State fire marshal investigating fire that destroyed southwest IL apartment building
An early morning fire in Brooklyn gutted an apartment building Thursday.
The seven occupants of the building in the 700 block of Washington Street were able to get out safely, but the structure was completely destroyed, said Jarame Simmons, Brooklyn’s acting fire chief.
Simmons said the department received the emergency call at 7 a.m. It took firefighters about 90 minutes to extinguish the blaze, he said.
“When the first officer from the police department arrived on scene the building was fully involved,” Simmons said. “There were four families , with a total of seven occupants living there. “
Simmons said one of the families had lived in the building only three days.
The apartment building was still under construction. Crews had been working inside to update an apartment, Simmons said. He could immediately say where the fire started, however.
Agents from the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s office and ATF were on scene doing an investigation to determine the cause and origin of the fire.
“We were able to save the lower apartments on the Washington (Street) side, but they have extensive water and fire damage to them,” Simmons said, adding that a building at the same location burned to the ground five years ago.
The construction company that had workers at the building could not be reached for comment.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 12:08 PM.
