Illegal grilling likely cause of apt. fire that displaced 107 people
Investigators believe an illegally operated barbecue grill sparked a weekend apartment fire that displaced more than 100 people in West Chicago.
"They just finished building that deck last week," said Main Park Apartments owner Vijay Gupta. "Now I wish they hadn't finished so this fire hadn't happened."
West Chicago Fire Protection District officials said the grill appears to be the likely culprit in the Sunday blaze, but the investigation is ongoing.
Gupta said residents are told they cannot grill on the decks and city officials said code enforcement officers make routine visits to apartments to warn residents who have grills on decks.
The resident who was grilling will not face any criminal charges, police said. However, he may be cited for violating a city ordinance, officials said.
No one was hurt in the fire that was reported just after 8:50 p.m. on the third floor of the 24-unit complex at 801 Burr Oaks Drive, just off Main Street in West Chicago.
Fire officials said 107 people were left homeless after the blaze. About 15 residents spent the night in the complex's resource center after Red Cross workers brought cots to the site. Other residents found housing with friends or relatives.
"Yesterday was kind of rough, but today's going to be a better day," said Lulu Holguin, director of the resource center at the complex.
Holguin said all the residents had found housing elsewhere by Monday afternoon. About 10 families were moved to vacant units at Main Park, while others found housing at other apartment complexes in West Chicago.
Phil Brown and Gail Scott spent Monday morning sifting through their former apartment, located beneath the unit that caught fire. They recovered several items, but noted most of their electronic equipment was destroyed by water. They have renter's insurance and were making an inventory of what they could salvage.
"It's funny because the firefighters took all my guitars, put them on my bed and covered them," Brown said. "So they're OK, but the water pretty much did us in everywhere else."
Scott said she noticed the fire around 8:30 p.m. and could see smoke coming through the bricks. The hallway alarms went off before the smoke detectors in their apartment, she said.
Deputy Fire Chief Joe Buenrostro said the fire spread quickly.
"That style roof, when it gets into that roof, it runs," he said. "You can see how far it went and how fast it got going."
In all, Buenrostro said 80 firefighters from 15 departments using 31 pieces of equipment battled the blaze. The fire was extinguished just after 10:30 p.m., officials said. The last unit was on scene until 2 a.m. Monday making sure there weren't any flare-ups.
Gupta said his insurance carrier had not yet determined a dollar amount for the damage.
Anyone wishing to make donations to the victims can drop off clothes and furniture at the St. Vincent DePaul store at 213 Main St. in downtown West Chicago. Police also are collecting gift cards from department stores for the displaced residents at the department headquarters at 325 Spencer Ave.
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