Fire damages Joliet apartment building
By BRIAN STANLEY Bstanley@stmedianetwork.com October 24, 2012 3:28PM
Olivia Amezcua holds her cat Stripes as she watches firefighters work at the scene of an apartment fire next door to her residence in the 300 block of Marble St. Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, in Joliet. | Matthew Grotto~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: November 26, 2012 7:15AM
JOLIET — Fire caused heavy damage to an unoccupied two-unit apartment building Wednesday morning in the 300 block of Marble Street.
Olivia Squamezcua said she had just come downstairs to feed her cats when she looked out her side windows.
“I saw smoke coming from the windows and the roof of the house next door. Lots of smoke, so I called 911,” she said.
Battalion Chief Ron Schroeder said crews arrived just after 10 a.m. to find fire in the basement, both floors and attic of the two-story brick building.
“The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it appears to have started in the basement and followed the chimney up to each floor,” Schroeder said.
Firefighters spent about a half-hour inside putting out the fire with “an aggressive interior attack” and another hour overhauling the scene.
Investigators spoke with the owner of the building, who said the downstairs unit is vacant while a woman was supposed to be moving into the upstairs one later in the day.
“She’d brought over about eight boxes already. That’s about all that was in there,” Schroeder said.
The damage rendered the building uninhabitable.
