Police officers reportedly spotted a fire early this morning at the Happyland Pet Store located at 11432 W. Wadsworth Road in Beach Park. First arriving companies found heavy smoke the the alarm was upgraded very quickly.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that:
The Beach Park Fire Department said firefighters were called to the building that houses the Happyland Pet Center, 11432 W. Wadsworth Road, at 6:06 a.m.
Initial reports said a person was trapped in one of the apartments above the store, but all residents of the building were able to escape the fire.
The Chicago Tribune has an article which states that:
A Beach Park pet store was completely destroyed this morning after a blaze broke out in the basement and killed hamsters, gerbils, fish and reptiles, officials said.
Firefighters were alerted about 6 a.m. to the Happyland Pet Center located at 11432 W. Wadsworth Rd. and found heavy smoke, said Beach Park Fire Department Chief Paul Tierney.
Firefighters went into rescue mode and searched the upstairs of the structure when a flashover occurred. A water supply issue at the scene slowed down firefighting efforts and assisting companies were called in from 15 surrounding communities including Waukegan, Zion and Newport, Tierney said. About 75 firefighters were called to the scene.
“The fire had been burning for quite some time before we were called,” said Tierney. He added the fire originated in a concrete bunker-type basement that had only one entrance.
Jeff Rudolph, Tim Olk, and Larry Shapiro all went to the scene. Jeff arrived shortly after the 2nd Alarm was pulled and submitted several images.
A gallery of Jeff’s images is available HERE. Tim Olk has images available for viewing HERE. Larry Shapiro has a gallery which can be viewed HERE.
More images and a video will be added later.