An amendment filed to the proposed Springfield budget would allocate $6.2 million to buy the fire department seven new rigs. This comes as the current budget has zero dollars in it for new apparatuses. The money would buy seven new rigs: six engines and one truck. The money is coming from a few different places: $2 million will be loans, $2 million would come from the corporate fund, and the other $2 million would come out of the money that was dedicated to build four new firehouses. Springfield Budget Director Bill McCarty said the plan of building four new firehouses this year has to change now. "They have given us an idea of what the construction cost is going to be and from that, we have determined that we can probably do three still, but four is out of the question," McCarty said.  

Police were searching for a gunman late Wednesday after shots were fired at an off-duty Chicago firefighter while he was driving in Ravenswood Manor on his way home from work early in the morning. As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reported, it was a very close call for the first responder. The Chicago Fire Department said the off-duty firefighter, who is 37 years old, was on his way home from the firehouse when shots were fired at his pickup truck as he drove through the alley behind the 2900 block of West Montrose Avenue around 6:30 a.m. The firefighter wasn't shot, but was cut on his face from broken glass when a bullet shattered his passenger window. Police said the shooter was in a four-door sedan.  

Aconvicted arsonist would have had to disclose his past offenses before getting a job as a fire chief under a bill introduced this week by a Republican lawmaker. The Prairie Du Pont Fire Protection District in East Carondelet hired Jerame Simmons in December. A pardon from Gov. J.B. Pritzker allowed Simmons to get the job despite his guilty plea to setting fire in 1998 to an abandoned building. State Rep. David Friess, R-Red Bud, filed a bill that would have required Simmons to disclose if he had been "convicted, arrested or charged with arson or other criminal damages by way of fire." It would allow the hiring manager to take a candidate's past into consideration. "Local fire departments are an integral part of rural communities. If you appoint a convicted arsonist as fire chief, you are going to lose the faith and trust of your community," Friess said.  

VIDEO: There were some tense moments on the Dan Ryan Expressway earlier Wednesday after an SUV caught fire in Chicago. The fire happened in the northbound lanes near South Canalport Avenue on the city's Lower West Side around noon. It's not clear what caused the vehicle to catch fire or if anyone was hurt by the flames, Illinois State Police said. Authorities said they are trying to figure out what happened. There was no word on where the driver was, whether there were more people inside that vehicle, or how they made it out. Several lanes were shut down while crews cleaned up the scene. Police did not provide further information about the incident.  

A large fire tore through the Villa Hills Civic Club and destroyed it early Thursday, fire officials say. A passerby reported the blaze at 2:46 a.m. The club's single-story building is located off Rogers Road near Lakeshore Drive and the Villa Hills Police Department. Fire crews with the Crescent Springs Villa Hills Fire Department responded to find it fully engulfed in flames. No one was hurt, but the building looks like a total loss, according to Fire Chief Jeff Wendt. "It's a tragic thing...a loss for the city," said the club's director, Mike Martin. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Wendt said it may have started in the back of the building. Martin said the private club was formed nearly 61 years ago, in May 1961, is owned by the members and now amasses 23 acres in a beautiful country setting with fishing ponds.  

Located at corner 14 North Monroe Street, the New York City Fire Department (FNDY) fire station was built in 1903 by Hook & Ladder Company 8. Initially, the building was designed to be the first in a series of Beaux-Arts-style firehouses by Alexander H. Stevens who was the city superintendent of buildings. The nostalgic exterior of the fire station has earned the fire department the name Ghostbusters Fire Station as it was used for scenes for the fictional film's franchise Ghostbusters released in 1984. The building brings about feelings of a mix of nostalgic childhood emotions as well as the thrill of the possibility of actually running into a ghost! This is where Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston who were all famous characters from the set of Ghostbusters were known to set up their ghostbusting operations.  

On Monday, Feb. 14 the Helena Fire Department shared a sneak peek at their new fire trucks. The trucks truly stand out from their predecessors in that they are Helena's signature Husky blue as opposed to the traditional red. "Our love for the community is now on display," the department wrote in a Facebook post. "That's right, our new Husky Blue firetruck has arrived and will soon be in service at Station 1." Fire Chief Pete Valenti said the change in image was the idea of Mayor Brian Puckett. "[Puckett] wanted a white fire engine with Husky Blue striping," Valenti said. "I, being a 37 year veteran at Helena Fire Department, was reluctant to the change." After a few conversations with the mayor, Valenti came around, and he told Puckett if they were going to make a change, they may as well go all the way. Hence the blue fire trucks were born.  

The Brockton Fire Museum was built to preserve the proud history of Brockton Firefighting which includes a special tribute to the 13 firefighters who lost their lives at the Strand Theatre fire in 1941. Brockton Firefighters Local IAFF 144 was instrumental in purchasing the historic Squad A truck that made its return to Brockton in 2021. The Squad A truck served the city of Brockton in multiple fires, most notably the Strand Fire of 1941 that killed 13 firefighters.