VIDEO: As Peoria city council budget discussions continue, council members are looking at details regarding the $321 million budget. The topics of discussion for council members at Tuesday's meeting included proposed public works projects and how they fit into the budget. However, the issue that took up a large portion of the meeting was that of rescue squads for the Peoria Fire Department. Budget reductions in recent years have impacted the city's fire department, according to Chief Shawn Sollberger. With the decommissioning of Rescue 1 and Rescue 2 squads in 2018, those responsibilities have been repurposed. The rescue squad is responsible for saving people and firefighters in the harrowing situations the department responds to. They are the ones that use the jaws of life in car accidents, for instance.  

After months of searching, the village of Peoria Heights may have found its new fire chief. Dan Decker is a former assistant chief in East Peoria. He started his firefighting career in 1991. Decker is currently an East Peoria City Council member and a fire marshal at the nuclear power facility in Clinton. "But when the opportunity came with Peoria Heights, not only is it maybe 15 minutes from my house, rather than approximately an hour from my house," Decker said. "But I knew going out the door of East Peoria that I would have a hard time giving up going on emergency calls." Peoria Heights Mayor Mike Phelan led the interview process that found Decker, saying he's excited to introduce Decker to the board Tuesday night. "He's both been a leader in public safety and he's a public official in East Peoria," Phelan said.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Police on Monday released numerous dash camera, body camera and surveillance camera sources that captured an apparently runaway semitruck as it crashed through cars at multiple intersections before plowing into a car dealership. The chain of events Friday left 11 people injured, including one critically. It also left at least 32 cars and the semitruck either damaged or destroyed. "How this didn't end up in a fatality is shocking," Tooele Police Lt. Jeremy Hansen told KSL-TV, noting the woman who was critically injured is expected to survive. Hansen said another semitruck with a dash camera captured the first crash between the runaway semitruck and three other cars at the intersection of Vine and Main Street. The video shows the semitruck veering around cars stopped at the light and briefly into a southbound lane before making impact in the intersection.  

VIDEO/PHOTOS: Cobb County firefighters have a new device to keep them safe. Fire officials say the StormStick will not only help them now, but possibly for the rest of their lives. When firefighters respond to calls, they're not just battling the smoke and flames. "The amount of carcinogens that are in smoke – whether it be a residential or commercial fire – the numbers are through the roof now as opposed to what they were 30, 40 or 50 years ago before everything was made of plastic. Now, couches, carpet, furniture that's all pressboard, all of that is made out of plastics and when plastics burn, it releases hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide and a host of other chemicals we don't necessarily see," said Cobb County Fire Capt. Ben Holley. Fire officials say it's enough to cause long term health problems.  

VIDEO: The war in Israel has prompted dozens of American volunteers to offer up their life-saving skills. On Monday, CBS New York met Long Island-based firefighters who recently returned from volunteering their time and skills in the war zone. Volunteer firefighter Schuyler Gordon is used to running toward danger to save lives. That same instinct kicked in when Israel was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7. "I was feeling the same sort of helplessness and horror that a lot of American Jews were feeling," Gordon said. "I started looking for volunteer opportunities. E.V.P. popped up in my Google searches." Within a week, he was deployed with Emergency Volunteers Project to put out fires from incoming Hamas rocket attacks, 200-300 per day, with many piercing Israeli defenses.  

PHOTOS: A 1946 vintage Reed City Fire Department truck has returned to its original home after several years. During a meeting in September, the Reed City city council approved accepting the donation of the 1946 Chevrolet/John Bean fire truck back to the city. Council member Dave Beldon told the board he had been in contact with the owner, Richard Palmer, for a couple of years and had discussed with him the possibility of the truck returning to Reed City. "This gentleman bought it and was trying to refurbish it," he said. "I asked him to give me the first option to buy it if he decided to sell it. He called (recently) and said he would like to make a donation of this back to Reed City free of charge."