Feb. 9, 2023 The four teens responsible for the blaze at Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles will be sentenced in April.

By Megan Jones Source Chicago Tribune (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Two teenagers pleaded guilty Wednesday to arson for setting a massive fire in May 2022 that destroyed large sections of the shuttered Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, officials said.

The two boys, a 17-year-old Carol Stream resident and a 15-year-old from Wheaton, pleaded guilty to starting the three-alarm fire on May 21 that damaged the main lobby, the Bourbon Street area and A, B and E wings of the hotel rooms at Pheasant Run. Fire crews were able to save the 16-story tower on the property.

The boys were originally charged with arson, burglary, criminal damage to property and three counts of criminal trespass, officials previously said.

Two other male teenagers, a 15-year-old from Winfield and a 14-year-old from Carol Stream, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing at the resort in connection with the incident.

All four teenagers will be sentenced on April 19, officials with the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office said.

Because the four are charged as juveniles, their names will not be released, a common practice in Illinois juvenile courts.

The fire broke out around 4:40 p.m. May 21 and firefighters found large sections of the resort at 4051 E. Main St. in St. Charles engulfed in flames.

More than 100 firefighters from more than 25 fire departments were called to help extinguish the blaze. An investigation was then launched by the St. Charles police and fire departments, the state fire marshal and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The four teens were accused of illegally entering the property and, once inside, two of the teens were accused of setting papers on fire in two locations and then leaving the area without extinguishing the fires, according to officials.

The resort had closed its door in March 2020 after attempts to auction the resort were unsuccessful.

On Monday, the St. Charles City Council approved a resolution to create a tax increment financing district in hopes to spur redevelopment of the property.

Feb. 8, 2023 Numerous businesses in Plainfield, West New York and Union City were destroyed in the multi-alarm blazes.

Source Firehouse.com News

Three multiple alarm fires in downtown New Jersey towns ripped through stores and apartments in a matter of hours, displacing many residents.

A fire in West New York was discovered about 4:30 a.m., and went to five alarms. Six stores in three buildings were damaged, according to ABC7.

The businesses included a nail salon, smoke shop, repair store, beauty supply store, a Carvel Ice Cream store, and a Don Julios BBQ/ There were apartments above them, and all were affected.  

A short time later, another large fire on the same street a few miles apart burned another three stores with apartments on the second and third floors.

Union City Mayor Brian Stack said about 50 people were left homeless by the fire.

Some of the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue crews who mutual aid had been operating at the West New York fire was being redirected to Union City. It has been a strain on the dozens of firefighters battling both fires.

“Absolutely. a long day like this, hours of work. Guys work tremendously. They go through multiple bottles and it takes a toll on their bodies. Mentally, physically, psychologically, it affects you in all ways,” said Chief David Donnarumma, North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue.

The fires are being investigated by the Hudson County Regional Arson Task Force. 

On Tuesday night, fire damaged eight buildings in downtown Plainfield. The blaze went to six alarms as more firefighters were needed. 

The fire appeared to have started as a brush fire and quickly spread to several buildings, according to nj.com. 

“This is a devastating blow to our downtown commercial district and to the city as a whole. Many of our business owners have sunk their life savings into these businesses, and the loss of income will be a hard blow. The administration will provide as much support as possible to those impacted,” Mayor Adrian Mapp told reporters. 

A total of 125 firefighters from 17 towns worked overnight to contain the fire. 

At 4:30 a.m., fire broke out 31 miles away in downtown West New York, NJ, damaging several businesses there.

There were no injuries in any of the incidents. 

Feb. 8, 2023 The teams from Fairfax County, VA, and Los Angeles County join others deployed.

Source Firehouse.com News

Urban Search and Rescue teams from Virginia and California are assisting with the search following a deadly earthquake in Turkey.

Fairfax County, VA and Los Angeles County deployed their teams to respond. The groups include structural engineers, technical rescuers and K-9 teams.

Information about their work will be forthcoming. 

Feb. 8, 2023 Los Angeles crews responded after a 9-1-1 dispatcher got a disconnected call.

Source Firehouse.com News

Los Angeles firefighters found a house fully engulfed in flames shortly after 2:22 a.m. Wednesday.

After extinguishing the fire, they found a woman, man and a cat deceased, KCAL reported.

The fire may have started in the kitchen, firefighters said.

On its Facebook page, LAFD officials wrote: “A single 9-1-1 call was received at 2:22 AM on February 8, 2023, with the caller hanging up before their needs could be determined. Because the Caller ID feature of their wired telephone provided both a callback phone number and a definitive address, an LAFD crew was promptly dispatched to investigate, as dispatchers sought unsuccessfully to reconnect with the caller.

The initial Los Angeles Fire Department responders arrived to find fire visible from the rear of a one-story home at 3537 May Street, and immediately summoned additional firefighting resources.”    

Feb. 8, 2023 Streetsboro Firefighter Chris Fredmonsky was attending a training session last month when the incident occurred.

By Firehouse.com News

Streetsboro Firefighter Chris Fredmonsky suffered a cardiac arrest in an optimal place last month — in a training class at his fire station.

“I can remember coming in to work that morning, doing our truck checks and what we had to do in the morning. I knew we had a continuing education class that the doctor was coming in to teach. Probably the last thing I remember is sitting down,” he told WKYC. 

Capt. Jeff Miller pointed to “You heard the chair just fly out and here you fell, fell on the floor,” said Streetsboro fire captain Jeff Miller, pointing to where Chris collapsed.

Chris was in full cardiac arrest. Fellow firefighters knew just what to do.

“Get him on the monitor and it shows V-fib, which is a shockable rhythm. Um, the heart is basically trying to die at that moment. So, I put the patches on and we shock him, and that’s when we started CPR again. I mean, there’s like five of us in the back of the squad and we were rotating back and forth,” said Tyler Carlton, a first-year firefighter. 

