2 held after fire, fight at 'Tent City' in Elgin
Investigators are probing a fight that caused minor injuries following a fire Sunday night in Elgin's "Tent City" for the homeless, authorities said.
Fire Battalion Chief Dick Cummings said the fire reported at 8:40 p.m. destroyed a makeshift dwelling of pallets and plywood in the woods behind the 500 block of State Street.
Firefighters closed the railroad tracks that run parallel to State Street for about 30 minutes to pull hoses to the fire, he said. There were no injuries and the owner of the dwelling was not on the scene.
There was an altercation after the fire among "a few people," some of whom suffered minor injuries, police Cmdr. Jim Bisceglie said.
Two people were being held for questioning Monday afternoon, he said.
Cummings said the fire department "periodically" responds to calls at Tent City, which has been in existence for about two decades. It wasn't immediately clear when the last fire took place; a search of the department's database is complicated by the fact that the area doesn't have an exact address, he said.