CHICAGO --
About 220 firefighters battled an extra-alarm blaze that "totally involved" two West Side buildings Sunday morning, fire officials said.
The fire was reported by an alarm company at about 6:40 a.m. in a three-story building at 2130 West Carroll Avenue, near Leavitt Street in what's known as "the Kedzie Industrial Corner."
The first building collapsed, and flames spread to a five-story building, NBC5 reported.
Firefighters finished battling the fire after about three hours and had set up a collapse zone around the second building just in case it came down.
Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco called it an aggressive fire, noting that within seven minutes of the call coming in it was elevated to a three-alarm fire.
By 7:23 a.m., the alarm was raised to a 4-11 alarm, Fire Media Affairs spokesman Rich Rosado said.
Thick black smoke from the fire could be seen from as far away as the Merchandise Mart.
No injuries were reported, Rosado said. About 220 firefighters had five master streams on the fire, he added, noting that they took a defensive posture in battling the flames.
A 4-11 alarm sends at least 16 engines, four trucks, one tower ladder, two battalion chiefs, one district chief and deputy fire commissioners to the scene.
The owner of both buildings was at the scene.
"It might sound silly: At the end of the day, I know it's just bricks, and thank God no one was hurt. But, you know, it's got some history behind it," said Silvana Marzulla of the buildings she inherited from her father when he passed away three years ago.
"It's hard to be upset because you're just stunned, and once the flames come down and you really see the damage, it's pretty hard to watch," Marzullo said.
She and her mother were rehabbing the buildings with plans for an artists' center.
"It had so much potential. It really did," she said. "It was a great building."
The building was vacant at the time of the fire. The only tenant, CPE Sound, was located on the fourth floor.
"We started this thing about four years ago, you know, carried everything up four flights of stairs," said Jim Gifford, whose business suffered the loss of hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars in music equipment, customer instrument and rehearsal space. he estimated they have 50 to 70 bands a week that come in to rehearse or record.
Both Marzullo and fire officials said they did not know how the fire started.
"Right now, we have no idea what started the fire. We can't even get close enough to the building to take a look at it, but our office of fire investigations was on the scene," Orozco said.
Authorities had to shut down a Metra line for some time to assess the tracks and make sure there was no danger to trains coming through, but the lines were reopened a short time later.
Firefighters were just in the building last week for a walk-through inspection, so they were familiar with the layout. However, Orozco said it might be a while before they get access to the building.
Additional information provided by Sun-Times News Group
