Another extra alarm fire this week occurred on the border where Lake Zurich’s Fire Protection District meets with Barrington’s Fire Protection District. The house at 24506 W. Scott Road, with a Barrington mailing address, sustained major damage. If the house was on the other side of the street it would evidently have been in Barrington’s district.
Just after 11PM the resident reported a fire on the second floor of the house. First arriving companies reported fire showing and thick black smoke venting from the attic. The house is located right along the roadway which is a very long, narrow, dead end street. Second due companies were ordered to back in and lay a large diameter supply line out to Route 59 for tanker ops. After Engine 3214 setup, Barrington’s tanker backed in to supply additional water until the tanker shuttle could be initiated. Companies laid over 2,100 feet of 5-inch large diameter hose (LDH) from the house to Route 59 where Lake Zurich Engine 3211 setup to draft from a portable tank. Within minutes of arriving, a 2nd Alarm MABAS Box was requested. Until crews were available to move the LDH out of the road, firefighters had to walk almost a half mile to the scene. Once the road was open, additional rigs including Palatine’s quint, Deerfield’s squad, a Countryside ambulance for rehab, and one of the MESS Support rigs were able to advance to the scene. A short time later, a MABAS Polaris ATV assigned to MABAS Division 4, was brought to the scene to shuttle additional companies from staging to the scene.
Lake Zurich Engine 3214, a 1997 Pierce Saber, was the first engine to arrive at the fire. This company pulled a line and had 1,000 gallons of water to work with until the Barrington tanker could back up the street providing an additional 3,000 gallons. Larry Shapiro photo
Barrington Tanker 3668 is a 1981/1990 3D/US Tank, 3,000-gallon tanker on an IHC F3674 chassis. This was used to nurse Lake Zurich Engine 3214 until the tanker ops could be initiated from Route 59. Larry Shapiro photo
Lake Zurich Engine 3212 is one of four Pierce Saber pumpers in the fleet. After laying out all 750-feet of LDH, it is positioned out of the way to make room for tenders to fill the portable tanks. Larry Shapiro photo
Surrounded by mansions on this isolated block, this farmhouse sits right on the roadway. As fire vents out of the second floor, Grayslake firefighters bring a ground ladder around to the 'C' side of the structure. Larry Shapiro photo
Deerfield's squad moved up to the scene and filled air bottles. They were able to deploy thier Wil-Burt light tower to illuminate the street and an area setup for rehab. This shot shows just how narrow the road was with the LDH deployed. Larry Shapiro photo
Fox River Grove Engine 641 is a 2004, American LaFrance on an Eagle chassis. Positioned as one of the first arriving mutual aid companies, it was well poised to illuminate the tanker ops with a telescoping light tower. Larry Shapiro photo
One of the MABAS Polaris ATV units which is housed in Lake County was brought to the scene and was utilized to ferry companies from the staging area to the scene when they were needed. Here the Lake Forest company, which arrived on the 3rd alarm, is moving up to the scene to relieve another company. Larry Shapiro photo
Grayslake's new Seagrave engine sits in staging on Route 59. Larry Shapiro photo
A large gallery of images from this fire can be viewed HERE.
