No serious injuries in Wheeling apartment fire

No one was seriously injured in a Tuesday morning fire at a Wheeling apartment building.

The blaze was reported about 8:40 a.m. on the 300 block of Plum Creek Drive, in the Plum Creek Apartments.

Wheeling and Prospect Heights firefighters arrived at the five-story building and discovered flames blowing out the windows and balcony door of a fourth-floor apartment, according to a news release. They got residents out of the building as they climbed up to the fourth floor, but those efforts were hampered by people who refused to leave, according to the release.

A few residents were evaluated for possible injuries at the scene, but no one required hospitalization.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze within 20 minutes. No one was home in the apartment where the fire started, Wheeling Fire Chief Mike McGreal said.

That apartment was destroyed, authorities said. Four or five others were damaged by smoke or water and left uninhabitable.

Wheeling firefighters were assisted on the scene by crews from Prospect Heights, the Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District, Buffalo Grove, the Countryside Fire Protection District and other departments.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.