Fire guts Palatine home

Palatine Fire Department investigators are trying to determine what started a fire Tuesday morning that left a vacant, single-family home uninhabitable.

Firefighters were dispatched at 4:09 a.m. to the two-story building at 132 S. Plum Grove Road. First crews on scene reported smoke and fire coming from the first floor at the rear of the house, according to a news release.

Crews extended at least two hose lines into the building and opened numerous walls and ceilings in order to extinguish the blaze. The fire was under control by 4:40 a.m., and crews remained on scene throughout the morning to ventilate smoke and gases and perform salvage and overhaul operations, officials said.

Authorities said neighbors told them the home was for sale and had been vacant for some time. No one was in the house at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported.

A damage estimate wasn't immediately available.