Grill starts fire at house near Roselle

No one was injured Tuesday when a propane grill caused a house fire that heavily damaged a ranch-style home near Roselle, authorities said.

The house on the 23W600 block of Turner Avenue was left uninhabitable by the blaze, which was reported at 5:58 p.m., Roselle Fire Chief Dan Anderson said.

While kids played baseball at Valley Park across the street at Turner Avenue and Valley Road, firefighters from the Roselle, Bloomingdale, Itasca and Hanover Park departments sped to the scene and worked for about 20 minutes to bring the fire under control, Anderson said.

"It's an area where we have limited hydrants," he said about the house, which is on a lot surrounded by incorporated sections of the village. "But we were able to find water supply about 600 feet down the street at a village hydrant."

Firefighters discovered the flames spread from a propane grill on a deck into the main floor of the house and the attic.

"When we arrived, we had a lot of smoke showing and the back side of the house was partially involved in fire," he said.

Anderson said crews pried open the roof to ventilate the fire and some responders stayed on the scene until 8:40 p.m., conducting salvage and overhaul work and helping the homeowner contact a company to board up the windows.

The homeowner, the only person home when the fire began, and a dog already had evacuated by the time firefighters arrived.

Anderson said the department continues to investigate the exact cause of the fire, whether it related to an issue with the propane tank or the grill itself. But he said the fire was accidental.