A quick response by firefighters kept a Friday morning fire in a store on Central Street near Northwestern University’s Ryan Field in Evanston from spreading to apartments above the blaze, officials said.
Firefighters responded to a fire at The Locker Room, a ground floor sports merchandise retailer across the street from Ryan Field, at about 11 a.m. Friday, said Evanston Fire Department Division Chief Kimberly Kull. She said the report was quickly ungraded to a working fire response due to heavy fire conditions.
Kull said it took about 20 minutes to extinguish the fire, that multiple departments and dozens of firefighters responded, that no injuries were reported and that the cause of the fire is still under investigation. She also said firefighters worked hard and fast to ensure the blaze did not spread to apartments above the store, which was heavily damaged. Some residents of the four story building had evacuated by the time firefighters arrived and the department helped other evacuate, she said adding that “it’s being accessed as to whether or not the conditions in the building are habitable.”
“The firefighters did a tremendous job,” she said. “The potential was significant here with residential (space) above the business. I believe that as a result because of their aggressive nature and their well coordinated attack, they were able to keep it to that unit of origin and prevent harm.”
Central Street was closed to traffic during the fire but has since been reopened.
She also said that investigators have determined that the cause of a fire that gutted a house in the 1100 block of Florence Avenue in Evanston on Monday was “accidental.” Two firefighters were injured and a pet died in that blaze.
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
