Jan. 21--Forty firefighters from nine suburban departments battled a house fire in Lake County for two hours Monday night and Tuesday morning.
One person was burned in the fire and taken to Highland Park Hospital from the fire, but that individual's gender, age, and condition was not known.
The house, in the 20500 block of Clarice Avenue in unincorporated Lake County, is near Buffalo Grove. It was fully engulfed when the first firefighters arrived about 10:30 p.m., Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District Chief Fred Kruger said.
The first hydrant that an engine hooked up to was broken and the next one was 800 feet away, Kruger said.
The engines feed water to trucks and can pump water up to 300 feet from a hydrant. Anything beyond that requires "inline operations" and a second engine is needed to form a chain from the hydrant to an engine, to another engine, then to a truck.
Kruger said the lack of water early on caused a "significant delay" in battling the fire.
Aside from encountering water problems, overhead power lines came down while firefighters were working and then a gas meter caught fire.
At the height of the fire, crews had two ladder trucks, two squad trucks carrying equipment and tools, five engines and four ambulances in service for the fire.
Water was applied from four handlines and two master streams, Kruger said. The master streams are capable of applying water at a far greater rate than from a hand-held hose.
The fire was extinguished about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, Kruger said.
[email protected] -- Twitter: @PeterNickeas
Copyright 2014 - Chicago Tribune
