A man in his 60s was seriously hurt, and a woman also injured, Thursday after the man jumped from the second floor of a burning home in Homan Square on the West Side. Crews responded shortly before 10:50 a.m. for a fire in a row house in the 900-block of South Lawndale Avenue, Chicago Fire Dept. spokesman Larry Langford said. Firefighters arrived and found a man hurt on the ground, Langford said. He was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in serious-to-critical condition after suffering from smoke inhalation. A woman in her 30s was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, he said. The fire was extinguished just before it spread to another unit, Langford said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

A firefighter was injured Thursday evening trying to contain a fire at a home in South Holland. The fire broke out at 16754 S. Paxton Ave. in the south suburb, officials said. At one point, fire officials were forced to call in a mayday, when the flames were out of control. CBS 2 is told one firefighter suffered minor injuries. It was not clear Thursday night whether anyone inside the home was hurt.  

Alton firefighters responded Thursday afternoon to Quality Buick GMC Cadillac, 1620 Homer Adams Pkwy. to extinguish a fire that had erupted in the ventilation system of a paint booth. The blaze caused black smoke to billow into the air from near the rear of the building. Employees were evacuated when the fire broke out around 4 p.m., and firefighters made quick work of getting to the blaze. Despite the ominous visual of the smoke, little damage was done to the building and the dealership planned to be open for business as usual on Friday. No injuries were reported. Firefighters continue to investigate what started the fire.  

An ordinary day at the ballpark turned into a harrowing fight for survival for one Chicago Cubs fan last summer, and this week he reunited with the man who saved his life on that fateful day. During the Cubs' Aug. 5 game against the Oakland A's, John Ginino was sitting in the stands at the Friendly Confines when he suddenly collapsed. "I don't remember anything. I had no chest pains. I had nothing out of the ordinary," he said. "It was just a normal day." Just a few rows away, Burbank firefighter Leo Andrade was also taking in the game, and he heard the cries for help after Ginino collapsed. "I saw a gentleman screaming that they needed a doctor," he said. "I said you know what? Nobody has died in my hands and you are not going to be the first one."  

An overpass was set aflame after a semitrailer hauling thousands of gallons of fuel overturned in Indianapolis on Wednesday. The tanker hit a guardrail on an on-ramp from Interstate 465 to I-70, which split the tank and overturned the semi, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department. Witnesses told the fire department that the driver of the truck exited the tanker on his own with his clothes on fire. The driver, identified as Jeffrey Denman, 59, was in critical condition at a hospital. At least two witnesses, identified as Holly McNally and Mitch Navarre, stopped to help the driver get away from the fiery wreckage. The semi was carrying 4,000 gallons of jet fuel when it overturned, triggering two explosions that caused a much larger fire, the fire department said. "Holly told firefighters that the jet fuel was literally pouring down the embankment as they retreated," the fire department's statement said. Investigators believe unsafe speed contributed to the rollover.  

For FDNY Firefighter Robert Thomas and his three sons, fighting fires and saving lives has become a family affair. All four are city firefighters stationed throughout Brooklyn, joining a growing number of the department's black "legacy" families, where children follow their mothers and fathers into the FDNY. "It's an incredible feeling knowing that they're following in my footsteps," Robert Thomas, 61, told the Daily News Wednesday. "Being in the FDNY is truly a family experience anyway. Over the years it meant more to me than I originally thought it would and I know it would be the same for them too." Thomas took the test for the FDNY in 1982. When he got accepted, he first turned it down, deciding instead to take a job with an insurance company, the Brownsville native remembered.  

The Milwaukee Fire Department is already in training for a building that hasn't broken ground yet. Ascent, an apartment building near downtown Milwaukee expected to break ground in a few months, has a tall timber frame. At 25-stories, it is expected to be the tallest building of it's kind in the world. The word "timber" might suggest big trees, but UL Manager of Industry Relations Sean DeCrane says tall timber frames are made of smaller pieces of wood. "We're using small dimensional lumber, putting it in layers perpendicular to each other to engineer a larger size wood product." Since wood burns, you might think that a tall timber frame is susceptible to a fire, but DeCrane says in a fire the frame will stay intact. "That wood chars. It acts as a protective mechanism… think of like an armadillo," he said. How does UL know a tall timber frame can withstand fire? They built a small version of a building, and lit it up.  

On February 20, 2003, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, the fourth deadliest nightclub fire in United States history occurred in The Station nightclub. More than two-thirds of the 462 people in attendance were either killed or injured (100 dead, 230 injured). A live band that was using fireworks as part of its act ignited foam insulation that had been installed around and over the stage. The fire department was notified about 40 seconds after the fire was ignited and arrived on scene in less than five minutes. In that short time frame, fire had engulfed the club, and fire was showing through the roof. The damage was done. Before the fire had cooled, the investigations began. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as well as state and local agencies conducted in-depth analyses of the fire, the evacuation, and the processes that may have failed to protect the concertgoers that night.  

VIDEO: In its three years, the Skyway 10K has seen thousands of participants. A few have traveled the bridge each year, like friends and firefighters Tom "Bull" Hill and Mike Junge. Hill walks the Skyway to honor firefighters who lost their lives to cancer and PTSD. Hill walked the Skyway in 2018 with a pack covered in the names, shields and objects from firefighters who had died from cancer or suicides related to PTSD. His goal was to bring awareness and change. Now, with laws covering PTSD and cancer for firefighters, Hill walks a little lighter, despite having even more packs. "It's great sharing it with other people, you know. You can actually smile a little bit and say, ya we've made a couple changes," said Hill. He set out on a mission after he lost a friend, a firefighter brother, to cancer.