Kitchen fire guts Oakbrook Terrace apartment unit

A kitchen fire in one of more than 50 units of an Oakbrook Terrace apartment complex gutted the unit and left two other units uninhabitable, fire officials said.

No one was injured in the blaze, officials said.

Oakbrook Terrace Fire Protection District Chief Ralph DeLuca Jr. said firefighters were automatically dispatched to the building on the 17W700 block of Butterfield Road by the building's fire alarm system just before 10 p.m.

When firefighters arrived, they found heavy fire and smoke in one first-floor unit of the three-story building. Firefighters from several neighboring departments assisted because of the size of the building.

Firefighters had the blaze under control in 45 minutes, the fire chief said. Investigators were on scene until about 3 a.m.

DeLuca said the unit where the fire started was almost a complete loss and two units above it were significantly damaged as well. Many other residents in the building had to be relocated as well because of smoke and overhaul operations.

DeLuca said the residents of the apartment where the fire began were cooking when the fire broke out. The blaze is being investigated as an accident, he added.