When it comes to quickly extricating motorists from mangled vehicles, firefighters from the Cherry Valley Fire Protection District are second to none. Now, it is the Fire Protection District that needs the public to help extricate it from a $2.25 million financial hole. The lifesaving tool of choice is not the hydraulic-powered Jaws of Life. Instead, it's a proposed $2.25 million bond sale that will go before voters on the March 17 ballot. If voters approve the proposal, district officials will use the money to pay off debt related to construction of Station No. 2 at 4919 Blackhawk Road, $1.1 million; improvements to the district's downtown Administration Building, $92,764; and purchases of two used firetrucks, $780,254; and a new ambulance, $300,000. Fire Chief Joe Corl said the district makes annual loan payments of $272,151 plus $77,163 per year in interest.  

The Lockport Township Fire Protection District will hold an informational meeting for residents about an upcoming ballot question on a "modest" tax increase. Voters in the district will decide March 17 on the district's first proposed tax increase in 20 years, according to a news release. The ballot question asks residents for the increase of 0.1% of the equalized assessed value of taxable property. For the average family in the district, that increase would be equal to about $66 a year, according to the release. District officials will provide more information on the referendum and answer questions at the meeting on March 4 at 6 p.m. at the Prairie Bluff Golf Club, located at 19433 Renwick Road in Lockport.  

The Palatine Fire Department will host a brief ceremony Sunday morning to recognize the service and sacrifice of three Palatine volunteer firefighters who died in the line of duty fighting a fire 47 years earlier. On Feb. 23, 1973, volunteer firefighters John Wilson, Richard Freeman and Warren Ahlgrim lost their lives fighting a fire in the Ben Franklin store in downtown Palatine. The early morning fire started in the basement of the store and quickly spread throughout the building. Wilson, Freeman, and Ahlgrim were on the first hose line and died while fighting the fire in the basement of the store. The memorial ceremony will be held at the Palatine Firefighter's Memorial at the corner of North Brockway and West Slade streets in the village's downtown. The Palatine Fire Honor Guard will step off from Station 85 at 39 E. Colfax at about 8:45 a.m. and march to the memorial.  

VIDEO: After months of devastation, all the fires burning in the Australian state of New South Wales were declared contained for the first time last week. And who else to thank but the thousands of firefighters who have put their life on the line to extinguish them? Knowing that a simple "thank you" wouldn't suffice, the NSW Rural Fire Service took out a 70-foot billboard in New York's Times Square to thank all the firefighters who helped battle the blazes. The size was intentional. "Imagine fighting a bushfire higher than this billboard," the video in the billboard reads. "Thank you to the brave Australian and US firefighters defending Australia. And to the world for all your support."  

Despite putting a seventh city ambulance in service in mid-2018, Lincoln Fire and Rescue's paramedics remain swamped responding to emergency medical calls in the growing city, retiring Fire Chief Micheal Despain said. Call volumes in Lincoln continue climbing at three times the rate of population growth, mainly because of the medical needs of the city's aging population, Despain said. Medical calls comprise about three-quarters of the nearly 27,000 incidents fire and rescue crews respond to each year, according to department statistics. "That is a trend that is going to continue on, and it's a little scary," Despain said in an interview last week. Despain, who was appointed fire chief in 2016 after 32 years in fire service in California, will retire at the end of the month and sees staffing challenges as one of the continuing pressures on the department in the coming years.  

A Pennsylvania House committee is weighing a measure that seeks to make changes in how fire and emergency services are administered in the state. The House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee took up House Bill 1819, which would create a state Fire Commission. State Rep. Austin Davis, D-McKeesport, the bill's sponsor, said his district includes professional and volunteer-led fire departments that face issues regarding the ability to provide essential services and the ability to recruit and retain members. "The communities I serve in southeast Allegheny County are facing many of the same challenges in the delivery of fire and emergency medical services that we're witnessing across this commonwealth," Davis said. He told the committee he's watched as it passed more than 20 bills that have origins from the Senate Resolution 6 Report recommendations from 2018.  

Every day firefighters put their lives on the line to protect others, and when their shift ends, some of the risks they face still linger. That's because of the potentially toxic contaminants they encounter while on the job. "We want to make sure that the firefighters are aware that the chemicals, and the soot, and the smoke, and the particulates that get on their clothing during a structure fire, during training, is dangerous. It can cause, probably can cause, cancer," said Chris Couell, the Erie County Fire Safety Deputy Commissioner. According to a release from the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, two studies by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health show firefighters are being diagnosed with cancer at a 9 percent higher rate than the general public and are experiencing cancer-related deaths at a 14 percent higher rate.  

Bed bugs can be hard to spot and even tougher to get rid of. The City of Waukesha Fire Department has a new tool to fight the problem -- and make sure every ambulance is clean. Kira Benkert is getting an ambulance ready for the day's first patient -- including making sure there aren't any unwanted passengers: bed bugs. "It certainly is a growing problem, not only in Waukesha but in the whole metro area," said Joseph Hoffman, City of Waukesha Fire Department Assistant Chief. During the end of 2019, the department had multiple incidents where bed bugs were found on an ambulance. A deep clean would take the ambulance out of service for several days and would require the use of chemicals. "We're trying to get away from chemicals, so we're trying to keep our citizens safe, us safe," said Kira Benkert, EMS shift coordinator. So the department looked into a new option "The Cube Bed Bug Killer." It was donated by Safeway Pest Management. It heats up the ambulance -- killing any bed bugs or eggs inside.