North Chicago hotel destroyed by arson

When firefighters arrived at a vacant North Chicago hotel late Monday morning they figured it was a routine call for some minor smoke behind the building.

Once inside the former Knights Inn hotel on Green Bay Road, they found piles of cardboard on fire in one area, old sofas ignited in another and scraps of material from the shuttered building in flames.

“We were under the assumption it was just a general cardboard material fire in the back, but later crews found multiple areas that had been ignited” said North Chicago Fire Cmdr. Dell Urban. “It was an intentional fire.”

The building at 2315 N. Green Bay Road, which had been vacant for over a year, was constructed with plastic materials that burn quickly, according to fire officials.

“It deteriorated fast and spread rapidly due to the poly foams that were in the building itself,” Urban said. “There had been a restaurant/bar in there; the structure was made of a poly foam.”

North Chicago police investigators were on the scene along with a fire commissioner Monday night, but there were no suspects in custody.

“Right now we know it is intentional. It’s a pretty busy street, which might have some surveillance,” Urban said.

The four-alarm fire roared from its ignition around 10:10 a.m. until about 3:30 p.m., forcing nearby businesses to shutter for the day.

“It’s a very large building. The whole building is down,” Urban said. “It’s been demolished.”

Twenty fire departments assisted the North Chicago department in the battle, but no injuries were reported, according to fire officials.

“We were very fortunate,” Urban said.

A stretch of Green Bay Road from Route 137 to Route 120 was shut down during the fire.

The North Chicago Police Department could not be reached for comment.