Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInCOLONA (KWQC) - Colona police are asking for help finding a man after a house fire Tuesday morning Police have been unable to find the resident of the home on the 500 block of 3rd Street A recent post on the Colona Police Department’s Facebook page said they haven’t been able to find 60-year-old David Gibbs after his residence caught on fire Police said he is known to ride his bike to area stores Anyone with information should call the police at 309-937-3911 Firefighters responded to a house fire Tuesday morning around 6 a.m. according to officials from the Colona Fire Department crews saw flames coming through the roof of the house Officials said the fire grew because of strong winds Firefighters worked to put out the fire for more than three hours and stayed at the house until 2 p.m but officials are unsure of his whereabouts and have not talked with him Coal Valley and Carbon Cliff-Barstow were there WHAT WE KNOW: Brian Johnson defeated Don Ropp to become Colona's new mayor in the April 1 election WHAT'S NEW: About 40 people were present Monday night as Ropp gave the oath of office to Johnson at Colona's Scott Family Park Also being sworn in were new City Clerk Charlotte Park 3rd Ward Alderman Melanie Hergert and 4th Ward Aldermen Darlene Strobbe and Jacob Waterman Strobbe was elected to a four-year term and Waterman to an unexpired two-year term The actual date of the change of office is May 1 Johnson presented medallion awards to Ropp as well as retiring aldermen Debara Shady-Dahl and Mick Painter He also had a medallion for 1st Ward Alderman Jim Dooley Johnson said he was "deeply grateful" to "each one of you" for "long hours away from family and friends." He offered a sincere thank you to Ropp noting they had been working together the last several weeks and vowing to call his predecessor "about 10,000 times," noting Ropp had assured him he'd answer each call Johnson also thanked the voters once more and said he would "promise we're going to try to do some good things." adding that he would try to move the community forward WHAT'S NEXT: Ropp used his last council meeting as mayor to go over some of the unfinished business of his term In addition to adopting a fiscal year 2025-26 budget he commented on the recent water rate survey conducted by Illinois Rural Water Association noting updates would need to be done to account for the cost of upgrades He also touched on the Maguire Iron water tower maintenance contract a pending comprehensive plan with Bi-State Regional Commission possible uses for a $100,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and capital improvement plans required for water city buildings and Colona's Scott Family Park Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account passed away surrounded by family on Tuesday 2025.  A funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m Burial will follow at Dayton Corners Cemetery IL.  Visitation will be held from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m at Vandemore Funeral Homes & Crematory – Geneseo Chapel.  Memorials may be directed to the following in Ted’s honor: Colona United Methodist Church and Rebuilding Together Henry County PO Box 254 Geneseo IL 61254.  Online condolences may be left at www.vandemorefuneralhome.com the son of Lester and Jessie (Berkley) Anderson IL.  He graduated from United Township High School in 1966 and Black Hawk College in 1968 Together they built a life filled with love and laughter Ted was an engineer at Kone for more than forty years always ready to lend a hand with his many talents His love for classic cars and the excitement of enduro motorcycle racing in his younger years showcased his adventurous spirit Ted’s lifelong hobby of “wrenching” on cars led to him owning more than 60 cars during his lifetime.  A long-time member of the Colona United Methodist Church Ted's life was enriched by his faith and love for his family he cherished attending his grandchildren's activities and weekend car shows with his brother He also dedicated his time to Rebuilding Together constructing ramps to improve the lives of those in need and Nick (Amy) Anderson of Port Byron; grandchildren and Lauren Anderson; one great-grandchild on the way; brother  Bob (Lindy) Anderson of Colona; sister Debbie (Bruce) Beintema of Geneseo; brother-in-law JoAnne Hillman and Sandy (Ed) Skelton; many nieces great nieces and nephews; and special friends Pat and Rick Haney Lester and Jessie Anderson; and brothers-in-law (KWQC) - The Colona Fire Department responded to a wildland fire on Tuesday afternoon Officials from the Colona Fire Department said, when firefighters got to the 23000 block of Sandy Lane they saw heavy black smoke, according to a Facebook post Officials said five to seven acres of tall The fire quickly spread over 20 acres and over the interstate starting more grass fires because the wind was so strong Officials said the fire created safety concerns for people in the interstate construction zone Firefighters worked to put the fire out for three hours