Schaumburg brush fire damages tollway cables

A brush fire along an approximately 400-foot section of the eastbound Jane Addams Memorial Tollway east of Meacham Road in Schaumburg caused an estimated $50,000 damage to fiber-optic cables owned by the Illinois Tollway late Monday morning.

Schaumburg firefighters received the call about 11 a.m. and had the fire extinguished in approximately 20 minutes, shift Cmdr. John Steele said.

The causes of such brush fires are not investigated to the same extent as structure fires, but this one likely was caused by careless disposal of smoking materials, Steele said.