HUNTLEY – Allen R. Jacobs used a wheelchair his entire adult life, and his greatest fear was being placed in a dangerous situation where he couldn’t escape, family members said
Monday.

A two-alarm blaze in the six-unit building at Huntley Woodcreek Apartments started Sunday morning in Jacobs’ first-floor unit. The fire killed Jacobs, 47, and displaced 12 others.

His older sister, Cindy Shanahan, and his fraternal twin, Pam Jacobs, described the longtime Huntley resident as a personable, ambitious man, who never let it get him down that he could not use his legs.