VIDEO: Firefighters are on the scene of a massive structure fire in Cicero. SkyCam 9 flew over the 4800 block of W. 28th St. for a structure fire upgraded to a two-alarm response by crews. Cameras captured heavy smoke and an ambulance on the scene. No injuries have been reported. Fire crews were observed on the roof of the structure working to extinguish the blaze.  

Al Bawadi Grill in Niles was evacuated after a small fire in a kitchen exhaust system Monday evening. Park Ridge firefighters spotted smoke from the fire at 6:35 p.m. at 8501 Dempster St. They called in a confirmed fire, which brought a response of 16 fire units including two tower trucks, three ambulances, six engines, three battalion chiefs, and other units, Niles Fire Chief Marty Feld said. The built-in Ansul system along with an extinguisher put the fire out by 6:52 p.m., according to Feld. Responding fire units blocked all lanes of eastbound Dempster Street. Feld said enough responding units cleared the scene to allow Dempster to reopen to traffic by 7:10 p.m. The last units left the scene at about 7:20 p.m. Feld said the restaurant was full of patrons when firefighters responded. Those patrons were evacuated from the dining room as a precaution.  

A small structure fire in White Hall could have been a lot worse yesterday. White Hall Volunteer Fire Department Chief Garry Sheppard says that a propane grill caught a garage on fire at approximately 6:09PM at 525 North Main Street. Sheppard says White Hall Fire crews got to the address approximately 5 minutes later: "It was a garage fire behind a house that set quite a ways off the street. It was kind of hard to get to because of the narrow driveways. It set right beside the neighbor's garage, which was about 18 inches away. We were able to contain the fire to just the garage of the owner [who called], and there was no damage to the neighbor's garage, thankfully." Sheppard says that the fire department was on scene for approximately 1 hour and were mutually assisted by the Roodhouse Fire Department. He says the owner of the home was able to get two vehicles out of the garage before fire spread to them. Sheppard says that a still-warm gas grill was the origin of the fire.  

The Normal Fire Department responded to a fire that burned half a duplex near the Ironwood golf course Tuesday. According to a Normal Fire Department Facebook post, Firefighters responded to the fire at the duplex on Clairidge Green Country Club Court at 11:14 a.m. The caller reported that there was smoke coming out of the home and that there may be two dogs inside the home. Normal firefighters forced entry into the home and began search and rescue efforts. Firefighters located the fire near the kitchen and had it under control in about ten minutes. Rescue crews located two unresponsive dogs inside the home. The dogs were given oxygen and taken by ambulance to Town and Country Animal Hospital. Despite all efforts, both dogs died. There was heavy fire damage to the area near the kitchen and heavy smoke damage throughout the home. Normal Fire Chief Mick Humer encourages neighbors to report all possible fires.  

A firefighter killed a co-worker and wounded another at their small fire station before setting his own home ablaze and apparently killing himself in California's second deadly workplace shooting in days. The gunman, a firefighter specialist and engineer, was off-duty when he apparently drove the 10 miles (16 kilometers) from his home in Acton, north of Los Angeles, and opened fire Tuesday morning at Los Angeles County Fire Station 81, authorities said. The killer "was not scheduled to work today. He came back and confronted the on-duty personnel," a visibly shaken Fire Chief Daryl Osby told reporters. "I cannot speak to the mindset of the shooter." The chief also said he didn't know about any disciplinary actions involving the gunman, who wasn't immediately identified. A 44-year-old fire specialist, who drove a fire truck, was shot several times in the upper torso and died. He had been with the department for more than 20 years, Osby said.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Horry County Fire Rescue responded to a two-alarm fire at an apartment building in the 9000 block of Shore Drive Tuesday night before it turned into a four-alarm fire. Crews were initially dispatched at 11:01 p.m. when a second alarm was sent. Firefighters were pulled from the Ocean Bridge apartment building around 6:30 a.m. out of an abundance of caution for the safety of responders, officials said. Additionally, large construction equipment was requested and will be on the scene to begin dismantling the heavily damaged units. Right before 1:00 a.m., the fire was upgraded to a third alarm fire, and just after 2:00 a.m., it was upgraded to a four-alarm. Around 12:30 a.m. HCFR tweeted the fire was under control, this was before the fire was upgraded.  

Sometimes careers start from the most unusual beginnings. So it was for Aaron Knotts, now chief of the Chillicothe Fire Department. "The summer between my eighth- and ninth-grade years," he began, "I went to South Carolina with a friend and his family for a weeklong vacation. While down there, we had purchased some fireworks that were legal in SC." "We brought some back to Ohio with us where they are illegal to set off," he continued. "We had given some to a couple neighborhood kids who ended up catching a school dumpster on fire with them. About a month later, a fire investigator showed up at my front door and asked if I had given some kids some fireworks and I said, ‘Yes.' I then had to go to the Lancaster Fire Department and give a formal statement and ended up having to do 25 hours of community service as my punishment."  

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition caused by experiencing a traumatic event and effects both military and civilians alike. According to WebMD, nearly eight percent of adults will develop PTSD at some point in their lives. Doctor Sam Fiala, an Associate Professor at Texas A&M University Central Texas, said the last 15 months has been hard on a lot of people. "It's been tough for people who have already been struggling with mental health issues, the added contextual stress that everybody shared was an extra burden," he said. A new program being rolled out by Temple Fire & Rescue called Critical Incident Stress Management is aimed at giving first responders the tools and skills to assist fellow responders cope and recover from traumatic stress.  

FDNY hero Abraham Miller, on a roof six stories above a Manhattan street, heard the screams before spotting something through the flames and billowing smoke: A child's tiny hand, extended from an apartment window. As a colleague lowered Miller down by hand with a rope, with the screams of other residents echoing through the darkness, the five-year veteran tried to put the 5-year-old girl at ease. "I told her, ‘We're coming, we're coming, relax,'" he recalled of the daring Sept. 29, 2020, rescue. "Once I had her in my arms, she was crying and I said, ‘Just put your arms around my neck.' The ride down was the longest ever.'" The FDNY firefighter will be honored Wednesday with the Peter J. Ganci Jr. Memorial Award, the department's highest annual award for bravery, renamed last year for the late chief of department. Ganci became the FDNY's high-ranking uniformed member to die in the line of duty on 9/11.