Fire at Elgin homeless encampment spurs donation drives by local businesses

A fire in a homeless encampment in Elgin Wednesday night remains under investigation Thursday and has sparked a wave of donations to those affected.

Flames rose as high as 30 feet in the encampment known as Tent City just before 5 p.m. Wednesday. The encampment is between Route 31 and the Fox River just north of Kimball Street in Elgin.

Elgin Fire Chief Robb Cagann said no injuries have been reported. He added that fire and police officials on the scene have been unable to find anyone who claims to have been impacted by the fire. However, they estimate five people may have been affected.

“There was nobody around last night, and nobody has stopped by today to say, ‘this was my area and my stuff,'” he said.

Cagann said the fire was “impressive looking” and definitely interrupted car and train traffic. But it didn’t appear to have had as big an impact on the community living there as many had feared.

“People were saying Tent City is on fire,” he said. “So it makes it sound like the entire encampment burned down when, in reality, this was three, four, maybe five structures.”

The fire happened in a fairly densely occupied area and was exacerbated by high winds, spreading to a couple of structures before firefighters arrived.

In addition to the wind, the encampment's location made fighting the fire more challenging. Hoses had to be pulled a long distance from the road and cross the Metra tracks, so firefighters had to wait to confirm train traffic had been stopped, Cagann said.

Cagann said officials are working to determine where the fire started, but they don't expect to learn what sparked it.

“We’ve already found so many possible ignition sources that it’s going to be impossible to actually identify what the cause is,” Cagann said.

As word of the fire spread on social media Wednesday, several local restaurants announced they would be collecting donations for residents of the encampment.

Paul’s Family Restaurant in Elgin, Village Tavern & Grill of South Elgin and Dukes Blues-n-BBQ in East Dundee were among those trying to help those affected.

Elaine Paul of Paul’s Family Restaurant said they have been collecting supplies for the homeless for the past few months. But as word of the fire got out, they received a huge outpouring of donations Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

She said news that no one was hurt and that very few people were affected means the fire had at least one unintended benefit.

“We’re going to be able to supply a lot of people from the donations coming in,” she said.

Paul said the donations would be taken to an emergency warming shelter as they continue to collect cold weather gear like sleeping bags, blankets, coats, scarves, hats, boots and gloves.

“It’s been wonderful to see the reaction of people and their eagerness to help people in need,” she said.

The city of Elgin encouraged those who want to help to make donations to groups like Elgin Cooperative Ministries or to volunteer at the city-sponsored overnight warming shelter.

Both the city and Cagann asked people to stay out of the area while the investigation is ongoing.