Police, firefighters and paramedics from Arlington Heights responded about 8:01 p.m. Sunday, October 1, 2023 to a report of a fire on a roof at the intersection of Dunton Avenue and Campbell Street in Arlington Heights.
Residents from another building or buildings nearby could see the fire burning on the roof, and called 9-1-1. Firefighters determined the fire was on the roof of the Metro Lofts condominiums at 10 S. Dunton Avenue in downtown Arlington Heights.
At least one resident even showed firefighters a video of the fire on the roof, which was helpful because you could not initially see smoke or fire from the street level.
The fire department response was upgraded to a Code 4 or ‘working fire’ status about 8:06 p.m.
Firefighters used the aerial ladder from Tower 1 to reach the top of the building, and extinguished the fire with an elevated stream.
Another team of firefighters went up the stairs, interior and accessed the rooftop hatch so they could get close to the fire and find the source of the fire. Firefighters determined that the fire involved a small HVAC rooftop unit. The fire was contained to the HVAC rooftop unit. Firefighters also checked for extension of fire to make sure the fire and not spread to any ceiling materials in the top floor, or any other area of the building. Firefighters reporter there was no extension.
A third team of firefighters went to the alarm panel to monitor the conditions in the building, and to see if any alarms were being activated in other parts of the building. There were no other activations inside the building.
Before firefighters arrived, the fire alarm system activated inside the building, and some smoke could be smelled near the entrance at the south wall of the building near the west side of the building.
Many people immediately evacuated the building. And some people who were aware of the fire on the roof, told residents who were returning home and were getting ready to enter the building, not to enter because of the fire on the roof.
The fire was declared out within about 15 minutes of arrival of the first firefighters.
No injuries were reported.
Firefighters, paramedics, and/or command officers from Mount Prospect, Palatine, and Rolling Meadows fire departments assisted Arlington Heights firefighters.
The information in this article is an early report published before any summary information was confirmed or released by police or fire authorities.
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