Family Dog Perishes In Mulford Street House Fire

EVANSTON, IL — Firefighters extinguished a blaze in an empty house Wednesday where a family pet died from smoke inhalation. According to the Evanston Fire Department, crews were dispatched shortly before 4:30 p.m. to a two-story house in the 1000 block of Mulford Street, where they found smoke coming from the windows and roof.

The fire started in the first-floor kitchen and had begun to spread up to the second floor through a void space between the floors, according to the department.

"This fire certainly had a significant head start prior to discovery and [fire department] notification," Chief Brian Scott said in a statement. "Firefighters did an outstanding job of quickly containing the fire to area of origin while saving a majority of the structure."

Firefighters from Evanston and neighboring communities extinguish the fire within about 30 minutes, according to Division Chief Paul Polep.

There were no injuries to firefighters or other humans. The house was unoccupied when firefighters arrived, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to Polep.