse Wednesday. The new fire truck came about because of cooperation with the Sustainability Department and Public Services Department. The SLCFD says they are invested in exploring options to reduce their carbon footprint and improving air quality. The new electric firetruck will go towards the city's ambitious climate and clean air goals such as an overall 80% reduction of Salt Lake City's community carbon footprint by 2040. The city's new firetruck comes two years after the city completed construction of two net-zero energy fire stations which are the first two of their kind in the country. Other efforts that support the city's clean air goals are fire stations having on-site solar panels and using battery-electric cars.  

Despite increased focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) jobs, hard labor is still a major driver of the national economy. Recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that employment for construction workers and hand laborers/movers has grown faster than employment in STEM jobs over the past five years. While STEM careers tend to command higher salaries, wage increases for careers in manual labor have also outpaced STEM. Wages for STEM careers grew at an average annual rate of 2.1 percent between 2013 and 2018, whereas wages for construction workers and hand laborers/movers grew by 2.9 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively. While employment and wage growth might be strong, working in a physically demanding job can be both taxing and dangerous. Research from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration shows that out of 4,674 worker fatalities in private industry in 2017, more than 20 percent were in a construction field.  

With more electric cars on the road and with the proximity to Pikes Peak International Raceway, the Fountain Fire Department has purchased a fire blanket to be used for car fires and industrial fires. The 70-pound fire blanket is made from two layers of woven glass fiber fabric and an inner layer of fire retardant film which works together to remove the oxygen supply from the fire resulting in the fire being extinguished. It can be used up to fifty times and is cleaned after every use. The blanket was developed by a company in Norway and started being offered in the United States in November 2019. The Fountain Fire Department was one of the first fire departments in the United States to purchase and use the blanket. The department responds to numerous car fires each year that typically close Interstate 25 for up to an hour. The fire blanket will allow car fires to be extinguished quicker resulting in the Interstate being closed for a much shorter timeframe.