Chief: Determining cause
of home blaze will take time
By JENN WIANT - jwiant@nwherald.com
|
| Woodstock firefighters battle a blaze reported in the early hours Saturday morning. The residence, at 2606 County Club Road in Woodstock, was a total loss and took more than three hours to control. In addition to Woodstock, firefighters responded from Huntley, Wauconda, Crystal Lake, Lakewood, Marengo, Nunda, Richmond, Hebron, Union, Harvard, McHenry, Cary, Algonquin, Fox River Grove and Fox Lake. (Danielle Guerra – dguerra@nwherald.com) |
WOODSTOCK – Firefighters probably would not determine the cause of a fire that gutted a two-story home early Saturday for at least a week, Woodstock fire Chief Ralph Webster said.
Woodstock firefighters said the blaze broke out just after midnight Saturday at 2606 S. Country Club Road, south of Crystal Springs Road. They described the house and two vehicles in the garage as a total loss. The homeowner, Todd S. Giese, and his dog had escaped the house by the time firefighters arrived.
Firefighters said the rest of Giese’s family was out of town. There were no injuries.
Firefighters largely were able to control the fire by about 1:15 a.m. but continued to fight hot spots until about 7 a.m., Webster said. He expected that small areas would continue to burn for a couple of days.
“When we arrived, probably 50 percent of the house was on fire,” Webster said. “There was a lot of flaming debris that was blowing onto a neighboring house that was equal in size [about 5,000 square feet], if not larger.”
Webster said he directed firefighters to make the neighboring house a priority since the original house already had sustained so much damage.
“I think that was the right call,” Webster said.
Webster said Giese had been working in the basement about midnight when he smelled smoke and, after investigating, found fire in a utility room off the garage. He made sure that his daughter was not home, got himself and his dog out of the house, and called 911. By that time, the entire garage was on fire.
Webster said the house was set back about 1,200 feet from the street and the area did not have hydrants, making it more difficult to get water to the fire. The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System was raised to the third level, bringing in about 75 firefighters from McHenry, Kane and Lake counties to help fight the fire and respond to other Woodstock calls.
About 15 minutes after firefighters arrived, parts of the building began to collapse, Webster said.
“Once it starts to collapse in on itself, it creates pockets of fire we can’t get to safely. It takes a tremendous amount of time” to fully extinguish, he said.
Firefighters still were investigating the fire Saturday and would wait for the insurance company to investigate the scene before making a statement about the cause, probably within a week or two, Webster said. He did not suspect arson.
Firefighters responded from Woodstock, Huntley, Wauconda, Crystal Lake, Lakewood, Wonder Lake, Marengo, Nunda, Richmond, Hebron, Union, Harvard, McHenry, Cary, Algonquin, Fox River Grove, Fox Lake and departments in Lake and Kane counties.
Officers from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Police also responded to the scene.
