Three major fires in Elgin between Tuesday and Friday have left two people injured, a dog dead and nearly two dozen cars destroyed, according to the Elgin Fire Department.
One person is being treated for life-threatening injuries and a second is recovering from less severe wounds at Ascension St. Joseph’s Hospital in Elgin as the result of an east side garage fire reported about 1:50 a.m. Friday in the 100 block of South Chapel Street.
Emergency workers were initially called to scene for a medical issue but discovered that in addition to the two injured people, a garage was fully engulfed by fire, a report said.
It took about 10 minutes to bring the blaze under control with on-the-scene assistance provided by the South Elgin Fire Protection District and Hanover Township Emergency Services.
The fire department’s investigations team and Elgin police are looking into the circumstances of the fire, the report said.
About two and a half hours after that fire, the department was notified that multiple cars were burning at the east side Copart auto salvage yard, 1475 Bluff City Blvd., officials said.
Crews arrived to find 23 cars in flames, a situation that was brought under control in less than an hour, the report said.
Officials said they believe the fire started by accident.
Three days earlier, a morning house fire resulted in the death of a dog and about $150,000 in fire and smoke damage, officials said.
Elgin firefighters arrived at a home in the 1500 block of St. Andrew Circle about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday to find flames coming from a first-floor window and smoke throughout the residence, a fire report said.
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The residents were not home at the time, and no firefighters were injured in the blaze, which took about 10 minutes to extinguish, the report said. However, a dog inside the house did not survive.
The fire department’s investigation team is looking into the cause.