Roof Collapses During Joliet Prison Fire

JOLIET, IL - Joliet firefighters spent about six hours on the scene of Monday's fire behind the limestone walls of the old Joliet Prison on Collins Street. Joliet Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Stromberg said the one-story building that was lost in the fire was roughly 30 feet by 100 feet in size. It was adjacent to the dietary building.

The abandoned prison property, still owned by the Illinois Department of Corrections, encompasses more than two dozen separate buildings, many of which were built during the 19th century. The old Joliet Prison opened during the 1850s, until the state closed it about 15 years ago.

"This was not a cell house," Stromberg told Joliet Patch late Monday afternoon. "It was a support building of some kind, but I think it was one of those original buildings."

Monday's fire was reported at 8:59 a.m. And it was a big fire. Thick, black smoke drifted across Joliet's blue skies on Monday and the smoke from the old Joliet Prison fire could be seen for miles. At the scene, Joliet police officers blocked off traffic along Route 171, allowing firefighters to run their hoses inside the prison walls. The Joliet Fire Department sent fire trucks from Stations No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5.

Joliet firefighters had the latest fire inside the abandoned state prison on Collins Street under control within an hour, but it was not an easy fire to tackle.

"There was a heavy fire to half of the building and the roof caved in during the first ten to fifteen minutes after our arrival," Stromberg said. "After the roof collapsed, we were defensive. We did a defensive attack with the amount of fire in the building and it remained a defensive operation through out.

"We did have it under control within an hour but we had to end up being there until 3 p.m."

At this point, it's too early to pinpoint a cause for the fire.

The Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office will spearhead the investigation into the cause of the fire, Stromberg said. The last blaze at the Joliet Prison occurred in May and that fire was an arson.

Stromberg said it's his understanding that state fire marshal investigators would remain on the site late into the night in hopes of trying to determine the fire's origin and the cause. "They will investigate it after the hot spots go out," he added.

Joliet police officers said the subsequent fire investigation will aim to determine whether the fire began during the middle of the night and perhaps began smoldering. On the other hand, it's entirely possible that an arsonist broke into the prison sometime after the crack of dawn and set the fire. "We did not get any information that anybody was on the scene leaving," Stromberg said.

On a positive note, Joliet firefighters were able to stop Monday's fire from spreading to other prison buildings and causing even more damage.

Stromberg said the fire spread to the roof of the dietary building a short distance away, but firefighters quickly extinguished it. "The guys did a good job getting water into the roof, and we were able to put that out," he said.

As for Monday's fire, the Joliet Fire Department said it wasn't in a position to put a monetary value on the structure that was lost. "It's just an old abandoned building," the battalion chief said. "I won't even take a guess because I don't know."

The fate of the abandoned old Joliet Prison has been on the forefront of the Joliet City Council over the past several weeks. Some city officials favor acquiring the Joliet Prison property from the state Department of Corrections and using it as a world-wide tourism attraction. However, others at the city are concerned about the legal liability and potential costs associated with taking over the massive limestone fortress that runs along Collins Street.

As millions of people know, the prison made the city of Joliet world-famous as a result of the classic movie "The Blues Brothers."

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Image with black smoke supplied to Joliet Patch

Other images via Joliet Patch Editor John Ferak