Crews snuff out small fire at the Dunton Tower in Arlington Heights

Fire crews extinguished a small fire in the trash compactor room of the Dunton Tower apartments building in downtown Arlington Heights within 10 minutes Sunday afternoon.

Arlington Heights Fire Department Battalion Chief Bill Kidd said the fire was contained to a first-floor room which has a trash compactor and a garbage chute. No one was injured, he said.

Kidd said some residents of the building at 55 S. Vail Ave. were evacuated because of smoke on the lower floors, but the fire was so small not all of the building's fire alarms went off.

"The alarms are designed not to go off depending on what's going on and where the fire is found," he said.

Sarah Dietze, who lives on the building's 7th floor, said she only found out there was a fire when she smelled smoke in the hallway and the elevator wouldn't work. She said she called and left a message with the fire department to alert them that the alarms in the building were malfunctioning.

"I would prefer to know, even though evacuating is a pain," Dietze said.

The Arlington Heights Fire Department was assisted by firefighters from the Mount Prospect, Rolling Meadows and Palatine fire departments.