Nine Abbott EMS employees graduated Thursday morning from an inaugural program called " Earn While You Learn," leading them on a career path to receive their EMT certification. The graduation ceremony was held in conjunction with National EMS week at the Abbott EMS headquarters in Effingham. Tyler Lindsey of Effingham, one of Thursday's graduates, thinks the program offers a unique opportunity. "This is a great program for anyone interested in EMS or someone who wants to be a paramedic in the future," Lindsey said. Lindsey told the EDN in March, two weeks into the eight-week program, that it gave him an opportunity he would have never been able to afford on his own. "I always wanted to be in emergency services and just really didn't have the money to go to college to get the degree to become an EMT," Lindsey said. Lindsey said he wants to work his way up to become a paramedic.  

A smoke alarm is to thank for alerting a Naperville family who was displaced from their home after a fire broke out in the 700 block of Thornapple Drive early Tuesday. Naperville firefighters got to the scene just before 5 a.m. to find smoke coming from the roof of the home's attached two-car garage. Fire crews put out the flame within 15 minutes of their arrival, according to a news release from Naperville Fire Department Division Chief Scott Salela. A resident told firefighters they had been alerted of the fire by their home's smoke detectors and called 911 after smelling smoke. All residents safely evacuated the home with their pets before firefighters got to the scene, and no one was injured. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but is not believed to have been suspicious.  

PHOTOS: Police, firefighters and paramedics from Arlington Heights responded about 6:01 p.m. Monday, May 24, 2021 to a report of a crash with injuries at Dwyer Avenue and Campbell Street in Arlington Heights. Police and firefighters and paramedics on arrival discovered a small black Honda SUV crashed head-on into a tree. Witnesses reported a couple in their 40s were in the intersection headed south after the stop sign and crashed right into the tree without any braking. Both people got out of the SUV on their own, and lied down in the grass before paramedics arrived. Two people were transported in one ambulance by Arlington Heights Fire Department paramedics Two Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.  

A house fire has rekindled after it was put out earlier Monday night in Decatur. Decatur firefighters are calling the initial fire at an abandoned house suspicious. The northbound side of Jasper Street was closed in the area of this fire after it rekindled. The structure, located in the 1200 block of Leafland Ave., appeared to have sustained heavy damage. A WAND News crew observed at least five trucks on the scene. An ambulance was on standby at 8 p.m. Monday. Two ladder trucks were on the scene. Ameren Illinois responded to the area. No power was hooked up, crews said. Firefighters said they responded after 7:30 p.m. Monday for the fire.  

VIDEO: A massive fire damaged a South Nashville apartment complex Monday night, displacing residents and impacting at least 18 units. Emergency crews were called to the Brentwood Oaks Apartments around 8:15 p.m. before firefighters called for additional personnel to help manage the scene. The fire destroyed the entire third floor of the building and most of the second floor. The American Red Cross was called to help assist residents. The initial hydrants firefighters used did not provide enough pressure to battle the flames and water had to be drawn from the bottom of the hill at the complex. Gas to the building was cut off around 10 p.m. and NES also turned off power. The apartment complex is located near Old Hickory Boulevard and Nipper's Corner. One viewer told News 2 smoke and flames could be seen from several miles away.  

As a way to help with emergencies on town trails, the Fire Department has started on a trail-marking project. Firefighter Christopher Fusco has been spearheading the project for over four years and first implemented it at Crescent Lake with the help of Firefighter Ryan Pulver. The markers are placed about every hundred feet. All trails at Crescent Lake are marked and there are two large information signs — one in the parking lot — that give a brief explanation of the signs. The signs also have a QR code that links to a town website with a map of the trails, a more in-depth explanation of the trail markers and a list of hiking safety tips. "If someone gets lost or injured and they are near one of the signs or they remember the closest sign they saw last, they call 911, they tell us what number they are near and we have our corresponding map and we'll be able to get to them as quickly as possible," Fusco said.  

In just eight days in January, an EMT and a paramedic with Beaufort County EMS each racked up more than 140 hours doing a job that required quick thinking and reactions at any time of day or night, from rushing to transport trauma patients to the hospital to responding to life-threatening medical emergencies. Three times, their initial, 24-hour shifts ended. And three times, rather than clock out, they started another. These extended 48-hour shifts are the norm rather than the exception in Beaufort County, budget documents and schedules reviewed by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette show. The newspapers' analysis reveals the county's EMS department has blown through its overtime budget repeatedly in recent years, overspending by millions of dollars while potentially compromising worker and patient safety, employees and experts warn.  

The annual National Memorial Day Concert airs this Sunday at 8 p.m. on PBS. It will include a 20th anniversary remembrance of 9/11 presented by Steve Buscemi. "I went to D.C. almost 20 years ago the year after 9/11; I was asked to do the 9/11 tribute then because they knew I'm a former firefighter with Engine 55 in Manhattan," Buscemi said. "Here we are 20 years later. I'm actually not coming to D.C. I've pretaped my tribute at Ground Zero in front of the Freedom Tower and 9/11 museum, so I'm very honored." He'll never forget the heartbreak of watching the Twin Towers fall. "It was awful," Buscemi said. "Knowing how many people work there and how many people that were lost in the buildings, that was so overwhelming. It was really hard to comprehend. It wasn't until I started hearing the numbers of firefighters that were missing that it hit home for me, because now I knew that I would know people who were lost."