Car fire spreads to Inverness home

An SUV that was on fire crashed into a house Thursday night in Inverness, causing flames to spread to the structure and leaving it temporarily uninhabitable, authorities said.

The car was traveling on the 200 block of Bradwell Road about 7 p.m. when the driver lost control and crashed into the 2-story single family home near the corner of Bradwell and Poteet Avenue. The car fire was fueled by a broken gas line, and when the car crashed into the building, the broken line continued “feeding flames into the house,” said Capt. Jeff Dill of the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District.

“It was pretty chaotic,” Dill said.

He said firefighting crews who were called to the scene first thought they were only going to be responding to a car fire. They quickly learned that it was much more, so they upgraded their response and called in a water tender to bring extra water to the scene.

It took about 20 to 25 minutes to extinguish the fire. There were no injuries to the homeowners or the car’s driver,

The house sustained approximately $150,000 to $175,000 in damages, primarily to the first floor living room and basement. It is not inhabitable at this time, as electric and gas service have been temporarily shut off, Dill said.