VIDEO: There's nearly $2 million worth of software guiding you through your 911 call in Rockford. The Rockford Fire Department (RFD) adopted ProQA in March 2023. Chief Michele Pankow credits the technology for "streamlining" dispatch responses. The services cost RFD nearly $2 million over 5 years. Before the software, RFD relied on a Rolodex of predetermined questions and answers – assisting dispatch service workers through calls. Since ProQA's implementation, the tech offers thousands of potential response plans through a digital triage interface. "For us, this really was a monumental change," says Chief Pankow. The program provides "all of the questions that the call taker is going through." Fire personnel receive additional information with the software – learning what's required to help those dialing 911.  

VIDEO: A Cahokia Heights resident escaped a smoky house fire Tuesday morning, but their five pets are still unaccounted for. The fire happened around 9 a.m. on Louise Lane. Multiple fire crews were called in to help put out the flames. A police officer even stepped in to assist the Camp Jackson Fire Protection District. "We were called out for working fire when we got on scene heavy fire coming out of the structure. One occupant did make it. He has some injuries. He was taken to a local hospital," Camp Jackson Assistant Fire Chief Sharon Davis said. Davis said firefighters will soon begin to comb through the remains of the house to look for the dogs, who remain missing. "Soon as we start looking through it, if we find them, we will bury them, if that's what (the homeowners) want," she said.  

High school seniors Emma Ehrens and Grace Fischer will hear their names read out today as they are called to collect their diplomas and start the next chapter of their lives. But they are also steeling themselves to hear 20 other names of former classmates who never got to leave first grade, let alone plan for college and grow into adulthood. Today is the day that the 20 children massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012 would have graduated, perhaps cheered on by the six teachers and administrators also killed in the deadliest K-12 shooting in US history. "It's just going to be heartbreaking," Grace told CNN. "I can't imagine that 20 kids are not graduating with us and that they're not having the opportunity to walk across the stage."  

PHOTOS: The Utica Fire Department is celebrating their 150th anniversary this month and Deputy Fire Chief John R. Kelly recently took the Daily Sentinel on a trip down memory lane. Kelly said the early 1900s saw great change to the fire service and the world because of the invention of the motor vehicle. "The era of the horses was starting to end," said Kelly. The UFD bought their first motorized vehicle for the fire chief in 1914. Within the next three years, the department was fully motorized with 10 engine companies and four truck companies. "This was quite an accomplishment at the time. We were one of the first in the country to be fully motorized," Kelly stated. "The old timers, obviously, they didn't want the horses to go away because they worked. Tradition is very much entrenched in the fire service. Just like a lot of things, nobody likes change," Kelly explained.  

VIDEOS: A fire that crews believe was caused by lightning left a large hole in a mansion located in western Delray Beach on Tuesday. According to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, units were dispatched to the 10000 block of El Paraiso Place at about 12:19 p.m. WPTV crews at the scene spotted multiple firetrucks at the entrance to the Tierra Del Rey Estates South community. Fire Rescue said the home is an approximately 11,000-square-foot multi-story house. Callers to 911 reported seeing black smoke and flames. When crews arrived, they spotted heavy flames and smoke coming from the home. A second alarm was later called to the scene. Fire Rescue said firefighters performed a rapid search and deployed multiple hoselines, including two ladder trucks. The fire was under control by 2:30 p.m.  

VIDEO: The Atlantic hurricane season is still forecast to be extremely active this year despite a quiet start so far, according to the latest outlook released Tuesday by researchers at Colorado State University (CSU), where seasonal forecasts were pioneered 40 years ago. Dr. Phil Klotzbach, a senior research scientist at CSU, and his team are maintaining their original forecast from April that calls for 23 named storms, of which 11 would become hurricanes. Five of those storms could reach major hurricane status of Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. "The team again cites very warm sea surface temperatures in the tropical and eastern subtropical Atlantic as a primary factor for their active season prediction," the report stated.