Fire Engulfs Lake Forest Home, No Injuries Reported

LAKE FOREST, IL — No one was injured by a fire that burnt through a Lake Forest home Wednesday afternoon and caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Fire crews got a report of a possible "shed on fire" around 12:15 p.m. at an undisclosed location, according to Lake Forest Fire Department. When they arrived, fire crews found flames and smoke coming through the roof of a single-family home.

Battalion Chief Eric Globerger said firefighters engaged in an "aggressive fire attack" within minutes of arriving.

Firefighters headed around the back of the house and into the attic with hose lines and upgraded the alarm to call in additional personnel, he said.

The fire was extinguished in about 18 minutes with no injuries to any firefighters or civilians, according to Globerger.

Preliminary estimates suggest the blaze did about $45,000 worth of damage.

Crews from Knollwood, Deerfield-Bannockburn, Countryside, North Chicago and Lincolnshire assisted at the scene, while departments from Wheeling and Northfield provided spare vehicles to help cover other calls, the battalion chief said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Lake Forest fire officials declined to specify where the fire took place, other than noting it took place in the "southwest part of town." In past denials of records requests, the city has asserted that the general locations to which police and fire personnel are dispatched are "personal information" and potentially exempt from release under public records law.