Fire leaves apartment uninhabitable in Harvard, Illinois
A fire ripped through a first-floor apartment in Harvard, Illinois near the Wisconsin state line early Wednesday.
At 5:47 a.m., the Harvard Fire Protection District was called for a fire in an apartment building in the 1100 block of 9th Street in the McHenry County community. Firefighters found smoke and flames raging from a first-floor unit.
Firefighters took a hose to the window and sprayed out most of the fire within minutes. They then went inside to put out hot spots.
The fire damage was contained to the kitchen, but heavy smoke permeated the apartment and ruined everything inside, the fire department said.
No one was home at the time, and injured in the fire. But the apartment where the fire broke out was left uninhabitable, and the three adults and one infant who lived there are being helped by the American Red Cross.
The three other units in the building sustained minor damage and will be inhabitable again once t utilities are restored, the fire department said.
The building did not have a central sprinkler or smoke alarm system, but there were battery-operated smoke detectors, the fire department said.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation by the Harvard Fire Protection District late Wednesday.
