DeKalb Fire Department

The DeKalb Fire Department has been awarded a multi-million dollar federal grant which will help bring more firefighter paramedics onto the payroll, said DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas.

DeKalb firefighter Pat Eriksen said it “just blows my mind that it’s been 20 years” since terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York City and his firefighter cousin from Brooklyn died in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 2001.

DeKalb fire officials confirmed there were no serious injuries coming from a Thursday vehicle crash near the city’s downtown.

Fire officials confirm there were no reported injuries or property damage resulting from a DeKalb scrap yard fire late Thursday morning.

The DeKalb Fire Department received about a quarter of a million dollars from the federal government to purchase new equipment for firefighters, according to City of DeKalb officials.

No injuries were reported after a fire following a “chemical flare up” at Faraday Hall on Northern Illinois University campus Wednesday, said DeKalb Dep. Fire Chief Bart Gilmore. Roads have also reopened as of 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Update: A house fire in the 300 block of North Fourth Street that was under control as of 5 p.m. Monday was caused by “improperly discarded smoking material,” according to DeKalb fire officials.

“This has definitely been a fairy tale life and a fairy tale career,” McMaster said. “And I’m blessed beyond what I deserve.” DeKalb’s fire chief who has been with the department for more than 25 years and was appointed chief in early 2019 will retire later this year, city officials say. This story has been updated.

Local police and fire officials are reporting an increase in fireworks-related calls since the COVID-19 pandemic began – though it’s unclear whether the pandemic prompted the hike. DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd said the department has received about 178 fireworks related calls for 2021 so far, with about 75 of those calls coming around the Fourth of July holiday period.

At least seven residents in the Hunter Ridgebrook apartment complex at 808 Ridge Drive in DeKalb were displaced after two apartments were deemed uninhabitable from an early Tuesday fire in the building, fire officials say.