Blaze destroys barn at nursery; firefighter hurt
A firefighter was briefly hospitalized as a precaution after a pole barn was ravaged by fire Wednesday evening at Highland Green Nursery on Route 120 near Grayslake. A dozen area fire departments battled the blaze, which took several tanker trucks to extinguish, officials said.
The Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District arrived at the scene two minutes after the 5:18 p.m. call for fire from the son of the nursery's owner, officials said. The barn at 23803 W. Belvidere Road was fully involved with fire and on its way to collapse when firefighters arrived.
Fire officials said the owner's son spotted the fire and first called his father, who lives in Waukegan; the owner called 911 and was connected to North Chicago police, who said they could not transfer him.
The man finally found the number to the fire department, but the delay severely hampered any hopes of extinguishing the fire before it destroyed the building, officials said.
The fire caused over $50,000 in damage and is believed to have been started by waste vegetable oil that the nursery uses for heating in the winter and for its off-road diesel vehicles, officials said.
An environmental cleanup company was on the scene late Wednesday, officials said.
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