Residents were awoken by smoke detectors and escaped without injury after an early morning fire caused extensive damage to an apartment building in McHenry. The McHenry Township Fire Protection District responded around 2:30 a.m. Monday to the 1300 block of Park Street in McHenry for a report of a structure fire. McHenry Township Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Kevin Sears said crews arrived in three minutes and found a two-and-a-half-story, wood frame home. Heavy smoke was coming from the basement of the converted apartment building. Smoke detectors were present in the building and alerted the occupants who had been sleeping at the time of the fire, Sears said. Fire crews started an offensive attack on the fire by entering the basement with a hose line through a rear door.  

Multiple fires kept first responders busy across Central Illinois on Sunday. Now, they're spreading a message of how to stay safe. "Some of the best preventers of fire are not us, they're the community, so a little bit of education helps with that," Urbana Fire Department Engineer Andy Stewart said. It was all about awareness at Urbana Fire Department's annual "Risk Reduction Family Day" — something especially important now. "Whenever there's dry conditions and high winds, the fire hazard increases." Urbana Fire Department Lieutenant Brian Hoff said. "We've seen a lot of field work being done around us and those dry conditions just help fuel that fire." And it's not just harvesting — something as seemingly small as a cigarette could cause flames to erupt.  

PHOTOS: Crews battled a massive house fire in the Palmer Woods Historic District early Wednesday morning. The home near 7 Mile and Woodward in Detroit can be seen with flames shooting out of the roof in the main house on Oct. 9. Local 4 learned the homeowners were living in the guest house while fixing up the main home—they are okay. According to Historic Detroit, the Mirton Briggs House was built in the 1920s as a spec house by Clarence E Day. The first owner was Mirton L. Briggs, Vice President of the Briggs Manufacturing Co., manufacturer of automobile bodies. It was last sold in June 2023 for $950,000. At this time, there is no word on what caused the fire.  

VIDEO: The Oceanside Fire Department recently adopted the SkillBridge program, helping service members step into their professional lives outside of the military. "They're able to work on the ambulance and get real world experience that really does matter for them to get that next job," said Oceanside Fire Chief David Parsons. The Department of Defense program pairs with professions all over the country to give military members unique work experience, but locally there was nothing quite like this. "This is one of the few programs I saw that actually gives you the experience of actually treating patients and operating on a 911 platform, so that's why I 100% went for this," said Naval Petty Officer Reid Dillion. Dillion sees this setting the stage for his dream of being a doctor.  

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has announced the launch of its new Center for Firefighter Safety, Health and Well-being. According to a recent release, this initiative aims to improve the health and safety of firefighters by addressing the specific hazards they face in their line of work. This focus extends to both immediate dangers as well as long-term health risks on the job. "Firefighters are vital to the safety of our communities, risking their health and safety to protect our own," NIOSH Director John Howard said in a statement. "The [center] allows NIOSH to bring together our research and knowledge in a way to better protect firefighters from both immediate and long-term risks from their jobs."  

As the Tampa Bay area braces for Hurricane Milton's landfall, officials with Tampa General Hospital announced they have opened their incident command center and implemented their preparedness plan. That plan includes setting up their "aquafence," a water-impermeable barrier that can withstand storm surge up to 15 feet above sea level, and stocking important supplies at all of their locations. "We have a proactive and comprehensive plan in place to protect our locations against severe weather so we can continue to provide the exceptional care for which our patients turn to Tampa General," said Assistant Director of Public Safety Erinn Skiba. The hospital will also look to its Central Energy Plant, a 16,000-square-foot on-site energy source that will provide backup power to the building if there's a disruption.