Rock Falls Fire Department

Fire damaged a Sterling apartment building Tuesday night, causing three people to suffer smoke inhalation symptoms and two cats to be resuscitated.

Due to the smoke plume, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency will be monitoring air quality and will follow up with a report through the EPA.

The Sterling City Council designated the last of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds Monday, choosing to put the remaining funds toward building demolition costs and a new fire department training center.

Wednesday morning's fire damage was limited to Country Inn and Suites' room 102, with water damage reaching the hallway.

Steven W. Coleman was sentenced Thursday for three counts of murder, three aggravated arson charges, and a residential arson charge. All seven sentences will be served consecutively to each other.

Brian McPhillips, 32, of Sterling was driving east on U.S. 30 near Riverdale Road when he attempted to pass an eastbound semi, met a westbound semi and collided with both, according to a Whiteside County Sheriff’s Office news release.

Sterling and Rock Falls firefighters were called at 10 p.m. Tuesday to the burning home in the 5400 block of Anne Street, Galt, in rural Sterling.

Alan Marshall, arrested on three counts of arson, now has been charged with two counts of aggravated domestic battery, domestic battery and unlawful restraint in connection with events leading up to a Sept. 25 fire at a Sterling duplex in the 600 block of West Fifth Street.

Sterling police say three arson arrest warrants have been issued for a Sterling man who is accused of running from police Wednesday during a domestic battery investigation and then barricading himself in his West Fifth Street apartment shortly before fire broke out there.

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to consider helping to fund a training center for the Rock Falls and Sterling fire departments to the tune of $825,000 when it returns to session next month.

Nearly eight months after a fire burned down Moore Tires, the company is nearly finished constructing its latest addition to the new repair and service shop at 2400 First Ave./state Route 40 in Rock Falls.

To build a training facility that, decades down the road, still effectively serves Sauk Valley firefighters and, by extension, residents. That’s the goal members of the Garrett Ramos Training Facility Cooperative set for the Rock Falls and Sterling fire departments.

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted to approve an appropriations bill Wednesday that includes $825,000 in Community Project Funding for the Rock Falls Fire Department to build a burn tower where firefighters can train in live-fire conditions.

A Morrison man was seriously injured Monday when his motorcycle and a vehicle collided in rural Sterling.

Fire at 1501 First Ave. was contained in the attic.

Firefighters battled a house fire Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 1501 First Avenue in Sterling. Multiple departments responded to the scene including Sterling, Rock Falls, Dixon, Amboy, Morrison and Prophetstown.

Fire crews from Sterling, Rock Falls and Dixon fire departments responded to a residential structure fire late Monday night.

Fifteen fire departments, one from as far away as Clinton, Iowa, assisted in fighting the blaze that broke out in an outside pile of recycling remnants and took four hours to extinguish.

U.S. Army Cpl. Richard Seloover, who was 17 at the time, went missing in action on Sept. 6, 1950; he was accounted for on Jan. 10, 2024, after scientists at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified his remains.

Melissa Schultz, Haunted Haven’s owner, says she and her husband, Joseph Norton, discovered the fire. They had gone to the Haunted Haven barn Monday to pick up some tools and a lawn mower when they noticed smoke coming from the second floor.

May 1, 2024 was an eclectic day for Sauk Valley Media's Paschal. See the photos from this week's Shutter to Think.

Sterling and Rock Falls fire departments placed nearly two dozen buoys in the Rock River Wednesday, May 15, 2024. The departments took over the placement from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources several years back.

I really like days like this where the stories are diverse and one has to adapt to what is presented. Plus, there was a giant imaginary rabbit.

Juvenile, who escaped prior to firefighters’ arrival, was transported to CGH Medical Center, evaluated and released.

Sterling and Rock Falls firefighters were in the midst of training in Rock Falls when a call went out for a fire across town Wednesday, May 1, 2024.

Sauk Valley Media recognizes and salutes our first responders.

A fire broke out at a house at 204 East 11th Street Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in Rock Falls. Fire training across town by Sterling and Rock Falls firefighters was disrupted after just a few minutes due to the call.

A letter written by Rock Falls Fire Chief Ken Wolf indicates Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, 2106 First Ave., Rock Falls, is now in compliance with the 2021 edition of the International Fire Code and the National Fire Protection Association's Life Safety code.

The Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, 2106 First Ave./state Route 40, was closed after a Rock Falls Fire Department inspection, done Tuesday at the request of the city, found no “functioning fire alarm and sprinkler system.”

Two plumbers working near the Rock Falls sewer plant west of town were rescued after being overcome by methane gas in a storm drain in which they were working, Rock Falls Fire Chief Ken Wolf said Monday.