A firefighter suffered minor injuries while battling one of two structure fires that occurred within hours of each other in Mundelein on New Year’s Day, fire officials said.
The Mundelein Fire Department responded around 3:15 a.m. Sunday to the 100 block of Hammond Street in Mundelein for a report of a garage fire.
Mundelein Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeremy Lockwood said crews arrived on the scene within three minutes.
They found the attached garage, which had a vehicle inside, fully engulfed in flames.
The occupants of the residence and the family dog had evacuated the home prior to firefighters arriving on the scene, Lockwood said.
Firefighters pulled a hose line to the front of the garage and aggressively attacked the fire while other firefighters connected to a nearby fire hydrant.
The second arriving crew pulled a second hose line and entered the structure to check for extension of the fire.
There was some fire extension into the attic space of the residence and it was extinguished.
The fire was reported under control in about 15 minutes, Lockwood said.
No civilians or pets were injured in the fire. One firefighter was treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Damage estimates were not immediately available and the fire remains under investigation by the Mundelein Fire Department.
Nearly two dozen firefighters responded to the scene.
The Countryside, Libertyville, Lake Zurich, Gurnee, Lake Villa, Deerfield, Lake Forest and Lincolnshire fire departments assisted at the scene and covered calls in Mundelein.
Later that same morning, the Mundelein Fire Department was dispatched around 11:45 a.m. to a report of a structure fire in the 300 block of West Hickory Street in Mundelein.
Firefighters arrived and found a working house fire in the 18700 block of West Hickory Street, which is in unincorporated Mundelein and was determined to be in the Countryside Fire Protection District’s coverage area.
The incident was upgraded to a box alarm through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS).
Countryside Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Kevin Wodrich said crews encountered a fire on the first floor of a residence that extended to the second floor and attic area.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire. No injuries were reported.
It was determined no one was living in the home at the time of the fire, Wodrich said.
The structure was deemed uninhabitable and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.