The Reader's archive is vast and varied, going back to 1971. Every day in Archive Dive, we'll dig through and bring up some finds.

Until 2005, it was not illegal in the state of Illinois to impersonate a firefighter. And so a band of men in Lake County, led by a former volunteer in the county sheriff's reserve deputy unit, purchased an old fire truck and incorporated themselves as the Lost Creek Fire Company. They appeared in parades. Then they actually went out to fight a fire. And that's when their troubles began. And why it's now illegal to impersonate a firefighter. Mike Sula told the whole crazy story in "Playing Fireman."