Suburban firefighters battle three late-night blazes

Two homes were completely destroyed and three others suffered significant damage in three separate house fires late Sunday in Carpentersville, Huntley and an unincorporated part of Kane County near St. Charles.

All three fires were reported within about a span of an hour, starting just before 10 p.m.

Huntley

Huntley firefighters called about that time to the 10200 block of Central Park Boulevard had to contend with a massive blaze that could be seen from miles away and caused heat damage to two adjacent homes, authorities said.

The fire, which appears to have started near the garage, had already engulfed the attic of the home by the time firefighters arrived, officials said.

The two-story, single-family house was deemed a complete loss, while neighboring homes suffered significant cosmetic damage, but remained inhabitable, fire officials said.

No injuries were reported in the blaze.

The gutted home was valued at roughly $300,000, but total damage from the blaze, including the loss of contents, was estimated at about $850,000, according to Huntley Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Patrick Fortunato.

The cause remains under investigation.

Carpentersville

The second fire was reported at about 10:45 p.m. in the 100 block of Old Farm Lane in Carpentersville.

Battalion Chief Rick Nieves said the blaze appears to have started outside the rear of the one-story, single family home and spread into the attic.

No injuries were reported in the fire. Firefighters were able to rescue a crated dog from the burning building upon arrival.

It took about 20 minutes to extinguish the blaze, Nieves said.

The attack on the blaze was slowed because many neighboring departments that Carpentersville firefighters would normally rely on to provide water via relay pumpers were already dispatched to the Huntley fire, Nieves said.

Nieves estimated the damage to the house to be roughly $100,000 and it was deemed uninhabitable.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

St. Charles area

The third fire of the night destroyed a house valued at nearly $1 million near St. Charles.

Fox River and Countryside Fire District Chief John Nixon said his agency received a call just before 11 p.m. about the fire on the 38W200 block of Heritage Oaks Drive.

Nixon said the response was hindered because equipment and personnel needed to help battle the blaze already had been committed to the other nearby fires.

There are no fire hydrants in the neighborhood, so firefighters had to rely on water tender trucks, some from other departments, to bring water to the scene. However, most of those trucks already were busy fighting the fires in Huntley and Carpentersville Sunday, Nixon said.

"We had to juggle our response plan," the chief said.

Upon arrival at the St. Charles-area fire, firefighters reported smoke showing from the basement windows of the two-story, 9,500-square-foot house.

Nixon said the homeowners had returned from vacation and discovered the blaze. A disabled resident, who was home at the time of the fire, was rescued from the house without injury.

Nixon said two Fox River and Countryside firefighters suffered heat exhaustion and were transported to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva for treatment. They have since been released.

Ultimately, fire crews from as far away as Roselle and Winfield responded, Nixon said.

However, the fire wasn't extinguished until about 4 a.m., Nixon said. Crews remained on the scene late into Monday morning.

The house was a total loss, the chief said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but investigators believe it started in the basement.