Families still displaced after Schaumburg condo fire
Though an 18-unit condominium building in Schaumburg left without power after a fire Sunday remains uninhabitable, six families who were being housed there by Fellowship Housing are safely in temporary accommodations elsewhere, officials said.
Fellowship Housing is a nonprofit that offers programs and services for single mothers and their children who are at risk of homelessness.
The Hoffman Estates-based agency owns six of the units in the building on the 2300 block of John Rolfe Drive, Associate Director Pam Orr said.
All the residents of those units had personal renter's insurance and are being housed in places where they can remain until the Schaumburg condo building is made habitable again, she said.
The Fellowship Housing will take the longest to restore, Orr added.
The fire was determined to be electrical in nature, but its precise source could not be pinpointed, said Angela Walsh, the Schaumburg Fire Department's public education and information officer.
Damage was estimated at $150,000, and the time frame for making the building habitable again is unknown to the fire department, she said.
The fire was reported about 12:55 p.m. Sunday when residents of the three-story building noticed smoke coming through their vents. Firefighters contained the blaze to a communal utility room that houses electrical meters and hot water heaters for six of the building's 18 units, Walsh said.
No one was injured, officials said.
Fire officials initially thought they could isolate that section of the building and shut down the gas, electric and heat for only those six units. But after investigating further, they found they had to shut down the entire building.