Passerby moves burning trash can away from an attached garage, and prevents a house fire in the middle of the night on Euclid Avenue near Prindle Avenue, Arlington Heights.
Police and firefighter/paramedics from Arlington Heights responded about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, October 10, 2020 to a report of a trash can fire in the block of 2000 East Euclid Avenue in Arlington Heights.
A passerby pulled a burning “toter” hard plastic garbage can away from under an attached garage soffit at a house on Euclid Avenue, just east of Prindle Avenue — preventing the fire from spreading to the house. The passerby pulled the garbage can away from the garage while the can was burning, and while residents in the neighborhood were sleeping unaware of the fire.
Soot was just starting to collect on the soffit of the attached garage as firefighters arrived on the scene. Without the detection of the fire and the action by the passerby, the trash can fire could have extended to the attached garage soffit, and could have started a house fire.
Firefighters extinguished the fire with a pump can, but completely extinguished smoldering debris and washed down the debris with a “trash line” hose line from the fire engine. Notice that firefighters made the extra effort to stream water away from the house to avoid splash of debris on the garage door and front porch of the house.
The garbage can, which is flammable itself, was completely destroyed by the fire.
The fire incident points to the importance of avoiding storing garbage cans near flammable structures, especially under soffits, under porches, near wood or plastic fencing, or near any type of flammable structures — especially those connected or in proximity to a house or or other building.
The information in this article is an early report published before any summary information was confirmed or released by police or fire authorities.
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