Fire Captain's Hand Injured While Fighting Aurora House Fire

AURORA, IL — An Aurora Fire Captain received a hand injury while fighting a fire in the 200 block of South Fordham Ave. Thursday morning.

According to Aurora Fire Department Lt. Jim Rhodes, an employee of the City of Aurora Property Standards was driving by and saw smoke coming from the eves of the house.

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The employee alerted the 63-year-old female who was sitting in a first-floor bedroom watching TV. No one else was in the home at the time of the 9:30 a.m. blaze.

Arriving fire crews found a one-and-a-half story single-family home with heavy smoke showing from the roof area.

Initial reports of a person trapped in a second-floor bedroom were found to be unsubstantiated.

Thirty-six firefighters worked just over two hours to put out the fire. At one point crews were forced to move from the roof as it was severely weakening.

One fire captain was transported to a local area hospital with a hand injury. It is unknown at this time the status of his condition.

The house was deemed uninhabitable and the victims planned on staying with local family members.

The cause is of the fire is under investigation at this time. It is estimated that total dollar loss amount was $150,000. There were no civilian injuries reported.