N. Chicago fire destroys 2 buildings, damages third

Two buildings were destroyed and a third was heavily damaged in an extra alarm fire on Sheridan Road in North Chicago that started Sunday night and burned into Monday morning, fire officials said.

A resident of a building on the 1000 block of Sheridan Road called in the fire at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, and firefighters remained on the scene until about 4 a.m., said North Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Dell Urban.

The blaze started inside Unique Towing, 1028 Sheridan Road, and spread to the neighboring residential structure and Collision Solutions auto repair center.

Collision Solutions was the only building left standing after the blaze, which left nearly a dozen people homeless, according to an ABC 7 report.

No one was injured during the fire.

Urban could not accurately say what type of housing was involved in the fire.

She said firefighters returned to the scene Monday morning to continue dousing hot spots with water and to investigate the cause of the fire.

“As you could understand, determining the cause of the blaze will be tough because of all the potentially flammable items at the auto centers,” she said Monday morning.

A second alarm was sounded to help fight the fire, drawing in equipment from as far away as Arlington Heights to Antioch, Urban said.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation Monday evening, she said.

“It’s ongoing, and it’s a mess out there,” Urban said.

The Red Cross was on the scene assisting the residents who were left homeless after the blaze.