Illinois
O’Fallon, Illinois police officers honored after saving man from burning building
O’FALLON, Il. (First Alert 4) – Four O’Fallon, Illinois police officers were honored at a city council meeting Monday night after they saved a disabled man from a burning building.
Sgt. Matt Plassman, Ptl. Chad Finnan, Ptl. Kenneth Morris, and Ptl. Michael Shewmaker were awarded the Meritorious Conduct Award for their acts of courage on March 25, when they entered a duplex that was on fire to carry a man out.
“The only thought process was that they are coming out,” Ptl. Finnan said. “Not how are we going to get them out. It’s they’re coming out. We’re getting them out.”
Patrolmen Finnan and Morris were first on the scene that night, shattering the glass door with a fire extinguisher to enter the home.
Two men were inside. One man was able to walk out, whereas his dad was in the bedroom.
“I mean seconds are minutes,” Ptl. Morris said.
As they searched for the paraplegic man, Ptl. Morris’ other training kicked in. As a volunteer firefighter, he knew how to stay as safe as he could, even without the proper gear.
“I did say to myself, ‘we need to stay down,” Ptl. Morris said. “We need to stay lower where there is fresher air so we’re not breathing in the smoke. Processing what gear I did have on at that point, I realized I didn’t have the airway protection. I didn’t have the heat protection so I knew we had to work quickly to get out of that residence before it deteriorated faster.”
“We put safety at the forefront of everything we do and every contact we have with the public,” Ptl. Finnan said.
While the award from the city council is meaningful, the officers said what they did is also what’s expected of them.
“We interact with people oftentimes on the worst days of their life and that’s a normal day for us,” Ptl. Finnan said. “It’s fantastic to be recognized for some of the stuff we do but this is stuff we do every day.”
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CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
The National Weather Service has teams of storm surveryors in the field April 18 investigating several reports of severe storms and tornado touch downs across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and northeast Missouri.
According to the weather service’s website, windgusts of up to 60 to 70 mph along with teacup-sized hail and several tornadoes were reported April 17.
Many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed in Lena, Illinois, where the most significant damage occurred, the site pointed out.
Very strong winds also were reported near Washington, Iowa, and Colmar, Illinois, where several outbuildings and grain bins were destroyed.
The weather service received reports of confirmed and possible tornadoes in the areas of Lena, Pecatonica, Shirland, Rockton, Roscoe and Capron.
The teams will be assessing damage this weekend into next week along with county emergency management teams to determine what types of storms occurred and their paths.
Dozens of power outages were reported, as well.
As of the afternoon of April 18, ComEd was reporting 85 active power outages across northern Illinois, down from 241 on April 17, and 6,751 customers affected, down from more than 18,000.
The bulk of those outages and the most customers impacted are concentrated in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties.
Freeze Watch
from MON 12:00 AM CDT until MON 9:00 AM CDT, Lake County, Kankakee County, La Salle County, DuPage County, Northern Will County, DeKalb County, Southern Will County, Kendall County, Southern Cook County, Northern Cook County, Grundy County, Eastern Will County, Kane County, McHenry County, Lake County, Newton County, Jasper County, Porter County
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