Fire damages car wash at Palatine gas station

A passerby sounded the alarm about a fire at a Palatine car wash that caused no injuries Thursday morning, officials said.

The Palatine Fire Department was dispatched at 8:30 a.m. to Bucky's Mobil, 1490 N. Quentin Road, at the intersection with Dundee Road, Battalion Chief Jim Sugrue said. Firefighters arrived in four minutes and found the car wash engulfed, he said.

"Three minutes after that we had water on the fire, and 16 minutes later the fire was under control," he said.

The Mobil gas station was open and the car wash was operational, with no people or vehicles inside, Sugrue said. Firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to confirm no one was there.

The fuel pumps were shut down by a gas station attendant before the arrival of the fire department, Sugrue said.

"The gas station remained closed until the gas and electric can be safely restored," he said.

The fire caused "significant damage" and its cause remains under investigation, Sugrue added.

An employee who answered the phone at the gas station Thursday afternoon said she suspected the cause was electrical.

During the fire, a unit from the Long Grove Fire Protection District provided coverage for additional calls in Palatine. Village police officers and the Cook County sheriff's office assisted at the scene with traffic and crowd control.