and stayed on scene until 6 p.m The fire was been determined to be accidental and no injuries were reported (KWQC) - What started as a small fire burning cardboard quickly escalated when wind carried the embers The flames jumped to a pile of plastic tubing nearby Several area fire crews arrived around 11 a.m Monday at the Quad Cities Directional Boring facility just north of downtown Colona Colona Fire Chief John Swan said crews extinguished the fire in about 45 minutes Swan is asking people to not burn anything because of windy and dry conditions (KWQC) - The fire protection district in and around Colona and Cleveland is asking voters to raise property taxes to add more firefighters to the force the Colona Community Fire Protection District doesn’t have enough staff as a majority of the workers are volunteer The current staffing plan includes the chief a trustee and volunteers who work separate full-time jobs during the day myself and a trustee and anybody that might be off a vacation,” Swan said “It would be devastating if somebody’s having a heart attack and we’re not available.” Chief Swan hopes that if the public votes to implement a 10 cent rescue tax it would help fund the hiring of two part-time firefighters The 10 cent rescue tax is separate from the 30 cent fire tax that community members already pay we’ve been providing a rescue service to our community on the fire funds for over 40 years,” Chief Swan said The Colona Community Fire Protection District hopes to pass the tax because they’re short-staffed during the daytime “This is very important because it’s not over issues that were shortfalls in the fire fund,” Swan said it’s over putting a couple guys on during the day.“ Chief Swan said he can’t promise a first responder will be on scene quickly they’re always there but we may not have a first responder there,” Swan said Colona’s Mayor Donald Ropp said the tax is important to public safety because of the community’s aging population - the number of is almost at 1,000 year “We need those support from emergency services things you don’t think about until you need it,” Ropp said (KWQC) - The Colona Police Department said K9 officer Parker has cancer Police officials posted online Wednesday that Parker has been cleared to continue working while receiving chemotherapy Police said Oakwood Clinic is donating veterinarian care Officials are asking for donations to cover his medicine They said any money leftover will go to its K9 program (KWQC) - Voters voted against raising property taxes to add more firefighters to the Colona Fire Protection force It failed 829 votes against to 571 for the tax Chief John Swan hoped that if the public voted to implement a 10 cent rescue tax The 10 cent rescue tax would have been separate from the 30 cent fire tax that community members already pay Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInAutoplayAp Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Copyright © 2015 The Denver Post Thank you for completing the form, here is your download: "+jQuery("body").attr("docName")+" Thank you for completing the form, here is the link to your on-demand webinar: On-Demand Webinar Link By Daniel BethersMoline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus — Volunteer fire departments across the country are approaching a crisis point as they try to meet modern challenges Small-town departments surrounding the Quad-Cities are no exception media coverage of experts and advocates from the National Volunteer Fire Council has cast grim portents on what will become of services that no one pays for but everyone has come to expect Services face pressure from increasing regulations expanding roles and a lack of updates in funding mechanisms fire-protection districts like Colona are looking at referendums to support their departments’ growing needs and warning that without new funding Volunteer firefighters make up over 65% of the United States’ firefighting force with 676,000 individuals risking life and limb unpaid to save people and property in their local communities It has fallen by hundreds of thousands since the 1970s according to the National Volunteer Fire Council a 37-year veteran of volunteer firefighting remembers a time when career fire departments took only the cream of the crop with big city departments having hundreds of applicants to sort through at any given time Recruits have since been asked to pass intensive health screenings and undergo long complex training regimes both upon initiation and on an ongoing basis in maintenance of certifications in life-saving skill sets OSHA requirements designed to protect the health of first responders from fumes and structural hazards borne of changes in construction technique have packed hours onto already strained schedules for volunteers who are often juggling work and families It’s also taken on new dimensions as the public’s expectations of emergency responders have changed First responders equipped to deal with mental health crises are in unrelenting demand; situations involving drug use benefit immensely from first