Tom Dreesen, Dennis Farina, Dennis Franz, Joe Mantegna, William Petersen and Gary Sinise taped the PSA in December. The photo above will start showing up on billboards across the city shortly. more ›

Two Chicago police officers were injured in a car crash, three women were beaten at a South Side Burger King, and other news. more ›

Robert Hoff signed off as Chicago Fire Commissioner last week after a 35-year career. more ›

Last night's Old Main Post Office fire started in the ventilation system, Chicago has a new Fire Department commissioner, and other news. more ›

Eduardo Castro, Sr., 48, and his son Eduardo, Jr., 24, are alleged to have beaten a man on the 3200 block of South Aberdeen Street, then stole his wallet, cell phone and jacket. more ›

The Chicago Fire Department will be abandoning its lease of two floors at the Illinois Institute of Technology and moving into Chicago Police Department headquarters at 35th and Michigan. more ›

The City agrees to pay at least $45 million and hire 111 African American firefighters by March 2012, ending a sixteen-year legal battle. more ›

Mayor Emanuel provided a reality check to Inspector General Joseph Ferguson's recommendation to fire 54 firefighters in the Fire Prevention Bureau, saying it doesn't address the larger culture of corruption within the Fire Department. more ›

Let's see if Inspector General Joseph Ferguson's recommendation that 54 members of the Fire Department's Fire Prevention Bureau lose their jobs is heeded. more ›

Children playing with fireworks on a back porch was the cause of an extra-alarm blaze that damaged three buildings in Pilsen yesterday. more ›

The seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the Chicago Fire Department must hire 111 African-American firefighters who passed the entrance exam 16 years ago, as well as pay a large sum of money to some of the people who took the exam and passed it. This case has been an ongoing issue for the city of Chicago and isn't the first court ruling regarding the controversial firefighter entrance test from 1995. A federal judge ruled back in 2005 that the test discriminated against black applicants. Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the applicants were still eligible to sue the city for the incident in 1995. more ›

Mayor-elect Emanuel announced today that, after consideration and meeting with his transition committee, he will uphold the residency rule requiring city workers to live within the city limits. In doing so, Emanuel came close to repeating the "servants" campaign ad gaffe that gave Gery Chico a faint glimmer of hope in last month's election. more ›

City Council approved a contract Monday to give firefighters and paramedics a total of $94 million in back pay dating back 3-1/2 years. But the back pay is bankrolled by bonds in a "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" move. more ›

Funeral services for Chicago firefighter Corey Ankum, who was killed along with Edward Stringer fighting a blaze on the South side last week, drew 3,000 family, firefighters and dignitaries today to Apostolic Church of God on the South Side. more ›

The Chicago Fire Department is in mourning today after they lost two of their own in a three-alarm blaze on the South Side yesterday. The firemen, Edward Stringer and Corey Ankum, were inside the abandoned laundry at 1744 E. 75th St. looking for possible homeless people trapped in the building when the roof collapsed on top of them. The fire, which also injured 17 others, was the worst firefighter tragedy in more than a decade and occurred on the 100th anniversary of the Union Stock Yards fire. more ›

Here’s an idea for the Chicago Fire Department to help fill that huge City budget gap---home renovations. Bear with us on this one. Local home sales numbers remain mired in the dumps, so people are going to need more work done on their houses. Apparently, some firehouses are filling the downtime between blazes with training to address that need. more ›

Mayor Daley is taking credit this afternoon for an audit into the mileage reports of the Fire Department's Fire Prevention Bureau. The audit conducted by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, showed that nearly 80 percent of the bureau's 108 drivers falsified mileage claims that Ferguson estimates cost taxpayers "thousands of dollars" in 2009 alone. more ›

Tragic news to begin the morning: a CFD firefighter died overnight from injuries sustained while battling a fire at West Loop restaurant Avec. Christopher Wheatley, 31, sustained fatal injuries when he slipped and fell 35 feet off a ladder as he was heading to the roof, carrying 75 pounds of equipment, to help battle a grease chute fire. The incident occurred just after 12:30 a.m. last night; Wheatley was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition where he was pronounced dead a short while later. Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff said at a press conference, “He was very, very well liked. He was a very hard worker. He was a paramedic firefighter, who always had a smile on his face. And he was extremely well-liked by all the men that worked with him, and the women. He was a paramedic for a long time, then he crossed over to be a firefighter." Wheatley was a paramedic from 2000 until 2008 when he joined the CFD. There was no word on the extent of damage to the restaurant. more ›

