Battling blaze from on high proves taxing

CHAMPAIGN – It's easy for some to minimize what firefighters do.

Hey, they get two days off out of three, are paid fairly well and get a great pension, right?

Then a major fire erupts.

And for Wally Worley, a Champaign Fire Department engineer on Ladder Co. 161, doing his job meant he was climbing a ladder eight stories high in the air, wearing gear and an air pack that weighs about 70 pounds total, and directing water into an inferno.

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