A fire that began in a vacant residence in Chicago Heights has decimated six homes and displaced numerous residents, officials reported. The blaze, which sparked late Tuesday night near 15th Street and Lowe Avenue, quickly expanded, leaving five homes fully engulfed and one with substantial damage.
According to CBS News Chicago, the firefighting efforts were hampered by a lack of water supply due to unresponsive hydrants. Caught by observers, the fire started in an abandoned building and then swept through neighboring homes. "We all were just watching this house catch, the abandoned house catch more fire while the firefighters held the hose with no water," Jaron Boyd said.
The Chicago Heights Fire Department encountered further setbacks due to a simultaneous crisis – two water mains in the vicinity had reportedly broken, as per WGN-TV. Fire crews had to lay out hose lines over a block to find working hydrants, as they had delays getting to those that were operative. This was amid the flames rapidly claiming the structures within its reach.
With hydrants offline because of street construction, the beleaguered fire personnel engaged in a desperate search for a source of water, recounted a man whose house was affected, telling CBS News Chicago. "We all were just watching it burn the house, spread to the house with people living in it, and literally, we saw our house catch fire, and then it started spreading to the next-door neighbor's house," he said.
As reported by WGN-TV, no injuries were reported from the scene, and the Red Cross is currently assisting the displaced – nine individuals who have found themselves without a home in the fires' aftermath. The investigation into the blaze's origins remains underway as officials sift through the embers of the six destroyed houses.
