During the height of the early afternoon storm system that passed through the Chicago area, fire departments in the northwest suburbs were quite active responding to lightning strikes. Within the span of less than an hour, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods, Countryside, Palatine, Long Grove, and Barrington Fire Departments all had lightning strikes within their districts. The Lincolnshire-Riverwoods call turned out to be a lighting strike with no fire, and the Palatine response was also a lighting strike with minimal damage. Countryside had smoke showing from a four-story residential building and upgraded the alarm to a working fire response before requesting a MABAS Box Alarm for change of quarters companies only.
Long Grove had a fire on Muirwood Court which they upgraded to a Code 4 alarm and during that incident Barrington went to a MABAS Box Alarm for a fire in Inverness. When the Long Grove fire came out, the Palatine incident was still going on as was the Countryside Box Alarm. As such, RED Center had to scramble a bit to get other companies to the scene which would normally include both Palatine and Countryside.
When Barrington upgraded their fire to a Box Alarm, they too had to find replacement companies for Long Grove and Wheeling, both of which were committed at the Long Grove fire. Two tankers and an engine due to Barrington were in Long Grove and were released to respond to Barrington as the Long Grove fire had been contained.
Larry Shapiro was at the Long Grove fire and submitted several images and a video.
Fire was showing from the gable vent on the east side of the house when firefighters arrived. The fire was reported by a neighbor as the residents were away. Larry Shapiro photo
The area has only dry hydrants, the closest of which was over 2,000 feet away. Lake Zurich Engine 4 laid out their entire bed of 5" hose to reach this hydrant. Larry Shapiro photo
Long Grove relied on their squad with 1,000 gallons on board and the 3,000-gallon tanker before the supply line from Lake Zurich Engine 4 was charged. Larry Shapiro photo
Two cats were rescued from the home by Long Grove firefighters. Larry Shapiro photo
A gallery with more images can be found HERE.
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