CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A west suburban fire chief said three fires last night — all within a short period of time — left firefighters overwhelmed.
The last of the three late-night fires was near St. Charles and John Nixon, fire chief of the Fox River and Countryside Fire Rescue District, said the home was a million-dollar loss.
Nixon said the suburban mutual aid system was overwhelmed because of the multiple fires, and shared equipment like a water tender truck was committed elsewhere and couldn’t respond in time to the house fire near St. Charles.
“It’s certainly something that I haven’t encountered in my career. I’ve been doing something for over 40 years, and it’s unusual to have that many multiple-alarm fires at the same time,” Nixon said.
Nixon said firefighting equipment responded but from farther away.
He said two firefighters at the fire near St. Charles were treated for heat exhaustion.