In an unusual situation, firefighters had to use fire boats to extinguish an abandoned structure that caught fire on an island on the Chain O’Lakes near Antioch Monday evening.
The First Fire Protection District of Antioch responded around 4:45 p.m. Monday to a call of a structure fire on Whiskey Island.
The island is just west of the Blarney Island bar on Grass Lake in Antioch.
Whiskey Island is a small island with an undetermined number of small, abandoned structures, according to Antioch Fire Chief Jon Cokefair.
Fire crews arriving on the scene noticed black smoke from a structure on the island.
The island and structure were immediately checked and determined to be abandoned, Cokefair said.
A mutual aid call was made for additional firefighters from Fox Lake, McHenry, Lake Villa, Spring Grove, Round Lake and Salem, Wisconsin.
A mutual aid call was also made to Fox Lake and McHenry for specialized boats with pumps specifically designed to pull water from the Chain O’Lakes to douse the fire.
Cokefair said firefighters were shuttled by fire boats, shuttle boats from Blarney Island and several homeowners with large boats.
The fire was brought under control and extinguished after approximately two hours.
No injuries to firefighters or civilians were reported. A damage estimate was not known.
The fire remains under investigation by the First Fire Protection District of Antioch.