A man was airlifted to a hospital with "severe traumatic" facial injuries late Saturday night following an accident involving a firework in north suburban Waukegan, authorities said. The incident was reported at approximately 10 p.m. at a residence in the 400 block of North County Street, according to the Waukegan Fire Department. The victim, a man in his 20s, sustained injuries from a mortar-type firework and was initially transported to Vista East Medical Center in Waukegan. He was later transferred by medical helicopter to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. Following the incident and ahead of celebrations involving fireworks on the Fourth of July, Waukegan's fire marshal issued a safety reminder to residents.  

Fireworks are being blamed for starting a fire that nearly destroyed two homes in the southwest suburbs overnight Saturday, according to fire officials. The Frankfort Fire Department said luckily no one was injured in the fire that left two families without a place to live. Surrounded by family and friends, homeowner Susan Isakson knows she's lucky to be alive after fireworks set her house ablaze. "I was woken up at like 5 a.m.," Isakson said. That's when the single mother was roused from her sleep by screams to get out of the house she's shared with her sons for the last four years. Sharon Riley rushed from northwest Indiana after a frantic call to her other daughter. "I knew something was wrong. She said, 'Mom, Susie's house burned,'" Riley recalled.  

A Warrenville family was unable to return to their town home after a fire broke out Friday afternoon. Warrenville Fire Protection District received a call just before 1:45 p.m. to report a blaze in a driveway the 29W400 block of Crabtree Lane that had extended to a home. Firefighters got to the scene minutes later, and found flames coming from a two-story multi-family residence. Fire crews used a hose to put out flames on the outside of the building and entered the affected town home to continue to fight the blaze. Warrenville police and firefighters, in addition to crews from neighboring fire departments, helped make sure residents who live in the town home and adjacent town home had safely escaped the fire. Firefighters put out the blaze within 15 minutes, but the town home was deemed uninhabitable. Two cars that had been parked in the home's driveway had been moved, but were damaged by radiant heat from the fire.  

Two of the heroic firefighters who responded to the devastating fire at the Chemtool Plant in Rockton, Illinois nearly three weeks ago said the events of June 14th will be etched into their family history. 20-year-old Wyatt Bomkamp is a new recruit to the Janesville Fire Department. His engine responded to the fire at Chemtool, a grease manufacturing plant, as the initial explosions were taking place that Monday morning. "They were screaming on the radio to take cover and whatnot. There were barrels flying through the air," Wyatt described the initial, intense moments on the scene. Not long after Wyatt arrived, a crew from the Clinton Fire Department pulled up to assist in the firefighting. "I look to see who the driver was and it was him," said Wyatt. Wyatt's 19-year-old brother, Tanner Bomkamp, was at the helm of Clinton's rescue truck.  

Four months after Springfield aldermen voted to cut $1.4 million from the fire department budget, Mayor Jim Langfelder is now seeking to restore that funding. Langfelder voted in favor of the budget cut in February, but now hopes to use federal American Rescue Plan funds to give the money back to the department. Fire Chief Brandon Blough has said layoffs may be unavoidable in the fire department unless the funding is restored. Aldermen will consider the ordinance later this month.  

An estimated $50,000 in damage was done when a vacant home caught fire Saturday just after 4:00 p.m. in the 600 block of E. Illinois. Fire crews found heavy fire and smoke from a second floor rear window when they arrived. The fire extended into the attic and additional crews were needed to perform extensive overhaul and hit hot spots, according to Battalion Chief Kyle Field. Due to the extreme heat, back up crews had to relieve the first crews on scene. Overall, 22 firefighters responded to the scene and had the blaze under control just before 4:30 p.m. No injuries were reported in the fire, and the cause remains under investigation.  

VIDEO: The explosions of fireworks heard Sunday sent beachgoers scrambling in Ocean City. Ocean City Bomb Squad personnel, ATF, and Maryland State Fire Marshal's Bomb Squad are just a few of the agencies now investigating. What was supposed to be a downtown show with live music and an array of colors filling the sky at Northside Park ended before it even began with Starfire Corporation employees receiving minor injuries. The fireworks unintentionally discharged around 10:30 AM. Multiple beachgoers captured the boom now being echoed nationwide. "At the truck out there, there were huge explosions all around the truck," said one beachgoer. "The police were on the scene. They were trying to clear the boardwalk," said one woman.  

VIDEO: It has been more than 26 years since the Murrah Building bombing. And a retired Guthrie firefighter is just now sharing his story with us in hopes of finding the woman behind this nameplate. As luck would have it, he happened to find two pieces of it on separate days. And he knew one day he'd give it back to the woman if she survived. "I'm proud to have been a Guthrie firefighter," Wesley Whitehorn said. What began as a normal day for Whitehorn would turn out to be one of the most significant of his life. "I was working on my lawnmower early that morning and my house shook like an earthquake," he said. "The Murrah Building bombing was one of the biggest things in my career -- that's happened besides delivering babies," he said. The explosion shook Oklahoma and the nation to the core. "My phone rings. It was the fire department. ‘A bomb went off. Are you going?' I picked up my gear, blood is pumping, lights and sirens all the way.  

VIDEO: Vice President Kamala Harris paid a brief surprise visit to a Brentwood fire station Sunday to thank firefighters for their service to the community. Accompanied by her husband Douglas Emhoff and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, and his wife Betty, Harris visited Los Angeles Fire Department Station 19, near the vice president's Brentwood home. In 2019, Station 19 contributed to the more than 1,000 firefighters who responded to the Getty Fire, which destroyed 10 homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate. The vice president arrived at the station shortly after 11 a.m. with a box of cookies for the firefighters from Deluscious Cookies & Milk, a female-owned small business in Hollywood that ships nationwide and across Canada. During her 13-minute visit, Harris made references to wildfires and drought conditions, according to White House reporters traveling with her. "This fire season is going to be worse than last year," she said.  

VIDEO: The City of Marietta Fire Department swore in their youngest recruit on Friday: a 4-year-old cancer patient from Augusta. Bubba Diedrich was diagnosed with leukemia a year ago. The fire department teamed up with the Make A Wish foundation to make his dream of being a firefighter possible. "I, Bubba, here by swear that I will have all the fun a 4-year-old can have," the proclamation said. We were there for Bubba's big day on the job. His fellow firefighters helped the Augusta boy get suited up. "He loves the trucks and everything they do," Bubba's father Travis Diedrich said. "All of us at the fire department are really excited and just to see that smile on his face is just unbelievable," Chief Tim Milligan said.  

An Independence Day afternoon fire at Fitzgerald's Hotel, "one of the city's most famous eating places," in 1946 became the center of attention in downtown Glens Falls. "More than a thousand persons were attracted to the scene by the heavy palls of smoke which at times nearly obliterated the building and firemen working on ladders along the facade," The Post-Star reported. "Glen Street was clogged with fire equipment and hoses, making it necessary to reroute heavy holiday traffic." The restaurant was filled with diners when the fire broke out around 2:25 p.m. Several guests and employees, as well owner D. J. Fitzgerald Jr., were in hotel rooms on upper floors. "Two lines of hose were rigged on the aerial truck and began pouring torrents of water into the flaming roof and subsequently eight other lines were laid, flooding the blazing portions from many angles," The Post-Star reported.