responders with de-escalation skills plus life-saving naloxone and “lift requests” from elderly callers who have fallen and can’t get up The public and federal regulators alike have begun to treat volunteer and career municipal departments as if they are one and the same we volunteers were running 60 to 80 calls a year,” Swan said Now we’re running almost 1,000 calls a year we’re no different than a career department down in Moline Swan said Illinois fire departments have seen little increase in funding or applicants Swan said even well-funded municipal fire departments which draw their funding from city budgets typically pick from about a dozen interested candidates sometimes lowering their standards to admit even that many to the process whose only mode of compensation is typically a meager fuel stipend “You just don’t hand somebody a coat and say there’s a lot of training that goes in before that happens When you start telling them the roles and responsibilities of being a firefighter and they find out how many calls we have and how much time it takes The vast majority of volunteers are 40 or above serving older populations than ever before Swan says many members of the public don’t understand why volunteer fire departments can’t go on with the status quo Swan and Colona Fire Protection District Trustee Victor Dzekunskas are the only full-time members of the Colona Fire Department Many other fire-protection district chiefs in the area work full-time they are not always available for weekday emergencies The majority of the Colona Fire Department will only ever be able to respond to weekend or nighttime calls The simple reason is that to miss daytime work is to go unpaid A structure fire can take five to six hours to fully extinguish if not controlled well in the first few minutes the Colona Fire Department can offer only about $7 in stipend money to cover fuel expenses The third volunteer present for Swan’s interview during the work day last week was only at the station because he’d taken paid time off that Thursday to pick up dishwasher parts “Usually you’d just find me and this guy here,” Swan gestured at Dzekunskas A structure fire typically requires eight people to ensure reignition won’t occur and perform rescue operations A small community is lucky to have two or three volunteers free during the day Mutual-aid agreements between volunteer fire departments are common but a response from one town over is not only likely to run into similar personnel issues it also takes longer for firefighters to get there sometimes stretching long enough for “the whole building to burn down.” “A lot of these firefighters are in their 60s,” Swan said “They have no business going into a burning house — let alone trying to do so in stressful situations Communities need to understand; we don’t have a lot of young people available Swan and Dzekunskas don’t usually enter burning buildings instead managing other parts of a fire response “(Dzekunskas) can still put an Air-Pak on,” Swan said The largest increase in the responsibilities of a volunteer firefighter has taken place with the end of local ambulance services fire-protection districts levy property taxes for volunteer fire departments but only with several strict conditions imposed by the state Departments can levy a maximum of 30 cents per $100 of equalized assessed property value to support firefighting services 30 cents per $100 of EAV to support ambulance services and 10 cents per $100 of EAV to support rescue services The premise of volunteer firefighters doing EMS care regularly only emerged when it became too difficult for the ambulance tax to support local operations in small towns like Colona because of the shortage of volunteers plus the fact that highly skilled unpaid workers often end up leaving to join career departments nearby fire and EMS services are very difficult for small towns to maintain “Fire burns the same in a small town as it does in a larger municipality — a single-family home burns the same way no matter where you are,” Swan said It takes the same resources to fight it too The need for good response times dictates that each region must have its own service Each minute of response time can make fire and emergency medical issues exponentially worse At least a fire engine and four firefighters are needed to have a reasonable chance of fighting a fire no matter a community’s total taxable property value medical emergencies still demand a professional EMS team and fully supplied ambulance The cumulative EAV of the Colona Fire Protection District is $108,466,497 yielding $325,399 for ambulance or fire services assuming residents are taxed at the maximum rate of 30 cents according to the National Volunteer Fire Council’s website the same 30-cent rate would yield just $66,672 when applied to the $22,224,296 EAV of the nearby Galva Fire Protection District Nearby municipalities that do not rely on fire-protection districts have no maximum on what they can levy for their fire departments and have much higher EAVs in denser areas They’re also free to supplement