Firefighters from Evanston and neighboring communities rescued four pets as they battled a fire in an apartment building on Monday that left 12 Evanston residents displaced, officials said.
According to a fire department news release, at approximately 12:35 p.m. Monday, the Evanston Fire Department responded to reports of a fire in a multi-residential building in the1600 block of Monroe Street. The firefighters first on the scene encountered heavy fire in the rear of the building and immediately called for additional assistance to fight the blaze, the release states..
Neighboring fire departments assisted with helping to investigate how the fire started and aided with responding to other emergency calls in the city, the release states. Fire officials said in the release that the fire was under control within the first 30 minutes.
Residents exited the building safely and there were no reports of any of them being injured, fire officials said in the release. However, 12 people were displaced, and one firefighter was injured and treated at the scene, after declining to be taken to a local hospital.
Additionally, two cats and two dogs were rescued from the burning building and were reunited with their owners at the scene.
Fire department Division Chief Kimberly Kull told Pioneer Press that sometimes rescuing pets from a burning building is more difficult than rescuing people.
“It depends on the pet,” she said. “If there’s a pet that hostile, which we’ve had in the past, sometimes we’ll have to enlist an animal warden. If there’s a more manageable situation, we just carry they out. That was the case here.”
Kull said the American Red Cross was working with the 12 displaced residents and their pets to find temporary housing.
More Top Picks Labels Plants
The division chief said the cause of the fire had not yet determined as of Tuesday.
Brian L. Cox is a freelancer.