On the evening of the 9th of September, I drove over to 140 Cortez Drive to a report of a residential structure fire…my buddy Jim Bartle also showed up and we walked around to the back of the house to discover the source of the fire, a barbecue grill on the deck, which apparently got very hot next to the vinyl siding on the back wall of the house…

…the fire extended into the house and into the garage as well…firefighters checked the attic of the fairly new house, as there was light smoke coming out the eaves…there apparently was more fire in the garage tho…

…the last photo I shot was St Clair`s new pumper….

Nearly two weeks after the multi-vehicle accident on I-44 near Menards, Sullivan Fire responded to an overturned passenger car on the South Service Road at Glaser Road, reported that the driver was trapped inside the car. I arrived to find firefighters stabilizing the overturned vehicle so that they could safely extricate the driver…

AVI 152 Rollover S Serv Rd Just East of Glaser Road 2024-0821

I was relaxing and watching tv Saturday night, August 10th, 2024 when I heard Sullivan and St Clair`s tones drop for a Multi Vehicle Accident with fire, in the area of westbound I-44 near Menards Distribution Center. It was dusk and about to get full dark, I drove out on the South Service Road and turned around at the Glaser Road intersection, then returned and parked on the grassy shoulder of the Service Road, where many on-lookers were also trying to park to look at and film the accident scene on their phones….

…it was tough to figure out what was on fire in the center median of I-44 at first due to the darkness out there…I could see Sullivan Fire District on scene on the North Service Road with 3 or 4 trucks…westbound lanes of I-44 were shut down so that firefighters could access the multiple vehicles in the median, and other fire departments responding were advised to use the North Service Road to access the scene as well. I was able to hear St Clair as they approached from the east a few minutes later. The heavy fire on the left was from a flatbed tractor trailer with what appeared to be a partial load of asphalt roof shingles and there were two suv`s behind it and then another tractor trailer behind them…at least one of the suv`s was believed to be on fire as well and possibly occupied….more ambulances were on the way as well at least one air unit… and a second alarm was dispatched for additional firefighters and tankers…

…as the smoke cleared in a few minutes, it was apparent that a third tractor trailer was involved and later determined to be on top of one of the suv`s….

AVI 119

AVI 128 Multi Vehicle Accident 228 MM I-44

A few minutes after I arrived and started shooting photos, I heard the air unit above circling around slowly, waiting on instructions where to land…westbound traffic was stopped and held at the 228.6 mile marker, the accident was two tenths of a mile to the west, firefighters had multiple hoselines stretched across the westbound lanes from the trucks on the North Service Road….

AVI 129 Medical Airship Circling Scene of MVA

About 20 minutes after firefighters began applying water on all of the fires at the accident scene, they had the fires under control….

…and I left the area…as more on lookers were showing up and traffic on the South Service Road was ramping up, not a good situation there.

Sunday afternoon, July 24th, 2024, Bourbon Fire District was toned out for a residential structure fire at 140 Butler Pond Road, called in by the next door neighbor, and Sullivan and Cuba were dispatched as well. I drove out to the scene, arriving ahead of Sullivan Fire, observing heavy black smoke on the way out there. I parked by the Crawford Electric Substation across the road and talked to the neighbors, they told me there were some small propane bottles behind the house, there were some small explosions in that direction prior to firefighters arriving, likely those bottles. North Crawford Ambulance arrived first and I let the medics know about the bottles and explosions…

AVI 16 House Fire 193 Butler Pond Road Bourbon District

Sullivan Firefighters arrived shortly after I shot the first video in Pumper 8854…Medics assisted with pulling the attack hoseline…Jacob Dace and Captain Damon Sumpter took the hoseline to the front of the trailer fire…I warned them about the propane bottles behind the house and prior explosions…

AVI 17 Sullivan Pumper 8854 Arriving 193 Butler Pond Road

AVI 54 Bourbon FD Arriving As Sullivan Pours Water on Fire

Bourbon Fire District arrived at this time and assisted Sullivan Firefighters with fire suppression….

As I was headed back to my pickup, I stopped to talk to Tony Boero, who was operating Bourbon`s pumper and Lee Eikermann at the pump panel…two of Bourbon Fire District`s most experienced firefighters…

During the day on Monday, July 1st, 2024, Sullivan Fire was dispatched to a first alarm at 131 Meredith Lane, and arrived to find a working structure fire, the second one two months apart. Bourbon, St Clair, Beaufort-Leslie, and Cuba Fire Districts were dispatched on the call as well. Heavy yellow- brown smoke was coming from the old garage attached to the east side of the house and the front door of the building, as well….

I took this photo above and then walked around to the front of the house where I found Captain Damon Sumpter and Firefighter Nick Via face to face with heavy fire in the attached garage….

AVI 43

AVI 68 Damon on Nozzle Just Inside Garage, Nick Goes to Get a Saw

…and they saw the heavy smoke turn from white to gray to brown to black…as the fire progressed in the attached garage and behind them in the house…

AVI 77 Stretching 2nd Line & Muffled Explosion Rear of Garage

…and soon after, Beau Kick and Jordan Shortt showed up to help out with fire attack, packing up at the front door and preparing to enter the house, as Damon continued to work in the doorway of the garage….

…and it was about this time, that firefighters encountered water service issues and had to take a time out….

AVI 103 Waiting for Water to Make Entry Into House With 2nd Line

Kyle walked around to find another way into the house, followed shortly after by Beau and Jordan with the blue hoseline. Nick relieved Damon on the hoseline at the side door to the garage….

…while the second crew was near the back of the house trying to make entry, Damon and Nick moved back and forth from the garage to the front door of the house and then back to the garage again….

I walked back around the east side of the house and discovered St Clair and Cuba Firefighters were on scene now…

Cuba Fire Chief Mike Plank working with his son, Firefighter Brandon Plank at the front of the attached garage….

…and then I walked over to the west side to check out the display of fire trucks and Engineers pumping water to the fire crews…

22 days later, the new owners of this building, had it torn down with heavy equipment, removing the fire hazard once and for all.

Late afternoon on May 10th, Sullivan Fire responded to a Fed Ex truck on fire, just east of Stanton on the westbound shoulder of I-44. Firefighter Joe Kincaid and Captain David Konys made quick work of the fire…

at some point, Joe had a problem with his air pack and had to turn the nozzle over to Captain Dave…

AVI 271 Fed Ex Truck on Fire WB 44 230.4 MM

Bourbon, Sullivan, and Cuba Fire Districts were dispatched to a residential structure fire just north of Bourbon, off Hwy C to Rustic Acres Subdivision, 276 Shirley Drive on April 30th, 2024 in the afternoon. When I arrived, firefighters were inside, trying to make their way down the hallway to get to bedrooms on the north side of the house, that were well involved…..

AVI 163 House Fire 1st Alarm 276 Shirley Drive Bourbon

…while shooting this video, I was advised the fire started in the garage…Captain Damon Sumpter and Jacob Dace were inside the residence while Drew Richards was outside with a hoseline, as you see in the photo above….

AVI 180 House Fire 276 Shirley Drive Bourbon 1st Alarm

AVI 211 Heavy Fire Blowing Out Windows Above Garage 276 Shirley Dr Bourbon

…after knocking down the fire inside the bedrooms above the garage again, Damon and Jacob came back outside to take a break and cool down with some cold bottled water…

AVI 238 Drew on Nozzle

..and when they came outside, Drew set up outside the garage to cool it down even more with the hoseline…..

Damon came to the garage and took over on the nozzle, giving Drew a break…

…and before I left, I took two more photos….