Fire causes extensive damage to house near Glen Ellyn

Fire caused extensive damage Tuesday afternoon to a house that was being remodeled on the 1S400 block of Sunnybrook Road near Glen Ellyn, authorities said.

Glen Ellyn Lt. Craig Eldridge said firefighters responded at 12:47 p.m. for what became a three-alarm blaze that swept the attic and second floor of the house. Crews from several area departments assisted.

“There was a lot of fire in that house when we got here so it was a matter of opening the house up and finding it. It wasn’t a small fire when we got here,” Eldridge said. “There’s heavy, extensive damage to this house.”

No one in the house was injured, but one neighbor was transported to the hospital after apparently experiencing an anxiety attack, authorities said.

A number of the family’s pets were able to escape the fire, officials said.

Eldridge said firefighters arrived to find a heavy amount of fire and smoke at the rear of the building, which is set back roughly 100 yards from the street. The main fire was extinguished by 3 p.m. but crews still were dealing with several hot spots.

“It (damage) is going to be extensive. We put a lot of water on that house. We’ve opened up holes in the roof,” Eldridge said. “We’ve taken out most of the second story windows in the back. We’ve breached holes in the walls. A lot of activity was going on in there.”

The cause of the blaze has not been determined, but authorities said parts of the home were being remodeled.

“There is some type of remodeling going on the second floor. There was an area of the house that looks like it was under remodel but we don’t know if it started there,” he said.

It could take a day or two to determine the cause due to the amount of damage, Eldridge said.

Firefighters contained most of the fire damage to the second floor in the rear of the home, but the first floor and finished basement suffered water damage, Eldridge said.

“It was a beautiful large house on a very large lot and the damage is going to be extensive,” he said.

Because the house was set so far back from the road, firefighters were unable to get their ladder trucks to the rear of the structure.

“The house is set back to the point that once we got our lead engine back there you wouldn’t bring anything else back there. It wouldn’t be effective,” Eldridge said. “I wouldn’t call it a problem but the setback of the house definitely presents a different situation than if the house was on the street.”

The home’s owners, Joseph and Patricia Trindl, were on the scene and watching firefighters work the fire from their front lawn but declined to comment.

ŸDaily Herald staff writer Paul Biasco contributed to this report