Archive for July 28th, 2021

Fire Service News

Excerpts from WSILTV.com:

The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) announced Tuesday it is making naloxone more readily available to reverse the effect of opioid overdoses impacting people across the state with opioid use disorder. 

IDHS is investing nearly $13m aimed at fighting the opioid epidemic through expanding access to this lifesaving medication.

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist used for the treatment of overdose from opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl. In the U.S., the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lists naloxone as a prescription drug.

In 2020, there were 2,944 opioid overdose deaths in Illinois, a 33% increase from 2019.  

These funds will support the work of providers across the state, especially organizations doing community outreach work to connect with persons who are at risk of an overdose, their friends, and loved ones. Funds will also augment the work of hospitals treating patients experiencing opioid overdose as they link patients with treatment programs in their communities.

This funding will also support first responders and other community partners in their efforts to widen the availability of the overdose reversal medication naloxone, commonly referred to as Narcan.  The project will allow Illinois to increase its capacity to identify and report timely, comprehensive syndromic surveillance data on fatal and nonfatal opioid overdoses.

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As seen around … Chicago

This from Chi-Town Fire Photos:

Something a little different. I thought I’d share some pictures of familiar faces from around the CFD. Some current, some retired.
Chicago firefighter at fire scene

Chi-Town Fire Photos

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Peoria Fire Department news

Excerpts from centralillinoisproud.com:

Peoria fire officials are again, asking for public safety resources to be restored after back-to-back weekend house fires where three firefighters were injured, two of which briefly ended up in the hospital.

“There wasn’t a crew on Saturday night, early Sunday morning that works in the city of Peoria that wasn’t involved in these two fires,” Jim Bachman, Peoria fire chief, said. “We used every resource we had and in fact, we called in five extra people.”

Two of the five extra bodies were to replace captains who were burned while battling the fire and had to be taken to the hospital. All of the injured firefighters are home recovering.

Two homes were deemed a total loss and this brought the number of emergency demolitions due to fires this year to about 14 compared to only 10 from last year. The fires are starting to get ahead of firefighters and the reduced staffing makes it harder to get to them in a timely manner.

He recognizes the city’s financial issues, but said having more manpower would help.

“We understand that that’s really difficult this time the way the city’s finances are, but certainly another fire machine could’ve made a difference in putting a quicker stop on this fire,” Bachman said. “We wouldn’t be saying we’d like to see Engine 2 come back just for the sake of saying we’d like to see engine 2 come back.”

Thirty three fire suppression positions have been lost since 2019.

The firefighter’s union wants city leaders to consider allocating some of its Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, from the American Rescue Plan, to the fire department.

CA councilman is advocating for this but said the decision on how to spend the remaining $36.7 million from the fund comes down to the council as a whole.

Back in June, the city manager said the funds can be used to support public health response, to address negative economic impacts, to replace public sector revenue loss, for premium pay for essential workers, for water and sewer infrastructure, and broadband infrastructure.

However, he mentioned it’s not an ongoing stream of revenue and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Council members discussed taking time to figure out the most efficient ways to use the money.

All the funds have to be obligated by until Dec. 31, 2024 and spent by Dec. 31 2026.

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Apartment fire in Libertyville, 7-25-21

From Max Weingardt:

Libertyville Box Alarm 7/25/21

scene of an apartment fire in Libertyville

Max Weingardt photo

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