Fire leaves Gurnee apartment building uninhabitable, kills cat

An eight-unit apartment building on Gurnee's east side was left uninhabitable by a fire Monday evening, authorities said.

One cat died in the fire but no humans were injured, Gurnee Battalion Chief David Douglass said Tuesday.

The fire department was called to the scene at 7:47 p.m. When crews arrived three minutes later, flames had engulfed the third floor and the roof of the building.

Douglass said fire officials believe the fire started in a third-floor unit of the building on the 500 of Gillings Drive. After the fire broke through a window, the flames lapped the underside of the roof and began to spread throughout the top floor.

"This particular building had a common attic with no fire walls," Douglass said, adding that was why officials immediately called multiple fire departments to the scene to help.

Working with firefighters from 11 other departments, crews were able to bring the fire under control within 20 minutes.

Douglass said he'd heard the property management company, Carriage House, had helped displaced residents relocate to other apartment buildings it managed.

He said he did not know how many residents were displaced or how many units were occupied before the fire.

The fire was limited to one of the eight buildings in the complex.

Firefighters from Newport, Waukegan, Lake Villa, Mundelein, Zion, Libertyville, Grayslake, Fox Lake, Round Lake, Long Grove, and Lincolnshire-Riverwoods fire departments were called to the scene to help.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.