VIDEO: Three Chicago police officers were hurt this weekend while saving residents from a burning apartment in Bronzeville. As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reported, the officers rushed in before Chicago firefighters arrived. They knocked on doors to wake people sleeping inside before the smoke and flames overwhelmed them. The fire broke out Sunday night in a three-story apartment building at 4820 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Four other people were also hurt in addition to the three officers. Despite a massive amount of smoke, witnesses said the officers ran into the burning building trying to get people out. "Piece of the roof were falling on our head," said Diana Pierce. "It hit me and I think it hit some of the officers realized something was going on, but we could not see going down the stairs." Video showed the heavy flames coming from the roof of the building, but firefighters believe the fire actually started in the basement before quickly spreading to the upper floors.  

The Peoria Fire Department may eliminate low-priority medical calls from its response roster. The Peoria City Council will discuss the results and recommendations from a fire and dispatch service study conducted by Fitch and Associates last year at a special meeting Tuesday. Peoria Fire Chief Tony Ardis said allowing Advanced Medical Transport to solo calls like falls in which the involved person is alert and just wants a hospital transport will free up firefighters for higher-priority tasks like serious accidents or fires. "Really, it's more of a keeping manpower in service for more critical calls. That's really where the importance comes into when you look at that," he said. Falls alone amounted to more than 10 percent of the total calls firefighters responded to in 2017.  

Two Chicago firefighters were hurt early Sunday as a bakery was destroyed on Division Street in the Austin community. The fire broke out just after midnight Sunday at Biondillo's Bakery, at 4900 W. Division St. at Lamon Avenue. One firefighter was sent to Stroger Hospital of Cook County in serious condition after he was struck by debris. The other was sent to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park in good condition. The bakery was deemed a total loss. Investigators had not determined the cause of the fire Sunday afternoon.  

All residents from a Decatur apartment building were displaced after a Monday fire. Firefighters said they responded at 7:42 p.m. to 421 N. College St, where they found a small electrical fire in the basement. The fire was sending smoke up to the third floor and throughout the building's 9 apartments. Flames burned halfway through a floor joist in the basement, responders said, and damage was not extensive. There were no injuries. With the help of a Decatur building inspector, firefighters said they determined a danger with the electrical system in the building made it unsafe for anyone to live in. Everyone inside, including 14 adults and two children as of Monday night, was displaced.  

A woman was treated at a local hospital for smoke inhalation following a fire around 4 p.m. Sunday in a five-story apartment complex at 327 N. Church St. Rockford Fire Department said the fire was discovered in the basement laundry area and was reported by building occupants and a passerby. The burning contents spread smoke from the basement to the second floor. Fire alarms alerted occupants to evacuate the building. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and kept it from spreading to other rooms. About $5,000 in damage occurred. Once smoke was cleared, all occupants were able to return to their apartments. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

It's a sign of our era — when countless Americans distrust government — that firefighters in one of Michigan's most affluent communities worry about a millage vote next month. If most voters in Bloomfield Township vote no, as they did for a police-and-fire measure with a bigger price tag last year, a projected 22 firefighter/paramedics could lose their jobs, Fire Chief Mike Morin says. That fear has pushed younger troops to think about leaving. And because they're highly trained, they'd be snatched up quickly by cities like Sterling Heights, Morin said. Last week, the chief met with employees from all three shifts, imploring them not to leave — not yet — but instead to see what the voters do. Seeing what voters do on March 10 is on the minds of countless public employees, from fire halls to school rooms, as communities across Oakland County and Michigan prepare to approve or defeat tax measures.  

When a firefighter rips his or her uniform, repairing it isn't quite as simple as ironing on a patch. Although it used to take weeks or months of waiting and thousands of dollars to repair their gear, the firefighters at the John B. Glaser Fire Station in Shawnee can have everything fixed in a few days. Capt. Andy Fenstermann, who has been a firefighter for Shawnee for seven years, was the first to take on the task of learning to repair firefighting gear. And it's not quite as simple as many might think. At the time, Fenstermann had pants that needed to be fixed. "I actually approached the chief with, ‘Hey, can my mom just fix these?' And he said, ‘No.' So I did a little bit of research and found that most manufacturers for the gear will teach you how to sew and certify you in fixing your own bunker gear for your department, and they'll do it for free," he said.  

Persistence may soon be paying off for firefighters across the Commonwealth. They have pushed for expanded cancer coverage as many are developing it at an high rate. Now, after five years of legislation, this year's bill looks like it will become law. Firefighters said state lawmakers were no longer able to overlook the problem in front of them and that's why they think they are the closest they've ever been to getting it passed. In the Roanoke Valley, some firefighters have been pushing for these changes for nearly a decade. Firefighters face extreme danger on the job and even the best gear in the world can't stop cancer. Kevin Weeks is a retired Roanoke City fire captain and knows it all too well. "Out of the last five years we've had three pass away, and we've had more than that over the last ten years," Weeks said. The data continues to show firefighters are at a big risk.  

The Mesa Fire and Medical Department has become the first fire team in Arizona to receive the designation of being a Certified Autism Center. The designation was granted by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards and comes after the staff, firefighters and other first responders at the department received position-specific training to "enhance their understanding and sensitivity when helping individuals with autism or other sensory sensitivities," according to a press release by the organization. The IBCCES website says that Certified Autism Centers must be dedicated to serving individuals with autism, have at least 80% of their staff trained and certified in the field of autism and be committed to ongoing training in autism. IBCCES President Meredith Tekin said that those standards will make a world of difference to people on the autism spectrum in the area.  

With tight budgets and dwindling amounts of volunteer help, interior fire departments struggle with maintaining staffing. In 2011 the Steese Volunteer Fire Department came up with an idea to help -- they began providing scholarships and a place to live for students who are going to UAF. "We are able to staff two stations, two ambulances, two engines, with these scholarship folks to serve the community for minimal amount of money," said Captain Ruth Church. "If we had this amount of staffing that we were trying to pay for full time, it would be quite a bit more expensive. So by giving them the opportunity to go to school, and live and work at the fire station, it really benefits the community members." Church said in 2005 when she started working at the department, they only had a handful of volunteers and one paid person. Now they have 15 scholarship positions that are at the department full time.