Investigation into Gurnee Hotel fire begins

Gurnee fire investigators are trying to determine the cause of a five-alarm blaze that damaged a portion of the Holiday Inn Hotel in Gurnee.

“They went out there at first light and started to look things over,” Deputy Fire Chief John Kavanagh said Wednesday. “We feel at this point that the fire was contained to the banquet and restaurant area, and the hotel only suffered minimal damage.”

There was some water and smoke damage to the reception area of the hotel and minor water damage to some guest rooms on the first floor, officials said.

Kavanagh said investigators are narrowing down the cause of the blaze that sparked about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at the hotel at 6161 Grand Ave.

The state fire marshal was at the hotel assisting in the investigation and interviewing workers who were inside the building earlier in the day, according to fire officials.

The hotel was nearing completion of an extensive renovation in the banquet area when the fire began. It burned for nearly four hours, and a large plume of black smoke could be seen billowing from the hotel just west of the Tri-State Tollway.

It took about four hours to bring the blaze under control, and the building suffered extensive damage. The cost of the damage also remained unknown Wednesday evening.

No firefighters were injured during the blaze.