personnel wages and benefits with various taxes on local commerce fire and police departments still constitute a large proportion of most municipality budgets Colona has never had a dedicated government ambulance service The community contracts with MercyOne Genesis Silvis Medical Center which sends ambulances to the neighboring city as needed Contracting with distant ambulance services can lead to longer response times and can strain levies that were never meant to pay wages — just ambulance equipment for volunteers to operate The result is firefighters doing CPR and other lifesaving treatments while the ambulance arrives A local response within one or two minutes can prevent a flatline and greatly improve a patient’s odds Swan said chances of a flatline greatly increased after four to six minutes without any lifesaving measures This is the service the 10 cent rescue tax is designed to pay for Colona residents have voted down two referendums on the tax as have residents in districts across the country every Colona resident relies on a less-than-seven-minute response time from the district’s volunteers that mean responses chiefly from Swan and Dzekunskas The two retirees are ill-equipped to handle fires and EMS calls especially if there are multiple calls at once many districts don’t have more than one ambulance contracted Another problem comes with the second component of an aging America: residents “In the last couple of years our calls went up 20% just on the EMS side,” Swan said (800 a year and going up.) We’re getting lift assists non-emergency mental health calls — all sorts of calls That used to be just fire 20 or 30 years ago Now people pick up the phone for every type of emergency situation anything they want — they call the fire service A referendum to add the 10 cent tax will be on Colona Fire Protection District ballots for April 1 municipal elections Swan believes it will be sufficient to hire two paid day-shift staff EMS is a service Swan is not sure the district will be able to offer much longer “The only other thing we can do at this point is just don’t go on EMS rescue calls,” Swan said I called 911 and the fire department didn’t come.’ We don’t have to go to those We’ve taken on this burden to the point that it’s breaking our back.” © 2025 Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus, Ill.Visit www.trib.com.Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Copyright ©2023 Lexipol. All rights reserved.Do Not Sell My Personal Information 2024 at Genesis Health Illini Campus in Silvis  A celebration of life will be held June 16 2024 from 12:00 PM to 4:30PM at the Colona American Legion 1965 to Max and Dorothy (Downard) McMeen in Davenport he enlisted in the Army National Guard where he served until being honorably discharged Karl spent his career as an automotive mechanic and worked within the Quad Cities He was employed at NFS at the time of his passing 1995 he was united in marriage to Tammy McCormick in Milan He also loved riding horses and was active in rodeo with Tammy Karl was a very skilled craftsman who would often make things for his friends and family He was also a talented cook who could whip up a meal with anything he found in the kitchen Sheri (Todd) Kerr; numerous nieces and nephews; and many other relatives Arrangements entrusted to the care of Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory The man accused in the murder of a 14-month-old girl lived at this home in Colona Two neighbors said Tuesday that they never have seen a baby at the house but said police spent most of a day searching the property CAMBRIDGE - A Colona man went on trial Wednesday before Judge Daniel Dalton on two counts of murder and two counts of aggravated battery Francis Hospital in Peoria several days after being transported there from Colona testified as to a conversation he had with Strawder in June or July of 2022 He said he was "a little shocked" when Strawder recalled the events of Jan Strawder said his girlfriend dropped her kids at school and left "the baby" at his house where he was trying to sleep He said he got up because the baby was crying and her mother wasn't there He allegedly went to the baby and hit her with a pillow a couple times then put the pillow over her face to muffle the sound then he picked her up by a leg and shook her and told her to shut the f--- up and put his hand over the baby's mouth and told her to shut up Strawder allegedly then said that next he heard a car door and tossed the baby on the couch and noticed the baby making gurgling sounds and went back to his room He allegedly then said the baby's mother came in and went to his room and they had sex after which she went out to check on the baby and he heard her screaming He said she was holding the baby trying to figure out what was wrong because she wasn't responsive and they decided to take her to the hospital Borsch said Strawder blamed the mother and said she must have done something Borsch is facing a sentence of six to 30 years in prison and admitted he was hoping to get some consideration in reducing