Chirping birds echo through the otherwise quiet Vernon Hills neighborhood every spring as they flitter between trees and feeders.
But at least one bird squeezed its way into the chimney of a north suburban home to lay eggs, and when the homeowners started a cozy fire to ward off the springtime chill Thursday night, the nest became the kindling for a blaze that swept through the attic and caused an estimated $75,000 in damage, officials said.
The owners of the home located in the 100 block of Adair Court were not harmed, said Ron Grant, assistant chief of the Countryside Fire Protection District.
Six eggs were found amid the twigs and dried grass, an owner said. But the resident bird was not found. Fire officials could not determine how many birds nested inside the chimney or what kind of birds they were.
The birds had settled near the chimney vent pipe that carries smoke and heat toward the roof, Grant said. As a result, the nest was tucked out of sight.
“It couldn’t have been a large bird that got in there, but it was not a small nest. It was either a very large nest or a couple of nests. It was hard to determine,” Grant said.
The couple just had finished eating dinner when they smelled smoke upstairs. The fireplace seemed to be working properly, Grant said. But when the owners checked a trap door upstairs, they saw flames swirling through the attic and alerted the Fire Department just before 9 p.m.
The blaze was put out within 10 minutes. The home’s chimney, attic and roof bore the worst damage, officials said.
Building inspectors deemed the home uninhabitable.
Grant said investigators did not know how the birds managed to finagle their way past a cap and metal mesh guard covering the chimney.
Island Lake chimney sweep Stan Johansen, a 20-year veteran of the trade, said birds and other wildlife take up residence in chimneys more often than people might think.
“I get a fair number of calls about nests. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s fairly common,” Johansen said.
In Vernon Hills, fire officials seized on the fire’s cause to urge other homeowners to have their chimneys cleaned and inspected annually.
“Once you get those dried twigs, hay and grass in there, it’s not all that unusual to have chimney fires caused by bird nests,” Grant said.
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tmalone@tribune.com
