Evanston Fire Department units responded to reports of smoke coming from the rear of a 3-story building at 1301 Judson Avenue around 2:15 this afternoon. When Evanston Battalion 21 turned down the street and saw the amount of smoke, he immediately upgraded the Code 3 response to a MABAS Box Alarm. The building, at the north east corner of Judson and Dempster, is a multi-unit, u-shaped, three-story building. Fire was in the attic and vented through the roof quickly. After making an interior attack, conditions worsened and all companies were ordered out of the building. A ladder pipe was put to work on the Dempster Street side of the building from Evanston Truck 22. Truck 23 was to the roof in front of the building on Judson. The alarm was upgraded to a 2nd alarm which brought additional companies.
After the attic and roof fire was knocked down, companies went back into the building to hit the remaining fire, conduct the secondary searches, and then begin to overhaul the interior.
In addition to five Evanston engines and their two trucks, mutual aid at the scene consisted of engines from Wilmette and Winnetka, a squad from Morton Grove, and trucks from Skokie and Northfield.
The fire was contained to one side of the structure and did not communicate to the second floor.
Tim Olk and Larry Shapiro were at the scene, both arriving after the fire had been knocked down. Some images and a video from Larry are in this email. Images from Tim should be forthcoming.
A gallery of more images by Larry Shapiro is HERE.
#1 by Bill Post on June 6, 2013 - 7:39 PM
It just so happens that I work 3 blocks from this fire however I’m usually not there on Wednesday and while I had my scanner with me that day it was in my back pack and it wasn’t on so I missed it.
This afternoon a co worker who knows that I follow the fire service called me downstairs on the phone and told me that he was hearing sirens nearby on Wednesday afternoon and if I knew what had happened.
Thanks to this website I was able to fill him in on what happened.