Elgin dollar store badly damaged in fire

It took the Elgin Fire Department almost an hour to bring a blaze in a Dollar+ store in the 800 block of Summit Street under control on Friday night, officials said. Neighboring businesses also were damaged.

The fire department received a call of smoke in a building at 830 Summit St. at 11 p.m., and arriving units first found moderate smoke conditions, then discovered the fire at 834 Summit St. Firefighters broke into the building and fought the fire from both the front and from the rear door, where the fire originated, fire officials said in a news release. The fire was brought under control within 55 minutes with the help of additional fire departments.

The building suffered extensive fire and smoke damage and the business won't be allowed to reopen until repairs can be made. The businesses at 830 and 844 Summit suffered smoke damage and also won't be allowed to reopen without approval of fire and building code inspectors, the statement said.

The businesses were unoccupied at the time of the fire and no one was hurt. The estimated loss to the building and inventory at Dollar+ was $150,000, the release said. The fire is under investigation as the cause has yet to be determined.