VIDEO: Technology is advancing in many areas of our lives more than ever before, including at your local fire department. In a Fox 32 special report, Kasey Chronis spoke with the Bartlett Fire Protection District about a tool they said has changed how they do their work. "There's a saying that the fire service has changed more in the last five years than in the last 20," Bartlett Fire Chief William Gabrenya said. "And that's just because technology advances are at an incredible pace." Gabrenya said one of the key advancements has been the use of thermal imaging technology in his department and others. "It allows us to see through smoke, and it's a tool that our firefighters use to search buildings, to look for hidden fires," Gabrenya said. "It's a great tool to assist our operations," said Lt. Kevin Chapman of the Bartlett Fire Protection District.  

VIDEO: Two people were rescued after an apparent boat explosion Tuesday afternoon on Lake Michigan near Waukegan. The U.S. Coast Guard said that around 2:45 p.m., they received a report of a "personal watercraft explosion" about two miles northeast of the Waukegan Harbor. The call for help came in shortly before 3 p.m. A 25-foot fiberglass hull powerboat on Lake Michigan approximately two miles northeast of the Waukegan Harbor had just exploded. The boat was seen engulfed in flames and smoke near the power plant at the end of Greenwood Avenue, according to the Waukegan Fire Department. Two boaters onboard—a 46-year-old from Washington, Illinois near Peoria; and a 55-year-old from west suburban Franklin Park—were rescued and brought to shore by a Good Samaritan. But both were seriously injured.  

Video from the Hookies Fire Company in Tyrone shows an incredible first-person view of local firefighters battling a blaze in Blair County. Officials say firefighters battled a shed fire early Monday morning along the 100 block of Pot Pie Hill Road in Snyder Township. Authorities say no injuries were reported and responders say the flames didn't spread to any other buildings. The firefighter's helmet cam shows the intensity of the flames and a look at what the frontlines of battling a fire can look like from a first responder's perspective.  

VIDEO: Four Columbus fire stations will be getting technology that is meant to help first responders get better rest during a 24-hour shift. A shift like that can be challenging. Firefighters are usually woken up several times throughout the night. "The thought of sleeping just isn't a thing. It's more just rest. And not a true sleep," Battalion Chief Jeffrey Geitter said. In all but one Columbus fire station, no matter the type of call, everyone at the station hears the alarm to go. "The majority of our runs in the Columbus Division of Fire are medical related. So the paramedic vehicles go out often multiple times a night in certain stations. And so everyone at that station is now woken up for an incident they don't need to respond on," Geitter said. That is not the case at Station 16 in North Linden.  

PHOTOS: A Baltimore City fire boat used in the 1960s is now sitting on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, offshore of Lewes and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware—and unlike many shipwrecks, it was put there on purpose. The fire boat Mayor J. Harold Grady is the newest addition to Delaware's artificial reef system. On Monday, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Division of Fish and Wildlife added the fire boat and a World War II-era tugboat onto the well-known reef site that also includes more than 700 old New York City subway cars. The reef's newest addition, Baltimore's longtime fire boat, was named for Baltimore's mayor J. Harold Grady, who was serving at the time the vessel was commissioned in 1960.