Fredmonsky came to in the back of the ambulance. 

“Then somebody said, ‘Freddy, Freddy, you’re okay. We’ve got you,'” he remembered.

His next memory was waking up in the ICU at University Hospitals Portage Medical Center.

“I had heard Kent Fire and Ravenna sent squads here to cover because my whole shift was out,” he said, fighting back tears. “Everybody came to see me at the hospital.”

“One of the guys was one of the ones that performed CPR on me. And, he apologized because he felt when my ribs were breaking. And, I told him, I go, ‘Brother, you can break every rib I have, as long as the outcomes are the same, every time.'” 

He’s been fitted with a pacemaker and defibrillator in case of another incident.

His goal now is to get back to the fire station — in some capacity. 

“This year, probably for my birthday … how people always post, they want this donation on Facebook for their birthday. I’m gonna put on mine, I’d like at least 10 of my friends to learn CPR this year. And along with CPR, when you get trained in CPR, they will go over an AED and explain how to use it so you can be a little more familiar with the machine, know what it’s there for and how to use it. They’re so simple. Anybody can operate one.” 

Feb. 8, 2023 Four people were treated by San Diego crews for smoke inhalation.

By Brian Niemietz Source New York Daily News (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A United Airlines flight destined for Newark Liberty International Airport returned to San Diego International Airport Tuesday morning due to a cabin fire caused by an external battery.

“SDFD crews at SD Intl Airport for a plane that came in w/ an external battery pack on fire in the cabin,” the San Diego Fire Department tweeted. “Flight crew prevented the fire from spreading to the cabin.”

Firefighters said four passengers were transported from the airport for medical care. United Airlines told the Daily News the four flight attendants were treated for smoke inhalation. Two others opted not to be transported, SDFD said. The airline identified the pair as passengers.

“Shortly after departure, the aircraft declared an Alert 2 which indicates a major difficulty with the aircraft, in this case there was an electrical device fire in the cabin,” an airport communications specialist told the Daily News. “The aircraft landed safely at San Diego International Airport where emergency crews responded to the aircraft and assisted passengers.”

The airport said operations weren’t otherwise disrupted. Records indicate the 7:15 a.m. flight took off shortly after noon.

One Twitter user noted the issue could have been worse had the battery pack aboard United Flight 2664 been checked rather than carried into the main cabin. It’s not clear why the battery ignited.

Passengers on a JetBlue flight landing at JFK on Christmas Eve had to exit the plane on escape slides due to a smoking phone charger. A Dec. 28 flight from Los Angeles to Germany was forced to land in Chicago due to a laptop fire. Two flight attendants were reportedly treated for smoke inhalation, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Feb. 7, 2023 At least 30 ambulances responded to help evacuate Brockton Hospital.

By Chris Van Buskirk, Luis Fieldman Source masslive.com (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

After Brockton firefighters knocked down a large fire at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital on Tuesday morning, more than 30 ambulances were evacuating sick and injured patients, according to the city’s fire department.

A fire suspected to have started due to a faulty transformer in the hospital’s basement drew a multi-town response starting at about 7 a.m., which prompted evacuations of the medical facility located on Centre Street. The Brockton Fire Department will continue to investigate the cause of the fire, Chief Brian Nardelli said during a press conference Tuesday morning.

The Brockton Fire Department continued to raise the response level up to 10 alarms by 12:21 p.m. even after knocking down the fire hours earlier “for manpower to assist” with evacuations at the hospital.

By 9:24 a.m., the Brockton Fire Department reported knocking down the fire with no reported injuries.

Nardelli said during a press conference the fire department doesn’t have an exact number of patients evacuated, but said the hospital had “a mark of 187 patients, but people had been discharged and moved in and out.”

An employee at a business across the street from Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital who would only give her first name as Lisa saw ambulances and fire trucks rushing in all morning on Tuesday.

Her niece works in the radiation department at the hospital, she said.

“Smoke — her whole department was smoke,” Lisa said at about noon. “She just finally got to leave and she had to transport people.”

Rescue efforts were still underway as of 12:25 p.m. A string of ambulances from communities all across the area lined up in front of the hospital to move patients away. Vehicles from West Bridgewater, Holbrook, Rehoboth, Freetown, and Brewster poured into the building’s main parking lot.

EMS personnel could be seen wheeling patients into the ambulances as firefighters paced a parking lot full of police. A Brockton Fire Department ladder truck still had an extended ladder up to the roof. Much of the surrounding blocks were shut down and public access to the hospital was heavily restricted.

No smoke was obviously visible from the east side of the building at 11:30 a.m.

A Salvation Army truck was set up in an auxiliary parking lot and fire trucks littered the nearest main road to the hospital.

Fire chiefs from several departments could be seen directing operations.

City and hospital officials held a press conference Tuesday morning after firefighters successfully put out the fire.

“Once we were able to make our way in after shutting down the power, we had to make a decision about the hospital and what we were going to do with the patients,” Nardelli said during the press conference. “We are removing some critically ill and injured patients that need to find other facilities because part of it had to be shut down. The fire for the most part is extinguished. We still have some hotspots in there.”

Lorraine McGrath, a spokesperson for the hospital, said all patients are being evaluated and Brockton Hospital is working with regional healthcare facilities to come up with a plan for all patients and staff “to make sure that everybody is safe and placed in an appropriate place.”

Nardelli said National Grid had to shut off the power outside of the building that was feeding the flames. Emergency generators had to be shut off as well, Nardelli said.

Brockton Hospital was founded in 1896 and is the oldest and largest inpatient facility in the area, according to the hospital website. The facility is a nonprofit with 216 licensed beds.