Despite more recent cases of coronavirus in Illinois and now one across the Mississippi River, Edwardsville and Madison County officials have been working behind-the-scenes to shore up their defenses. Fire Chief Richard Welle said the city has been working through its emergency management functions on the COVID-19 outbreak from early on. "Over the last few weeks, as the virus clearly began migrating stateside, the city has stepped up its active response." He added that medics have had an updated plan for an infectious disease outbreak since 2017. "We have reviewed that plan and added specific information as we get it regarding COVID-19," he said. Welle said his EMS crews are the frontline members and the most visible.  

Though new cases of novel coronavirus continue to make headlines around the world, the Wheeling Fire Department's emergency responders are reacting as they would to any flu season. "We're treating this no differently than anyone who has the flu," said Fire Chief Keith MacIsaac. "It really is a flu, it just has a fancy name and spreads a little faster." Coronavirus causes flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath and can result in death in severe cases. The recent outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, late last year. As of March 8, more than 105,000 cases have been diagnosed in 100 countries as well as 3,500 coronavirus-related deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  

The Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department was called at 9:34 p.m. Sunday to a house fire in the 800 block of Dover Court in Crystal Lake. According to a news release from the department, the first crews got to the home at 9:39 p.m., and reported that no fire was present and all were evacuated. Those who lived in the home said there was smoke in the craw space before they got out, according to the news release. Fire crews found flames in the crawl space and quickly put it out, however, flames had extended to the outside of the home, according to the news release. Firefighters and those at the home weren't hurt, and the fire was under control at 9:41 p.m., according to the news release. A department investigator was called to the home, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation, fire officials said.  

VIDEO: A new partnership hopes to increase the number of people in Indiana who can donate tissue after they die. The partnership is between Carmel Fire Department and Indiana Donor Network. The changes that this partnership brings could impact thousands of people a year. Organs cannot be donated from people who die outside of a hospital. "Historically in Indiana, those people who may die out of the hospital would never have the chance to become a tissue donor," said Logan Miller with Indiana Donor Network. By law, not everyone has to report when someone dies to the donor network. "In Indiana, the only people who are required to make a referral are hospitals. So if you pass away at a nursing home, if you pass away on hospice, if you pass away anywhere outside of a hospital, referrals are not made," Miller said. Carmel Fire Department knows the impact that a donation can have on a person's life.  

"This is - ‘Follow me, follow me, follow me.' Left, right, upstairs, basement, ‘Show me your basement.' That's a good question - ‘Where's your bedroom?' You would want to know ‘Is the baby in the bedroom?''' Cindy Hanzes, of Connellsville, demonstrated words in American Sign Language to firefighters attending a special class at the Morrell Volunteer Fire Company. Many of the words could apply to firefighters finding themselves in emergency situations involving people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The firefighters paid close attention, carefully shaping their fingers in imitation as they learned. Hanzes, a certified employment support professional for Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh, became the teacher for this five-week class under arrangements made by Hear Fayette, a center for hearing loss assistance and community education, which operates under St. Vincent de Paul Society in Uniontown.  

The man who would become Patient Zero for the new coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. appeared to do everything right. He arrived Jan. 19 at an urgent-care clinic in a suburb north of Seattle with a slightly elevated temperature and a cough he'd developed soon after returning four days earlier from a visit with family in Wuhan, China. The 35-year-old had seen a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alert about the virus and decided to get checked. He put on a mask in the waiting room. After learning about his travel, the clinic drew blood and called state and county health officials, who hustled the sample onto an overnight flight to the CDC lab in Atlanta. The patient was told to stay in isolation at home, and health officials checked on him the next morning.  

A fire lieutenant used bad judgment when he tried to make a training exercise more realistic and ended up starting a blaze that injured a fellow firefighter, Fire Chief John Oates said Monday. Lt. Doug McKeon, a 21-year department veteran, was suspended without pay for 14 days in January and February, according to a disciplinary letter released after a Freedom of Information request. "Your unblemished record and many years of positive professional service were considered in contemplating this discipline," Oates wrote in the letter to McKeon, dated Jan. 16. "However, this level of failure by a Lieutenant cannot be tolerated." The town bought property at 1718 Main St. near Fire Station No. 2 as a prospective location for a new station. Before a vacant house on the property was torn down recently, the police and fire departments used the place for training, Oates said.