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Three people were able to escape a fire that swept through their Troy, Illinois home just before 5:00am Thursday. Firefighters remained at 31 Stonebrooke in Troy, Illinois for three hours.

Flames could be seen shooting through the roof of the home by neighbors. Fox 2 reports three people got out safely. They are Annie Herrin, her daughter Courtney and her boyfriend, Paul Coopman. Coopman reportedly was awakened by an explosion coming from the garage and was able to get the women out safely. There's still no word on a cause but firefighters are not considering it a suspicious fire.

Fox 2 reports three months ago the family buried Annie's husband, 47-year-old Jimmy Herrin, died from pancreatic cancer. A trust fund for the family has been set up at US Bank in Troy, Illinois.

Hearings are set for this week in the St. Louis firefighters' pension reform battle.

Early last year, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay had proposed replacing the current Firemen's Retirement System with a less-expensive pension system. The Board of Aldermen passed the plan, but the board that oversees the pension system sued to stop the city from implementing it.

The new system would cut costs by trimming disability payments and making pension administrators civil servants, among other things. City officials say that's necessary because the pay and benefits that the four-person administrative staff receives right now are far more than those of other city pension administrators.

The F-R-S needed a 20-million dollar infusion from the city coffers last year in order to cover expenses. Slay says the city can't keep that up for long.

One of the busiest fire departments in the St. Louis area may lose almost half of it's firefighters by the end next month.

The East St. Louis Fire Department gets a substantial part of it's funding from a federal grant. That grant is about to run out. The firefighter's union says that means 22 of the department's 53 firefighters would be let go.

Mayor Alvin Parks says the city is reapplying for the grant, but it could be denied. Parks told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that happens, the city would only need to lay off 10-15 firefighters because of a tax increase that took effect in January.

The firefighters union says they're already short on personnel and resources, unable to send more than 6 firefighters to any one fire scene.

The firefighters are making their case with Youtube video, which had nearly 40,000 hits in the first two days since it was posted.



According to their video, East St. Louis firefighters answer a lot of calls. About half of all 9-1-1 calls in East St. Louis last year, 950 calls were for fires.