Evanston Apartment Building Fire Displaces 16
EVANSTON, Ill. (CBS) -- Sixteen people are without a home after a fire broke out in the southern part of Evanston Thursday night.
The fire broke out around 7 p.m. Thursday in a six-unit apartment building at 116 Callan Ave. in Evanston, less than a block from the border with Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, fire officials said.
The blaze apparently started in the rear balcony area off the alley.
All of the 16 people living in the building's five occupied apartments had left their units before fire personnel arrived and were unharmed.
An older woman was treated at the scene for shortness of breath, but she was not transported to the hospital.
Fire Chief Greg Klaiber said the first fire companies to arrive found flames coming from the second- and third-floor balconies at the rear of the building.
A mutual aid box alarm was sounded, and all Evanston fire trucks and a ladder truck from Skokie responded. The fire spread from the balcony area into the second- and third-floor units, causing extensive damage.
The fire was extinguished at about 8 p.m., and fire workers remained on the scene until 9:30 p.m.
The American Red Cross and an Evanston Police Department victim's advocate worked to find temporary housing for the residents.
Pioneer Press contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire.
