Three residents and a firefighter were treated for minor injuries Thursday at an area hospital after fire swept through a house in West Chicago, authorities said.
Firefighters said the injuries could have been worse if neighbors had not alerted the residents to the blaze around 12:20 p.m. on the 2400 block of Alamance Drive.
West Chicago Fire Protection District crews were dispatched at 12:24 p.m. and arrived minutes later to find flames and heavy smoke showing from the two-story house, Deputy Chief Dennis A. Keefe said.
"It appears it had a good head start before anyone noticed it," Keefe said.
The three residents were able to get out of the burning building on their own.
It took firefighters roughly an hour and 20 minutes to extinguish the fire, he said.
It's unclear where or how the fire started, but officials from the DuPage County Fire Investigation Task Force were investigating, Keefe said.
The house, which authorities deemed a total loss, is in the Cornerstone Lakes subdivision in the northwest corner of West Chicago.
The residents were referred through the police department to the American Red Cross for assistance.
Firefighters from 14 other communities assisted.
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