the number of years he will have to serve in exchange for his testimony although he said no one had promised him anything Public defender Lance Camp objected to the court considering Borsch's testimony saying Borsch had a long history of multiple felonies and adding that he was out to use "whatever bit of leverage he can to find himself on the lower end" of years sentenced Borsch's testimony is credible," Camp said adding that he made no ultimate finding about the veracity of Strawder's statements Mandy Youmans testified about the autopsy of D.G. She said the cause of death was blunt force head trauma due to physical abuse Youmans said a surgical craniotomy was done to remove the collection of blood between the skull and the brain and that there was no evidence of congenital disease The pathologist said there was a one-and-one-half inch diameter bruise on the right side of her head with swelling but that her general health other than that injury appeared to be healthy for a normally developed child of 16 months Shown a picture of an interior doorway at Strawder's house at 710 4th Street in Colona Youmans said the idea that the child's head may have bumped into the doorway was not supported by evidence "Bumping one's head against the doorway would not be forcible enough to cause the injury," she said "The injury would not have come from that type of contact." She said a possible method of injury would be a shaking episode along with blunt trauma or forceful impact to the head such as a fist or hard surface She also said a trip down stairs or slip and fall was not consistent with the finding She said that she and three of her daughters had spent the night at Strawder's home and when they got up they were running late for school Her two older daughters were attending Wilson Middle School at the time She left to take the older girls to school and thought she got them there about 9:15 a.m and used Facetime to call Strawder immediately after dropping off the girls She said she guessed she got home about 9:25 or 9:30 a.m She said she talked to Strawder who was in his bedroom from the kitchen and then checked on D.G Strawder called her a number of times from the jail and wanted to get back together Henry County State's Attorney Catherine Runty introduced evidence that the two daughters had been dropped off at Wilson Middle School at 9 a.m and that Morning had called Strawder using Facetime at 9:01 a.m from cell phone extraction conducted by Colona police and the Illinois State Police Runty also introduced stipulated evidence that Morning entered Genesis Hospital carrying D.G 27 and Strawder entered the building at 10:21 a.m Correction: An earlier version of this article had the incorrect age of the victim Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email The name of the victim has not been released An alleged member of what Davenport police are describing as a nation-wide fraud ring has been arrested for allegedly participating in the fra… A tip from the Iowa Crimes Against Children Task Force has led to the arrest of a Davenport man on nearly two dozen charges alleging he posses… A Prophetstown teen died Wednesday when the dirt bike he was riding collided with another vehicle the Whiteside County Sheriff's Department said Rock island County law enforcement agencies will be conducting a coordinated traffic safety initiative along the Illinois 5 corridor from the … Cleanup efforts began after water receded from Buffalo Trace Distillery after storms in April 2025 brought floods to parts of Frankfort WHAT WE KNOW: The city of Colona has been wrestling with how to afford infrastructure improvements including water tower repairs and upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant WHAT'S NEW: Aldermen on Monday voted 7-0 to approve spending $500,000 for the repair of the water tower by the old fire station by Memorial Park waiving bidding requirements for a water tower maintenance contractor and selecting Maguire Iron as the water tower maintenance contractor They approved funding for the project including $300,000 from two certificates of deposit maturing this August a fiscal-year-ending $50,000 transfer from operations and maintenance department water reserves a $50,000 transfer from current O&M department water reserves and $100,000 from the capital improvement fund held in the O&M department account Maguire is a tank manufacturer from whom the city has been getting information for over two years the city entered a one-year contract for repair of the tower and locked in a six-year capital improvement plan for all water tank assets which include two other towers and two ground storage units WHAT'S NEXT: Mayor Don Ropp announced the city will receive a $100,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to be used for general infrastructure improvements He noted at one time they considered an improved early warning system He said he thought the money needed to be committed by July Seeking qualified workers: Using industry surveys and reports Machinery Partner identified gaps in the construction labor market