Fire breaks out at Elgin chiropractic clinic

Elgin firefighters Saturday were investigating the cause of a Friday night office building fire that forced one person to escape out a second-story window.

Crews were on the scene until about noon Saturday, investigating the fire at 1750 Grandstand Place, which houses the AcuCare Chiropractic Clinic and several smaller offices just east of Provena St. Joseph Hospital.

Fire Capt. Dick Cummings said he does not yet know whether arson is suspected at the building, which caught fire just before 11 p.m. Friday.

Elgin police were first on the scene and were responding to what was initially thought to be a burglary, according to police Lt. Sean Rafferty.

Renee McMurry-Gilman, one of the chiropractors at the clinic, said Saturday her colleague Dana Landin, also a chiropractor, was doing paperwork when he heard a noise and thought someone was trying to break into the building. While on the phone with police, he realized a fire had broken out and ran into McMurry-Gilman's office to be visible to rescue workers.

Trapped on the second floor, he used a desk chair to break a window and jumped onto a police car below.

Landin suffered smoke inhalation and minor cuts, according to McMurry-Gilman.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at 10:53 p.m. Upon arriving on the scene, fire was visible from the front entrance and the roof of the building, according Cummings.

He said the fire still was smoldering Saturday morning and that a firefighter suffered minor injuries in the blaze.

McMurry-Gilman's husband, Brit Gilman, said his family received a call just before midnight informing them of the fire, and he immediately went to the scene.

"On the way, I'm thinking it's probably just a little smoke and nothing big and I got there it was a carnival of fire trucks and ambulances and streets being blocked," he said. "It was definitely a serious fire. Flames were shooting out of the roof and smoke was billowing out everywhere."

The amount of damage and cause of the fire have not yet been determined.

Several of the clinic's employees commended Landin for his quick thinking in calling authorities.

"He called firemen immediately, and the building wouldn't have been there at all if he hadn't been there," said Joe Boyd, a business consultant for AcuCare and brother of one of the clinic's doctors, Gary Boyd.

Despite Friday night's fire, the chiropractors saw patients Saturday in a makeshift clinic set up in a building across the parking lot at 1714 Grandstand Place. McMurry-Gilman said the clinic's files have been saved and the doctors will continue to operate in their temporary location for as long as necessary.

She said Saturday she feels fortunate that no one was seriously injured and that the clinic still will be able to function.

"The strength of our clinic was not the building," she said, "but was the people."