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'My house shook': Fire at Maine Township townhouse complex still under investigation

Investigators from several agencies on Friday were working to determine what caused an explosion and fire that tore through several townhouses the day before near Des Plaines.

Representatives from the Illinois fire marshal's office, the Cook County sheriff's office and local fire departments were at the scene of the blaze on the 9300 block of Noel Avenue. So were crews from Nicor and other utility companies.

No residents were hurt in the massive fire, which left a giant, two-story hole in the middle of the building where a unit collapsed. The other three units in the building were left blackened by smoke and flames.

Firefighters rescued dogs from one of the units.

The fire was reported about 4 p.m. Thursday by several people who called 911. A North Maine Fire Protection District crew returning from a different emergency spotted the fire, too.

Home surveillance video obtained by ABC 7 showed a large explosion that was strong enough to lift the roof off the brick building occurred moments before flames erupted from the structure.

A resident of a nearby townhouse building heard and felt the blast.

"My house shook," said Lynne, who declined to give her last name.

At first Lynne thought it might have been a bad car crash on nearby Golf Road, but she didn't see a wreck there.

Then she looked out a different window and saw flames and black smoke.

"I was scared," she said. "It was just a horrible thing."

Lynne and many neighbors were ordered to leave their homes for their safety. She took shelter at a nearby medical building until Pace buses arrived to keep displaced residents warm.

Des Plaines resident Sonal Patel's parents and brother live in the now-damaged building. The trio were home at the time and got out safely; Patel said a neighbor called her at work and told her about the fire.

Patel and her parents, who don't speak much English, returned to Noel Avenue on Friday with hopes of recovering some belongings.

"They don't have medication, anything," said Patel, adding that her parents and brother are temporarily staying with her.

About 80 firefighters from the North Maine Fire Protection District and the Des Plaines, Niles, Northbrook and Glenview departments worked the blaze Thursday afternoon and night, North Maine Lt. David Hall said.

One North Maine firefighter was injured in the blaze. He was treated for second-degree burns at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and released, Hall said.

The building where the fire occurred wasn't the only one affected.

At a townhouse building on nearby Sumac Drive, orange stickers telling residents their homes were off limits because of utility outages were affixed to front doors Friday. Yellow emergency tape limited pedestrian access in the neighborhood, too.

Massive fire rips through Maine Twp. townhouses

  Crews on Friday were investigating a fire that badly damaged a townhouse building on the 9300 block of Noel Avenue near Des Plaines the day before. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
  Crews on Friday were investigating a fire that badly damaged a townhouse building on the 9300 block of Noel Avenue near Des Plaines the day before. Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com
  Firefighters from multiple departments responded Thursday to a fire on the 9300 block of Noel Avenue near Des Plaines. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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