PHOTO: A new program will make it easier for first responders to identify and help children and adults with special needs. Horizon Health Emergency Medical Services offers the free Hero Helper program to people living in Edgar or Clark County in Illinois. Families can get a Hero Helper decal to place in the window or on the door of their home. This will alert medical personnel that someone in the home has special needs. The family will also receive a medical sleeve to attach important medical information to their fridge for EMS use. The Hero Helper program extends to the car as well. A Hero Helper decal is attached to a car window. Then, families can also get a special Hero Helper seatbelt cover. The cover features a pocket for important medical information. It's all to help identify which passenger has special needs, in the event of a crash.  

VIDEO: Training is incredibly important for firefighters because it prepares them for real world experiences which is why recruiter Bo Chaney is showing off some of their training. The CPAT stands for Candidate Physical Ability Test, and it assesses the individual on their ability to handle the physical demands of being a firefighter. Bo walks Michelle through a little bit of firefighter training and she tries her hand at putting the uniform on and going through a primary search through the kid's safety house. Training at the Rockford Fire Department is a total of 14 weeks and applications are open until July 26.  

VIDEOS/PHOTOS: Heavy rain across the St. Louis region prompted evacuations across the St. Louis region Tuesday. Around 9 a.m. the Emergency Management Agency in Washington County, Illinois, reported that a secondary dam had failed but is designed to do so with high water levels. The department noted that the primary dam had not failed, but had overtopped with water. In Washington County, the St. Clair County Special Emergency Services and St. Clair County EMA are in the area to help with water rescue and evacuation operations. The Freeburg, New Athens, Marissa, Smithton, and St. Libory Fire Departments were also requested for water rescue operations. In St. Clair County, officials said they are responding to State Route 161 and State Route 4 for a water rescue as of 11 a.m.  

PHOTOS: A fire destroyed an East Brainerd home that was under construction and caused extensive damage to another newly built house next door that was for sale. Six other structures also sustained exposure damage from the heat. Firefighters were dispatched to the home that was fully engulfed in flames in the 1800 block of Oakvale Drive at 6:08 on Tuesday, July 16. The fire was already spreading quickly to the house next door, officials report. Within 20 minutes, crews had the fire under control, and there were no injuries reported, CFD says. The cause of the fire is under investigation.  

VIDEO: The Blue Collar Brawler has struck again – but this time inside a Florida fire station. Video sent to FOX 35 from the gator trapper whose name is Mike Dragich, shows him barefoot inside a Jacksonville fire station. Firefighters called the trapper to the station because a gator wandered inside. According to Dargich, the gator was inside a pond next to the fire station before making its way inside. The gator had been causing some trouble recently, like coming out of the water when the power company came by to check on a nearby water meter. The footage shows the Blue Collar Brawler grabbing the gator by its tail and eventually sitting on top of its body as a firefighter wrapped the gator's mouth shut with tape.  

VIDEO: The West Virginia Department of Health has released new protocols for emergency medical services to empower first responders and provide them with faster decision-making capabilities. The new protocols, developed by EMS leaders across the state, took effect on July 1st. According to officials, the protocols address many of the modern-day challenges faced by first responders in the state. This includes the elimination of the "red tape" and communication barriers emergency responders have to navigate while on the job. The protocols build upon Governor Jim Justice's Answer the Call initiative, which officials said has expanded EMS training and workforce capability by 75%. Starting May 1st, the introduction of "treat-in-place" protocols allows eligible patients to receive care at home, reducing emergency room congestion and ensuring ambulance availability for critical cases.  

The U.S. has contended with unrelenting temperatures this summer, and a map from NASA paints a dire picture of the scale of those persistent heat waves. The map, which consists of a snapshot of temperatures nationwide for July 10, used satellite images — along with a complex mathematical model known as the Goddard Earth Observing System — to create a kind of color code, with dark red showing areas that reached highs of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the NASA Earth Observatory, a program that examines the impact of climate change. The results are stark, indicating potentially dangerous temperatures across nearly the entire continental U.S. The Southwest sustained the brunt of the heat, according to the map, with almost the entire region experiencing triple-digit highs.