Fire damages Wheeling condo complex; 1 firefighter hurt

High winds fanned flames at a Wheeling condominium complex Friday, heavily damaging two units and leaving a firefighter slightly injured.

Wheeling Fire Chief Keith MacIsaac said the fire was already burning in an upstairs bedroom and inside the roof of the two-story Pleasant Run Condominiums when firefighters arrived.

The building has a mansard roof, which has a gap inside around the sides and in the attic, and that allowed the flames to spread rapidly, the chief said. When firefighters opened the walls and roof with axes, flames were already shooting out and winds spread them with a "blow torch effect," the chief said.

The building is in a residential neighborhood on the 1100 block of Pleasant Run Drive, just east of Elmhurst Road between Hintz and Palatine roads.

Around 1 p.m., 19-year-old Ivan Striupkus and his father Eric, were doing laundry and watching television when they smelled something burning and saw smoke coming out through the shingles between the balcony and the bedroom of their condominium, as if perhaps the wiring inside the wall was burning.

Ivan said they tried to spray it with a fire extinguisher but it had no effect.

They called 911, and firefighters arrived within minutes, he said, but the fire had already spread by the time they started putting water on it.

He and his father got out safely down the stairs, and their cat Semke jumped out a window.

Flames and heavy smoke could soon be seen shooting out from the windows and roof.

Some 40 firefighters from 15 departments fought the blaze for about an hour. Wheeling asked for extra help, MacIsaac said, because winds at 25 to 30 miles per hour raised the danger of the fire spreading.

One firefighter was hit on the head by falling drywall, but he was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Two upstairs units were fire damaged and two downstairs units were water damaged, leaving half the building uninhabitable with roughly $500,000 damage, MacIsaac said.

QCi restoration and other personnel worked to restore utilities and get the residents back into the other half of the building by Friday night, and Wheeling Police Department social services workers were helping displaced residents find lodging in a hotel.

Neighbor Vanessa Schmitz said she grabbed her nieces and nephews and then knocked on everyone's door, shouting at them to get out.

"It's very scary. I've never experienced anything like this in my life," Schmitz said. "I just thank God I'm alive and that my family's safe."

The unit was a total loss, and the Striupkuses will have to move in with Ivan's girlfriend in Schaumburg until they get a place to live.

"We're devastated," said Ivan's girlfriend, Tiffany Liebe, who also lived in the condominium but was at work at the time. "Everything's lost."

Firefighters were investigating the cause of the fire but said it appeared accidental.