Overnight fire consumes St. Clair County house
An early morning fire in the 1800 block of North 56th Street in Washington Park brought out a team of 15 firefighters, including mutual aid.
Washington Park Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Harris said a call reporting a structure fire with possible entrapment came in at about 3:45 a.m.
“Upon arrival of fire crews, heavy fire was showing in the building,” he said. “We made entry through the front door and did a primary search, looking for anyone inside. It was negative. We went to fire suppression and fought the fire until mutual aid arrived. We did a second search. It also was negative.
“Once the main body of fire was knocked , we did an overhaul checking for hot spots. We put the hot spots out, we picked up all of our tools and returned to service.”
Harris said the structure appeared to be occupied because of the car in parked in the front yard, but the man who reportedly lived there was not home at the time of the fire. There were no injuries.
The Illinois State Fire Marshal’s office was called to investigate the fire, Harris said.
Villa Hills Fire Department, along with Alorton and Midway Fire Departments, provided mutual aid assistance.
