Fire badly damages four-unit building in Prospect Heights

No one was injured in a fire about noon Friday that did substantial damage to a two-story, four-unit residential building in Prospect Heights, fire officials said in a news release.

Fire officials received multiple calls of a fire in the 1500 block of Cove Drive, part of the Quincy Park Condominiums, and upgraded the response twice to get more equipment to the scene.

Heavy smoke could be seen by firefighters more than a half-mile away. When the first fire engine arrived, fire was coming from the rear of the condo on the east side of the building and had spread up into the second floor to the roof.

Within a few minutes, firefighters had extinguished the original fire, and then focused on the fire spreading in the upper walls, roof and attic, according to the release.

While no people were in the building, several cats and dogs were removed from smoky units. The fire was extinguished within 20 minutes. Approximately 50 firefighters were in the response force.

The unit where the fire began and the building's exterior sustained extensive damage. Firefighters were successful in keeping it from spreading to other units, but they sustained smoke and water damage as well as some damage from firefighting efforts. The cause remains under investigation but is not suspicious, the release said.