Evanston firefighter spots house fire, calls for backup
By Bob Seidenberg bseidenberg@pioneerlocal.com February 21, 2012 12:44PM
Fire caused heavy damage to the upper floors of a 147-year-old home at 1318 Elmwood in Evanston on Monday afternoon. No one was injured. | Allen Kaleta for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:38AM
An Evanston Fire Department official was driving down the 1300 block of Elmwood at the right time Monday.
Geoff Block, the department’s division chief, spotted a fire poring from the roof of a structure around noon and quickly summoned an emergency response.
“It’s a little bit unusual,” said Evanston Fire Chief Greg Klaiber of a fire official spotting a fire.
There were no injuries in the fire. Klaiber said four people were in the house, at 1318 Elmwood, and managed to get out.
“They were completely unaware,” he said.
Officials preliminarily determined the fire originated in a converted bedroom attic, which has an older balloon-type frame structure.
“It actually ventilated through the roof before the first units arrived,” Klaiber said.
He said the first fire truck, arriving from Station No. 1, at 1332 Emerson, contained the blaze to the third floor bedroom.
Klaiber said investigators are looking at the room’s electrical system as a possible cause. The fire may have been sparked by a junction box and ceiling fan in the room, officials said.
Had firefighters not gotten the early jump on the fire, Klaiber added, the whole roof line might have caught fire, causing a collapse and extending the fire to the rest of the house,
He said the police department’s victims service unit was assisting the displaced occupants. A damage estimate has not been determined, he said.
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