Cause Of Fire That Destroyed Barrington Hills Mansion Still Undetermined
(CBS) -- A suburban fire chief says investigators are still working to determine the cause of an extra-alarm fire that destroyed a Barrington Hills mansion over the weekend, reports WBBM's Regine Schlesinger.
The fire consumed a huge, luxury home on Rolling Hills Drive on Saturday. A neighbor thought it was sparked by leaf-burning outside the house but, fire chief Jeff Swanson says that's still not clear.
"The cause and origin of the fire remains undetermined," Swanson said.
The fire broke out in an area where there are no fire hydrants, so chief Swanson says they called in other departments to help truck water to the scene, tens of thousands of gallons of it, which they poured into pools and then funneled into their hoses.
He says with that method, they were able to maintain a flow of a thousand gallons a minute for several hours.
"The quality of fire protection that we can deliver by using the water-tenders is as effective as if we had water mains underground," he said.
The mansion, now a smoldering ruin, is considered a total loss.