VIDEO: Battling a fire in a home in Evanston on Monday was made much harder by what was inside. Firefighters said they encountered a hoarding situation when they arrived for a fire at a home in the 1300 block of Dewey Avenue at 8:45 a.m. The first firefighters to arrive encountered restricted access to the home because of the hoarding. They found heavy smoke and fire on the first floor of the house. The fire was upgraded to a box alarm, bringing more firefighters to the scene. The residents of the house were able to exit safely, and no civilian injuries were reported. One firefighter was taken to an area hospital for a minor injury. Firefighters also rescued several cats from the house. A portion of Dempster Street near the house was briefly closed for staging of fire vehicles, but it later reopened.  

The Illinois Interagency Wildland Fire Crew returned recently from a 17-day deployment to assist in containing wildfires in northern Minnesota. The 20-person crew made up of highly trained wildland firefighters from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, and a member of a community fire department trained to fight structure fires, was deployed to Bemidji, Minnesota to assist the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The Illinois crew was assigned to the Radar Fire just outside of Bemidji. The arson-caused fire was burning through approximately 65 acres of pine forest, brush, and grass. Record-setting dry fuels, low humidity, and high temperatures made the fire difficult to manage. Fuel moisture levels were at a 50-year low.  

Illinois American Water is accepting applications for its 2021 Firefighter Grant Program. Through this program, the company provides financial assistance to fire and emergency organizations in its service areas. Illinois American Water's Justin Ladner, president, said that the Firefighter Grant Program provides another opportunity to support public safety. "Our team of professionals deliver the water used to combat fires," Ladner said, "but firefighters need additional support to help protect homes and businesses. "Through this program we are able to help our local heroes purchase tools, equipment, training materials and more. We are proud to contribute to their efforts." Since 2010, Illinois American Water has awarded more than $668,000 for more than 680 grants to Illinois fire departments. Fire departments/districts are eligible for one grant per year.  

The city council of Decatur has approved a new fire department and truck for the fire department. New station 7 3530 and 3550E in R-2 district. It will be built on Chestnut Avenue. The station will replace the current station 7 at Decatur Airport. City officials say the current station 7 is too small to meet the needs of the fire department and is not located where it is geographically needed. "Basically, you had a fire department that ran only about half of the area it could run," said Decatur Fire Chief Jeff Abbott. "Therefore, by moving to a more central location across the lake, we will be able to accommodate the southeastern corridor and will do our utmost to improve the response time in the area."  

VIDEO: A massive fire broke out in a Tukwila apartment complex early Tuesday morning, giving firefighters fits as they try to take it down. Zone 3 Public Information Officer Eric Autry said the department was called out just after 5 a.m. for the fire in the 15100 block of 65th Avenue S, which crews almost immediately upgraded to a two-alarm fire. Firefighters started with a defensive plan for the fire and thought they got it under control until they got inside and saw fire surrounding them from all sides. This is when Autry said they had to return to a defensive standpoint and call in a third alarm, bringing in departments from around south King County. "We have had some injuries, I don't know the exact number, I don't believe they were serious injuries, they were minor injuries," Autry said as firefighters continued to try to slow it down more than an hour later.  

VIDEO: Nearly 3,000 people died the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Among them were 343 New York City firefighters, plus eight emergency medical service workers from private companies who responded to the Twin Towers in New York City. To honor them, Wisconsin firefighters are collecting 351 pairs of new or slightly used men's shoes to display at the Wisconsin State Firefighters Memorial in Wisconsin Rapids on Sept. 11 this year — the 20th anniversary of the attacks. Jack Sponholtz, a member of the Tisch Mills Fire Department for 56 years, came up with the idea for collecting the shoes. He was the commander of the Manitowoc Hazmat Team in 2001, and he recalled that at the time of the attacks his team and other agencies were inside "The Bunker" under the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Office to discuss the results of recent emergency drills at local nuclear power plants.  

A tribute is growing in honor of a 26-year-old Burlington firefighter who died after suffering a medical emergency while fighting a fire in New Hartford last week. Colin McFadden, a member of the Burlington Volunteer Fire Department, was one of the many firefighters who responded to help put out a massive fire at the historic New Hartford House in New Hartford last week when he suffered a medical emergency and was rushed to John Dempsey Hospital for emergency surgery. That is where doctors discovered that he had a rare form of leukemia that had not been diagnosed, according to fire officials. Two days late, McFadden passed away.  

VIDEO: United Airlines is performing the final safety tests at its upcoming Technical Operations Center at Los Angeles International Airport. The $352 million project, which United and the Los Angeles World Airports broke ground on in 2019, will allow the airline to provide service for all of its aircraft fleets. The 407,408 square foot facility is comprised of two connected buildings that include a ground service equipment and facilities maintenance building and a line maintenance hangar. The hangar features an engine support shop that will focus on the aircraft's Dreamliner fleet. The facility's fire suppression system, which the airline recently tested in a video, features 400 gallons of high expansion concentrate used to generate over 1.57 million cubic feet of foam. In the demonstration, the foam fills the hanger more than 10-feet deep in less than four minutes.  

Five states broke records for the average number of daily new COVID cases over the weekend as the delta variant strains hospital systems across the U.S. and forces many states to reinstate public health restrictions. Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, Oregon and Mississippi all reached new peaks in their seven-day average of new cases per day as of Sunday, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. On a per capita basis, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida are suffering from the three worst outbreaks in the country. Louisiana recorded an average of 126 cases per 100,000 residents as of Sunday, more than three times the national average, while Mississippi and Florida averaged 110 and 101 cases per 100,000 residents, respectively, according to the data.