Residents OK after two Grayslake house fires

No injuries were reported from two Grayslake house fires that occurred over the long holiday weekend, according to authorities.

Grayslake Fire Protection District officials said the fires from Sunday and Christmas Eve remain under investigation.

Fire Chief John Christian credited smoke detectors for allowing residents to escape unharmed.

“Both of these fires occurred in the early morning hours when the alert was an activated smoke detector with sleeping occupants,” he said Monday.

Christian said crews were summoned about 3:10 a.m. Sunday to a home on fire in the 200 block of Harvey Avenue near downtown Grayslake. Firefighters from Round Lake and Libertyville assisted Grayslake crews in dousing the flames.

Officials said the other fire was reported about 2:30 a.m. Thursday in the 900 block of Dunhill Road, near Atkinson Road. Firefighters arrived to find heavy flames in an attached garage extending to an attic above and into the house, officials said.

Crews had to contend with heavy wind and water problems while trying to extinguish the blaze, authorities said. The residents were out of the house when firefighters arrived.

It took almost an hour to get the Dunhill Road home fire under control, officials said. Equipment and personnel from the Round Lake, Gurnee, Fox Lake, Wauconda, Lake Villa, Antioch, Lake Zurich, Countryside, Mundelein, Waukegan and Libertyville fire departments assisted at the scene.