Video of the fully-involved third floor of the Colonial Greens Apartments that destroyed the building at 2024 West Algonquin Road, Mount Prospect.
Mount Prospect firefighter/paramedics and police responded about 3:40 a.m. Saturday to a report of a fire in a third floor apartment at Colonial Greens Apartments, 2024 West Algonquin Road. On Mount Prospect Engine 12, one of the the first fire engines on the scene from Mount Prospect, came a report that simply stated, “We’ve got a fire.” It was the tone of his voice that told other firefighters that it was a bad fire. His voice was calm, but any veteran knew it was an understatement. One who recognized the irony in the voice was the battalion chief at Arlington Heights, a community that shares the frequency with Mount Prospect. He heard Mount Prospect’s truck was going to be delayed getting to the scene, and he offered Arlington’s truck. All departments in the northwest suburbs were running all night, checking downed power lines, rescuing people from vehicles in flooded streets, checking flooded basements, and other flood-related problems.
Soon there were three ladder trucks at the scene, Mount Prospect, Des Plaines, and Arlington Heights. By 3:45 a.m. an extra alarm response was requested, then a second alarm was requested, The fire was going through the roof, and spreading in the attic quickly. Roads were flooded in most locations in communities, and routes weren’t as simple as usual. Some fire equipment was delayed by road conditions.
The entire roof burned through by about 4:15 a.m. as a crowd of people watched the fire in disbelief. Walls from the building became unstable when the roof completely burned up. Some residents of the fire building took refuge in their parked cars. Residents of an estimated 36 units were displaced overnight.
No word yet on any injuries, or the cause. Lightning was in the area during the fire and before the fire. Lightning had been severe since about midnight.
Flooded roads and the volume of calls caused firefighter response delays to the apartment fire.
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That’s a huge fire! Can’t believe that weather can do this. I feel sorry for the people that lived in that apartment.
My cousin lived in a top floor apartment there. Apparently no people were hurt, but she had a few cats and caged animals, and the only one of her pets to make it out alive was her dog. It’s a horrible thing for an animal lover, especially one that works at PAWS.