A fire broke out Thursday afternoon at the site of a Niles Park District-owned facility currently under construction, according to the village’s police and fire officials.
Niles Fire District Chief Orlando Diaz said the blaze broke out around 3:45 p.m. at 7847 N. Caldwell Ave. Fire personnel from both Niles and Morton Grove departments worked to put out the fire, he said.
“We had 20 working firefighters who contained the fire,” Diaz said.
He said there no injuries and the fire caused minimal damage to the facility, primarily because construction crews were working on demolishing the building. The village’s park district recently purchased the building for roughly $650,000. Niles Park District executive director Joe LoVerde previously told Pioneer Press that the majority of the building will be torn down to make way for a new $11 million athletic facility.
Diaz said officials are investigating the cause of the fire.
Niles Police Sgt. Robert Tornabene said traffic on Caldwell Avenue between Howard Street and Oakton Street was closed while firefighters battled the blaze. Diaz said the road has since reopened to traffic.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelancer.