Fire guts home near Elgin

A burnt-out shell was all that remained Wednesday of a home near Elgin destroyed in a fire late Tuesday night.

No injuries were reported in the fast-moving blaze, which broke out around 10:30 p.m. at 99 Forestview Drive in the unincorporated Rolling Knolls Estates neighborhood off Rohrssen Road just south of Golf Road.

Dozens of firefighters from the Bartlett Fire Protection District and other departments worked the scene, hauling water in from tanker trucks because there are no hydrants in the area.

Nine tankers carrying 2,000 gallons of water each made two or three trips to retrieve water, which got dumped into a portable water tank.

Crews used an estimated 60,000 gallons on the three-alarm fire, which was mostly extinguished by 1 a.m. Tuesday.

One neighbor, Joe Grens, said he offered the use of the water from his pool to fight the blaze but firefighters didn't take him up on it. He questioned whether that might have helped spare the house some damage.

While pools are tapped as a water source in rare circumstances, it's typically not an efficient method, said Assistant Chief Mike Falese.

"The process goes very quickly once the tankers get moving," he said, adding tankers get into a rotation that allows nearly 1,500 gallons per minute to flow at the scene.

"Now, if we take one or two tankers and try to do something out of the sequence for the water from the pool, it would disrupt the smooth flow of vehicles, street traffic, etc.," Falese said.

The first responders entered the house and confirmed the only occupants were the two people and dog who'd already escaped, Falese said. Crews made a quick exit because the blaze had spread to the attic and the roof was about to collapse.

"We can't have people operating inside like that so we had to go defensive and fight the fire from the outside," Falese said.

The ranch house is a total loss, with the fire causing an estimated $800,000 in property damage and about $250,000 in damage to insured contents.

"It's just disastrous," Falese said.

Crews stayed cleaning up at the scene until nearly 5 a.m. but returned at 7 a.m. and again at 12:15 p.m. to put out "hot spots" that lit up, which Falese said is not uncommon.

Grens said the homeowners were out of state but that their son was home when the fire broke out.

The state fire marshal's office will aid in the investigation.