VIDEO: An Uptown apartment building was heavily damaged by a fire Monday afternoon, according to the Chicago Fire Department. Fire officials said the blaze started shortly after 3 p.m. in the 800-block of West Gunnison Street. It was struck out around 6:30 p.m., though crews remained at the scene to battle hot spots. The damage to the building is such that fire officials said relocation of residents will be required. Two residents told ABC7 they were home when the fire started. They said they heard fire alarms go off, smelled smoke, and evacuated the building with a few items, including their dogs. "All of a sudden I smelled some smoke. An alarm went off. The firemen were at the front door, said 'Get out!'" said resident David Thomas.  

Chicago police are looking for a person who set a series of fires in dumpsters on the North Side. Between 2 a.m. and 3:40 a.m. Tuesday, five dumpsters and a garage were set on fire in the Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods. According to one of the homeowners on the 700 block of West Schubert, there had been a recycling bin in the alley which was filled with cardboard. The homeowner did not want to be interviewed, but provided surveillance video from right before the fire. A man in a white cap is seen walking down the alleyway with something in his left hand. Seconds later, there are flames which then spread to the garage structure. This incident was just one of five fires in over a two-hour span. The situation had police all over the area responding to scenes and searching for the apparent serial arsonist.  

Three people were taken to the hospital after a chemical spill at a popular restaurant in the far northwest suburbs. The incident happened around 12 p.m. at the Brunch Cafe in the 900-block of Route 22 in Fox River Grove. Firefighters said an employee dumped a large amount of cleaning chemicals down the drain. As a result, three people inside the restaurant had trouble breathing A hazmat response team was called and cleaned up the spill. The restaurant closed for the rest of the day, but is expected to open on time on Tuesday.  

Emergency crews were called to a home in the 1900 block of N. Maryland in Peoria just after 6:30 Monday night. First companies on the scene reported seeing smoke coming from the front of the home. The house appeared to be vacant and was boarded-up. Crews were able to make entry and found fire in a back room. The fire was put out in less than 10 minutes, but the home sustained heavy smoke damage. An investigator called to the scene determined the fire was intentionally set. The house was vacant. No firefighter injuries were reported.  

Four people were displaced in a fire in a fire that also claimed a cat's life. Firefighters said they responded at 6:56 p.m. Monday to 1432 Forest Ave., where they found a fire in the second floor apartment of a multi-family residence. Crews said they found heavy smoke and head conditions in the apartment. Responders were able to quickly extinguish the flames and get the fire under control. They kept the fire from extending into a large attic area. Resuscitation efforts began on a cat that firefighters saved from the apartment, but the animal did not survive. Responders said three adults and one child were relocated to a hotel Monday night. The cause remains under investigation late Monday.  

VIDEO: The ABC11 I-Team obtained videos that are the first examples of what Person County officials call their "game-changing" technology for 911 callers. The videos are from live calls and were recorded at Person County Emergency Management's offices in Roxboro. "This is wonderful. This makes 911 dispatchers the true first responder," Brett Wrenn, Person County Emergency Communications Manager, told ABC11. "This is going to give that insight first responders need while they're on their way to these types of events." Person County introduced the technology in August, and so far its implementation has been limited to mostly fire calls and some "law enforcement," Wrenn said. The video feature starts only after a caller phones in regularly to 911, then the dispatcher uses discretion if he or she thinks live video might provide more information.  

A new program designed to help former offenders pursue a career in firefighting made its first deployment over the weekend to help battle the Saddleridge Fire in the San Fernando Valley. The Ventura Training Center Firefighter Training and Reentry Program began teaching its first class of participants in October 2018, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which developed the project with Calfire and the California Conservation Corps. The 18-month program in Camarillo provides advanced training in firefighting to those previously housed in fire camps operated by Calfire and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The first cohort is expected to complete training in April 2020, but two participants have already left to accept full-time positions by Calfire, according to CDCR.  

Passaic County Fire Academy welcomed the largest and most diverse class of recruits on Monday. The 47 trainees, who will be ready to fight fires by March, hail mostly from Paterson and Passaic - and that's no accident. Paterson's 34 recruits who walked into the fire academy in Wayne, were found by a specially created committee that helped its Fire Department scour the city for eligible individuals. "We aggressively recruited," Paterson Fire Chief Brian McDermott said. "We went to schools, libraries, religious houses, street corners." The committee found 1,000 Paterson residents to take the qualification test. The list was narrowed down to 150 candidates who took a competitive physical test which further narrowed the list down to the 34 — 17 of them Latinos and two women, the chief said. "Look at this class," Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh said to the recruits, their family and friends at Monday's welcome ceremony. "This is what America looks like."  

Firefighters now have the ability to send an EKG of your heart within seconds of arriving at your location in an emergency. "Oh, it could save someone's life. Matter of fact, actually it'll change their outcome." Travis Hollis, the City of Cape Girardeau's fire chief, is talking about a new feature on their Zoll monitor and defibrillator machines. "Previously we had to print a strip like this and hand that to the doctor once the patient arrived to the hospital. Now the doctor receives this while we're still in the patient's living," said Hollis. "Every second that the doctor's not prepared to receive that patient is a time that that heart or that brain is dying." Now, firefighters can send patient's EKG results back to the hospital before an ambulance even arrives if they're having symptoms of a heart attack.  

The Washington Department of Ecology announced Monday it will begin collecting and incinerating stockpiles of a toxic fire retardant foam that was used by fire departments for decades before the state restricted its use in 2018. The same type of foam was long used at Fairchild Air Force Base and blamed for contaminating West Plains water supplies, including the city of Airway Heights' tap system. Manufactured by chemical giants including 3M Co., the foam contains per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, which have been linked with an array of health problems. The man-made compounds, also used in products such as Teflon and Scotchguard, are sometimes called "forever chemicals" because they degrade extremely slowly in the environment and in the human body.