News Analysis: Fatal Fire in Sun City Huntley

This is the time of year Huntley firefighters promote changing batteries on smoke alarms and give lessons about fire prevention.

Friday was no different as Huntley Fire Protection District firefighters participated in the countywide Political Infighting forum at the Ruth Firefighter Training Facility in Huntley. Firefighters showed elected officials what it’s like to fight a fire.

At the same time the forum was taking place, firefighters received an emergency call for a structure fire.

A 73-year-old man died at the scene. The Kane County coroner has not released his name pending official identification.

The fatal fire was the first in seven years for Huntley firefighters.

“It’s unfortunate we lost somebody,” Huntley Fire Protection District Chief James Saletta said. “It’s a difficult part of the job. We have to deal with some unpleasant situations.”

Search and rescue

Huntley firefighters responded to the fire in a home at Sun City Huntley at 10:30 a.m. A total of 30 firefighters, six engines and a tanker arrived at 12786 Oak Grove Drive shortly afterward, officials said.

Huntley police were on the scene and tried to kick open the front door but the smoke was too heavy, witnesses said. Firefighters quickly developed a strategy to try to save the victim.

“We are pretty systematic in our approach,” Saletta said. “We usually try to determine what is the best way to enter and not cause the first to spread. We decided the front door was the best way to go in.”

A crew of firefighters began a search and rescue effort as another crew put out the flames, he said. Firefighters ran into trouble when a flashover occurred, he said. A flashover is when unburned particles rise to the ceiling and all ignite at once and you have a flash fire, he said.

One firefighter was injured in the flashover when his helmet began melting in the flames, Saletta said. However, the firefighter did not suffer sever injuries and was able to go back to work, he said.

There are techniques firefighters use to fight a flashover if they know the conditions exist, Saletta said. But, “we didn’t know those conditions existed,” he said.

Firefighters had to back off from the flashover until the flames were contained then continued the search and rescue effort, Saletta said.

“They found the victim a short time later,” he said.

Fire safety

Saletta said it is hard to tell when the victim died. An autopsy will show the cause of death, he said.

The victim’s home had a working smoke alarm, which helped alert a neighbor down the street. It is unknown why the victim did not exit the home but one witness said he had difficulty getting around.

Firefighters often teach fire prevention throughout the village, including Sun City. Statistics show that most fatalities occur in the very young and the very old, Saletta said. Learning fire safety is important for families and seniors.

The fire district has fire safety information on its website, Saletta said.

“We’ll continue to do what we can to promote fire safety,” he added.