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Structure fire in Belvidere brings a rapid response
By Anne Eickstadt
SUBMITTED PHOTOS Belvidere Daily Republican
The structure fire on Locust St. in Belvidere on Monday included two buildings.
A fire call came into the Belvidere Fire Station at 12:53 p.m. on Monday, April 9. “The call reported a working structure fire with heavy involvement at the rear of the structure and the adjacent house was also on fire,” said Chief Al Hyser. “The first arriving unit at the 300 block of Locust St. was the Downtown101 engine. Firefighters pulled a line to the rear door and within ten minutes, the fire was suppressed.
“They spent the rest of the time on scene checking for further extension of the fire in attic spaces. The initial house on fire had multiple attic spaces from years of remodeling and an extensive overhaul had to be performed to check for fire extension.
“There were no injuries to the occupants nor to the responders. All animals were accounted for except for one missing cat. The cat was later found in good health.
“We called MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System). MABAS is a way of sharing resources in Fire Service. Within ten minutes we can supplement personnel with personnel from neighboring communities. There is no extra cost to share services. If a neighboring department has an emergency, they call us to back them up. We trade resources with whoever has an emergency.
“Neighboring departments who came to help were: Boone County Districts 1, 2, and 3; the Marengo Fire Dept.; North Park Fire; Boone County Emergency Management Agency; Lifeline Ambulance. NiCor and ComEd were called to control the utilities.”