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a lawsuit against the City of Chicago over accusations of discrimination in a Chicago Fire Department hiring test can move forward. It's the second time in the past year the court has dealt with the issue of race and employment issues with firefighters -- last June it ruled in favor of a group of white firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut, who claimed they were discriminated against when they were passed over for promotion. more ›

Early this morning, firefighters rescued more than 20 people after a 2-alarm fire broke out in an apartment building in Rogers Park. Firefighters were called to the scene around 1:04 a.m. at the 6900 block of North Ashland Avenue, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. Upon arriving they noticed people standing at windows yelling for help. more ›

A Chicago Fire Department lieutenant was arrested yesterday and charged with a DUI after allegedly driving a 2008 Dodge Ram pickup truck onto someone’s lawn and breaking off a fire hydrant before hitting a tree, driving over a stop sign and leaving the scene. more ›

Around 2:06 a.m. this morning in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood on the west side, a 2-alarm fire broke out on the 2000 block of West 23rd Street in a 2-story frame apartment building, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin MacGregor. Two 2-story frame buildings adjacent to the building where the fire originated also caught on fire but only sustained minor damage, MacGregor said. By 2:20 a.m., the fire was struck out and officials began conducting a search of the building around 3 a.m., MacGregor said. more ›

In his 2010 budget presented last week, Daley included 24 unpaid days (12 holidays, 12 furlough days) for all non-union and many union city employees. One group he can't force these unpaid days upon are the Police and Fire Departments. But that's not stopping Daley from making overtones suggesting that those departments should take one for the team and join the unpaid train. Said the Mayor, “Everyone has to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. And that’s why I’m taking 24 days without pay, and I got other people to take that, because you have to show that government understands the suffering that is going on throughout your communities.” more ›

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin announced earlier this week that the Chicago Fire Department was the recipient of a $779,520 grant courtesy of the United States Fire Administration, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Said Durbin, "Our nation's firefighters are called upon day after day to protect America's citizens. As these brave men and women put themselves in harms way, we must ensure that they are equipped with the best tools possible to do their jobs well, and today's grant will go a long way toward meeting that goal." [WBBM 780 AM] more ›

The City of Chicago has filed suit against Alltown Bus Service for $350,000 stemming from a March 2007 accident that killed a Chicago fireman. A school bus driven by Darlene Lewis was involved in an accident with a fire truck responding to a call. Twenty year CFD veteran William Grant, 44, was killed in the accident. The money is to cover the cost of repairing the fire truck and a light pole damaged in the accident. more ›

Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford says the paramedics had an open mic on the radio they use to talk to the O'Hare Communications Center, and that the paramedics used the N-word in conversation between themselves on January 9. more ›

Security at O'Hare missed about 60 percent of bomb-making materials. more ›

A dog named Miss Pickles was rescued from the Chicago River last night. Miss Pickles's owner Claude was walking her and his three other pooches—yes, on leashes, according to reports—near Chicago and Halsted when Miss Pickles, a bullmastiff, started chasing a rat. She wound up running right into the water, so Claude called 911. After falling in the water, Miss Pickles began to paddle eastbound underneath the bridge, before heading north around the Goose Island... more ›

As part of the old Brach's legacy was being blown up for Batman, intentionally causing a blaze, there have been several other fire related bits in the news as well. The police Bomb and Arson Section and Chicago Fire Department are conducting an ongoing investigation of a warehouse fire that started Thursday night in Bridgeport. Just before 10 p.m., a fire was reported at a building near Halsted and 36th Streets in the 3600 block... more ›

Thanks for your help, Rod. Blagojevich wants to get rid of the "gift card grinch." It's a loophole that lets your gift card lose its value over time. Police on the Northwest Side have issued a community alert for a suspect in two attempted sexual assaults -- One on a 16-year-old girl, in the 3100 block of north Sawyer about 11 p.m. Sunday; the other a 23-year-old woman near the 3000 block of north... more ›