A worker using a blowtorch to warm water pipes caused a fire that swept through a Lake Zurich apartment complex Tuesday afternoon, leaving 20 families temporarily homeless, a Fire Department official said Wednesday.
The worker was using the blowtorch on the first floor of the 48-unit building in the 200 block of West Main Street near downtown, said Lake Zurich Fire Chief Terry Mastandrea. The fire spread to the second and third floors, Mastandrea said.
One man was taken to Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington and released Wednesday.
The fire was contained in six units on the second and third floors, but the entire three-story building was temporarily uninhabitable, Mastandrea said. Some tenants may be able to return Thursday, he said.
The Red Cross found hotel rooms for tenants who didn’t have a place to stay, Mastandrea said.
