Danville city council members approved an additional $270,000 payment to the Danville Fire Department to cover extra overtime costs. Staffing and overtime have been an issue at the department the past few months due to COVID-19 and a high amount of fires over the summer. Fire Chief Don McMasters says four firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19 and another is off-work after being exposed to the virus. In addition, one of the new probationary firefighters had to resign and a new person had to be hired. McMasters says he has also spent more than $30,000 in workman's compensation this year. Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. says he believes the city should have budgeted more for department overtime than it did under guidance from the city's previous comptroller.  

Family, friends and first responders gathered Wednesday to honor the memory of Dylan Cunningham, a South Holland firefighter and paramedic who died while suffering a medical emergency during a training exercise. A crowd of hundreds congregated at 11 a.m. at Smits Funeral Home, where they paid respects to Cunningham, 29, who died last week. Cunningham's family, fellow public servants, and public officials including the village mayor and fire chief, all paid tribute to his life and legacy. The private service was officiated by South Holland Fire Department Chaplain Rev. Daniel Svendsen. Outside, rows of public servants, including local firefighters, police officers, U.S. Army veterans, and Illinois and Indiana Army National guardsmen surrounded the funeral home, standing by as Cunningham's loved ones and dignitaries bade their final farewells.  

One of the Rockford Fire Department's most valuable members sniffs her way through investigations looking for clues. "I'm able to work with my best friend every single day," said Rockford Fire Lt. John McGee. Epi works alongside her partner, Lieutenant McGee. "We've worked between 80 and 100 fires a year. We've been deployed around the Midwest including Chicago," McGee said. Trained by the ATF through its accelerant detection program, Epi uses her sense of smell to locate items that may have been used to start a fire. "It's having her smell an odor such as gas and feeding her. and doing it over and over and over again," McGee said. Epi sprang into action in early September at the scene of a massive fire at the former Metro Christian Centre Church in downtown Rockford. According to the criminal complaint, Epi searched the area and led officers to the suspect, Edward Wash. She followed the smell of his shoes.  

Peoria firefighters were called just before 10:30 p.m. Wednesday to a home in the 1100 block of W. Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. When crews arrived, they encountered heavy smoke and fire showing on the exterior of the home. Additional crews on the scene disconnected the electric and gas to prevent shock and possible explosion. Fire Battalion Chief Rick Morgan said due to the amount of smoke and fire inside the home, crews retreated outside, then set up master stream devices and handlines to knock down a fire in the attic. A search found no one inside the home. No injuries were reported. Crews remained on the scene for an extended period of time to control hot spots. An investigator believes the fire was set intentionally.  

Emergency crews responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle in Joliet and found a man lying in the middle of a roadway with severe injuries, according to the Joliet Fire Department. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, an emergency crew with the Joliet Fire Department responded to a reported pedestrian struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Cass and Walnut streets, said Joliet Fire Chief Greg Blaskey. When the crew arrived, they found a 51-year-old man lying the middle of the roadway, he said. "The victim was not breathing, pulseless with severe injuries," Blaskey said. The victim was treated and transported to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox in critical condition, he said.  

A firefighter-paramedic has died after a training incident on Wednesday morning, San Francisco Fire Department officials said. Officials say the firefighter was at a SFFD training facility on 19th and Folsom Street when he fell three stories, causing severe head injuries. SFFD Lt. Jonathan Baxter said the firefighter was transferred to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital where he died before 11 a.m. Lt. Baxter identified the victim as 42-year-old Jason Cortez. "This is a very trying time," Lt. Baxter said, describing Cortez as a paramedic who had been with the department since 2007 and was currently stationed in the Tenderloin. Cortez was a firefighter-paramedic, advocate for public safety, father, husband and a son of a retired SF firefighter. "He's a friend to all, he's an advocate for public safety, he's a father to two children, a husband to an amazing wife; and a child to a retired San Francisco firefighter," he said of Cortez.  

The city is moving forward with a study of the Fire Department, nearly a year after pledging to review firefighter safety in wake of the line-of-duty death of Lt. Jason Menard. The city said this week it had hired Emergency Services Consulting International of Virginia to study the Fire Department. The consultant is seeking input about the department through survey questions posed to community and business stakeholders in the city. The study will lead to an in-depth internal assessment and strategic plan, the city said in a statement. The surveys aim to help ensure that the resulting strategic plan meets the expectations of the city and its residents. On Nov. 13, a house fire on Stockholm Street claimed the life of Menard at age 39. His was the department's second line-of-duty death in less than a year. A month after the death of Menard, a married father of three, City Manager Edward M. Augustus, Jr. announced his intention to name a task force to look at firefighter safety.  

VIDEO: A massive pallet fire fueled by gusty winds Wednesday burned down an Ohio 101 business and threw up billowing black smoke clouds that could be seen throughout Sandusky County. More than a dozen fire departments from Sandusky and Erie counties dispatched trucks and firefighters to try to contain the blaze, which forced police to shut down Ohio 101 in both directions for several hours. Sandusky County Sheriff Chris Hilton said the fire broke out at Keegan Enterprises, located in the 7400 block of Ohio 101, around 4 p.m. He said two people left the business around 3:30 p.m. and then the fire started 25 to 30 minutes later. "As of the moment, we believe there nobody was in there when the fire started," Hilton said. Hilton said he was sending his on-call detective to the scene and would determine whether the state fire marshal would be called to investigate the fire.  

A technology company out of Tyler called FIRST iZ creates drones to help aid first responders during emergency situations within a minute's notice. CEO, Phil Burks explains how these drones can benefit first responders. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) also known as a drone, can provide situational awareness for first responders when they head towards a scene and can send visuals before arriving to an incident scene. "We can take this drone, fly it in there, within a minute of 9-1-1 knowing it can take off, get there, get down on the deck, sniff the air, find out do we need hazmat in there first, or what do we need. It's going to save time, save lives, and save money." The UAV's has been in the works for nearly three years and with roughly 1000 test flights. Burks says its completely autonomous. "We can click one button and autonomously have them take off, and fly missions, come back, land on their own and then they go back into the port and ready for the next mission."  

Airline passenger travel is down because of the coronavirus pandemic, but industry leaders say cargo flights will become busier once a COVID-19 vaccine is developed and released. "It will be a logistical challenge that the world has not seen before," DHL Global Forwarding CEO David Goldberg said. DHL is already discussing how they will handle transporting the vaccine. According to DHL, 125,000 to 140,000 doses of the vaccine will fit onto one Boeing 747, Goldberg said. 8,000 airplanes will be needed to ship 1 billion doses. 42 vaccines are undergoing clinical trials around the world. It's still not known which state, or country, the approved vaccines will ultimately come from. "I think there has never been a pandemic in our lifetime and there has never been one vaccine that is needed by the whole world in one single time," Goldberg said.