commercial building fire in Waukegan

Excerpts from the Waukegan FD Facebook page:

This afternoon around 3pm the Waukegan Fire Department responded to a working structure fire in a large strip mall in the 2300 block of Grand Ave. First arriving units found smoke and fire showing from the roof line of this 15 unit strip mall with a large attached medical building.

Chief Bridges would like to express how proud he is and hopes that everyone else should be as well with the firefighters that extinguished this rapidly advancing fire and safely mitigated a potentially disastrous outcome! The Waukegan spirit of teamwork was shining through the many community members who acted quickly to move vehicles that were impeding access to strip mall. The aggressive tactics deployed by firefighters prevented the fire from destroying both the medical building and adjacent businesses, over half of which reopened their doors within two hours. While there was some damage, much more extensive damage was prevented. We are pleased to share that there were no injuries.

Thank you to our neighboring fire departments who assisted and the Waukegan Police Department that handled traffic control and scene safety during the rush hour.

Waukegan Fire Marshal Lenzi is investigating the cause of the fire.

Waukegan firefighters battle commercial building fire

Waukegan FD photo

Waukegan FD photo

Waukegan firefighters were called too 2323 Grand Avenue this afternoon after roofers apparently ignited a fire that caused heavy damage to the roof, facia, and stores below. The fire was upgraded to a MABAS Box Alarm with a North Chicago engine and Gurnee truck to the scene plus multiple towns providing station coverage. The fire was extinguished in about 40 minutes.