Wheeling fire sends father, daugther to hospital

A house fire that sent a father and daughter to the hospital Thursday afternoon might have been caused by a torch the homeowner used to work on plumbing, fire officials said.

Firefighters arrived just after 4 p.m. to find flames coming from the roof of the home on the 100 block of Cindy Lane, Wheeling Fire Chief Keith MacIsaac said.

Police, who arrived first on the scene, found one person outside the home and another trying to get out, he said.

Both were taken to Northwest Community Hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries.

Firefighters battled flames from two different sections of roof, he said.

"A common wall (between the original house and addition) had spread the fire throughout and to all rooms on the second floor," MacIsaac said. "It was a complicated fire to put out because of the addition and the number of concealed spaces in the home."

Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove and Long Grove firefighters assisted.

The blaze took firefighters about an hour to extinguish and did about $175,000 in damage.