No one was injured in fire that consumed an apartment in the Downtown Commons on Sunday afternoon.
The Jacksonville Fire Department was paged out for a structure fire just after 11:15AM Sunday for a structure fire at 104 West Wolcott Street, directly across the street from the North Main Circle K gas station.
Upon arrival, firefighters could see fire and smoke issuing from the second story of the apartment complex on the south side.
Jacksonville Fire Department Captain Matt Leischner says that the building had fire and smoke damage throughout: “One room was fully involved, so initially, we put some water in the window to kind of cool it down while we got things set up. Then, we took another hose line inside into that room and knocked [the fire] down fairly quickly. The one room is a total loss. There is a lot of smoke and water damage to the rest of the apartment, and a lot of water damage to the apartment below the apartment that was on fire. It’s a 4-apartment building. The two apartments to the west had a little bit of smoke damage. I believe those will be habitable for the evening. The bulk of the damage was to the east side.”
There were no injuries reported. People were inside the building at the time of the fire, but Leischner says that with the help from members of the Jacksonville Police Department, everyone was able to be evacuated safely. Firefighters were on scene for approximately 5 hours.
Leischner and the property manager both say that the American Red Cross is working with the families of the two affected apartments to get them accommodations. An investigator from the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshall has been on the scene since Sunday afternoon conducting an investigation into the origin and cause of the fire. Leischner says that investigation is open and ongoing at this time.