Nearly 20 veterans had been living at the Shangrila Hotel when the fire broke out around 6:15 p.m. Friday. It took firefighters more than eight hours to bring it under control, said Villa Grove Fire Chief Ross Elston.
No one was killed in the blaze, but four firefighters and one of the hotel's residents were injured. Officials on Saturday said they all had been treated and released.
The fire was so large that firefighters depleted the town's water tower and had to switch to using water from a nearby reservoir. Fire crews from more than a dozen area communities helped fight the blaze.
Many residents of Villa Grove - located about 20 miles south of Champaign - stayed up through the night to help the firefighters, giving them food, water and other support.
At one point, some of the firetrucks were running low on gasoline because they had been running for several hours. Because the trucks were key to fighting the fire, they could not leave to refill their gas tanks.
Word about the lack of gasoline spread through the town of 2,700. One farmer gave the fire crews fuel from his gasoline delivery truck, while a gas station owner opened his business at 1 a.m. and residents brought the fuel to the fire trucks using various containers, Elston said.
``(The lack of gasoline) was a big issue so it was nice to have the people take care of us,'' Elston said. ``You just can't get any better than that.''
The state fire marshal's office is investigating the fire, which authorities believe started in one of the apartments on the hotel's first floor.
The Shangrila Hotel, on the edge of downtown Villa Grove, was built in 1903 as the Palace Hotel and initially served as a home for travelers and salesmen traveling by train on the nearby Union Pacific line.
In 1999, Russ Vaught and his wife Sue Anne bought the hotel to give disabled veterans a place to live.
Each veteran paid a monthly rent for a private room with a bath and received three meals a day. The staff also ran errands for them and took them to the Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care System medical center in Danville.
``I feel bad. I lost my home. I feel sorry for everybody,'' said resident David Cater, who was stationed in Japan during the Korean War.
Thirteen of the residents are staying at the facility in Danville, while others went to live with relatives, said Bill Breeding, chief of social work for the Veterans Affairs center.
``For now we're taking care of their needs,'' Breeding said. ``They pretty much lost everything they had, so a lot of arrangements have to be made, but at least they're here and safe.''
Veteran Affairs officials said they will help find new homes for the hotel's residents.
