Alert neighbor saves Dundee Township family

A Monday morning fire left a West Dundee family without their home, but officials say an early-bird neighbor prevented the toll from being much worse.

Just before 5 a.m., emergency crews were called to a blaze at 14N544 Covered Bridge Road, about three-quarters of a mile east of Sleepy Hollow Road off Boncosky Road in West Dundee.

A neighbor, William Ahlman, saw flames coming from outside the house, which is nestled in a wooded area along a private drive. Ahlman said he rushed to rouse homeowner Darrell Chelcun and his daughter, Laura, who were in turn able to save their two cats and a dog.

Ahlman, a retired firefighter with three decades of experience, said he was eating breakfast before a fishing trip to Lake Michigan.

"I saw flames coming from one side of the house, I grabbed my cell phone and ran over there," said Ahlman, who worked as an Arlington Heights firefighter for 25 years and another five with the Prospect Heights Fire Department. "I started pounding, beating my fists on the door, and he was able to hear me."

Neighbors tried in vain to fight the fire with garden hoses, but an electrical outage rendered their efforts useless. Since homes in the area rely on pumped well water, the power outage prevented access to the water supply, Ahlman said.

"We were completely ineffective with garden hoses," said Ahlman, who lives in a home west of the property. "As soon as the hose ran out of water, that was it."

Rutland Dundee Fire Protection District Chief Richard Thomas praised Ahlman for his actions.

"It's fantastic," Thomas said not far from the charred timbers and stone fireplace silhouetting the remains of the home. "He got the people up. He got the people out. He did the right thing."

When crews arrived, Thomas said, the home was partially engulfed but quickly became fully involved with no immediate water supplies accessible in the hydrant-free zone.

Though water tankers were brought in, a covered bridge over a narrow private lane created a roadblock. Firefighters were forced to run fire hose to the nearest hydrant about 2,000 feet away. After establishing a good water flow, Thomas said, it took crews about an hour to control the fire.

Firefighters from Algonquin-Lake in the Hills, Carpentersville, Crystal Lake East Dundee, Elgin, Hanover Park and Palatine all responded to the scene. Thomas said the Kane County Arson Task Force has not yet determined a cause of the fire and an estimated cost of damage was unavailable Monday afternoon.