Fire at Elgin grocery store means food must go

An Elgin grocery store will have to restock a large portion of its goods after a Wednesday afternoon fire filled the store with smoke and cut off electricity to refrigeration units.

Initial reports estimate the damage to Dino's Foods, 465 Summit St., at $400,000, said Elgin Fire Department Batallion Chief Terry Bruce.

Fire officials at the scene said a roofer was working with a torch near the back of the building when something on the roof caught fire. The blaze burned off half of the roof over the compressor room, which runs the refrigerators, and damaged the compressors, Bruce said.

Firefighters responded to the store just before 1:30 p.m. and found heavy fire coming from the rear, where the flames has spread from the roof to a backroom, fire officials said.

Because of the damage to the compressor units, ComEd was called to the scene and decided to shut off the power to the building, Bruce said.

Inspectors from the health department were also called to grocery store and informed the management that a large portion of the food would need to be thrown out due to smoke damage and lack of refrigeration, Bruce said.

“It's going to be quite a bit of cleanup,” he said.

The building was evacuated when firefighters arrived, and no injuries were reported.

It took firefighters about 15 minutes to bring the blaze under control, but the store remained closed for the rest of the day.

Summit Street was shut down between Dundee Avenue and Liberty Street during the fire.

Fire officials did not know when the store would be able reopen.