HIGHLAND, Ill. – The frigid temperatures made it difficult for fire crews to put out an early morning fire in Highland.
The fire occurred at a home in the 1200 block of Lynn Street around 4:10 a.m.
The homeowner said he left for work and saw a glow in the small storage area of the carport and when he opened the door the interior was on fire. He tried to hook up his garden hose to fight the fire, but the hose was frozen and unusable. He helped his wife and one-year-old escape from the home and moved his family cars from the driveway before fire crews arrived.
The family was taken to an ambulance to keep them warm and were eventually transported to a hospital as a precaution, according to the Highland Fire Department.
Homes in the immediate area were also evacuated while fire crews worked to put out the fire.
‘Extremely cold temperatures caused hoses and firefighters air masks to freeze up and become inoperable very quickly,’ the Highland Fire Department said. ‘Freezing water caused slip hazards and made navigating on the fireground very difficult. The spread of the fire was stopped within an hour but the deep seated fire took another couple of hours to completely extinguish.’
The home is valued at over $100,000 and is a total loss. Investigation by the Office of the State Fire Marshal has not yet identified a cause of the fire, although there is no reason to believe that it was anything other than an accidental fire.
