Chicago must hire 111 African American firefighter candidates passed over for jobs and pay millions of dollars in damages to thousands more.

The ruling handed down Friday by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals follows last year’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that the African Americans who took a 1995 firefighters’ entrance exam didn’t wait too long to sue.

via Court: Chicago must hire 111 black firefighters – chicagotribune.com.

Ten on-duty Chicago firefighters helped a colleague renovate his home under the guise of a training exercise, but they were spotted by neighbors who knew an abuse of taxpayer resources when they saw one, internal city watchdogs concluded.

The phony drill involved sending a truck and engine from a far Southwest Side firehouse to a nearby home, where firefighters stripped siding from the exterior walls, sources said. Investigators later determined firehouse supervisors — and the firefighter they helped — misled them in an attempt to cover it up.

Inspector General Joseph Ferguson recommended that two fire lieutenants and the home-owning firefighter be suspended without pay for 30 days, the sources said.

via Bogus firehouse drill nets suspensions for 2 – Chicago Tribune.

But even the smallest blaze can turn on you — as shown on a newly surfaced video of a backdraft that injured four Chicago firefighters last month.

The video, shot by a neighbor through a window, will now be used to train recruits.

via Video catches backdraft that injured 4 Chicago firefighters – Chicago Breaking News.