An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home Wednesday night and damaged two others in the Pilsen neighborhood.
No injuries were reported in the fire that broke out around 8:30 p.m. in a single-family home in the 1300 block of West 16th Street and quickly spread to two others, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 alarm fire, summoning more personnel and fire equipment to the scene.
Neighbors clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the destroyed home had been under construction and appeared vacant. After the fire was struck out at 9:30 p.m., firefighters continued to douse the home, which collapsed entirely.
One of the damaged homes, facing north on 16th Street, appeared to have part of its roof caved in. Firefighters could be seen from the street searching the home. The rear of a second damaged home also appeared to have sustained damage.
Eric Tenfelde, 54, and his wife had owned the home to the south of the vacant house that caught fire, for about 25 years and have made a project out of restoring it. The house had been under construction for the last year and vacant for two years before that.
Tenfelde said he was alerted to the fire by someone who rang his doorbell, saying the house next door was on fire. “I turned around and it was already blazing up quite a bit,” he said Wednesday evening.
“Tenfelde and his wife have owned the home, to the south of the vacant house that caught fire, for about 25 years and have made a project out of restoring it. His wife is out of town and his daughter wasn’t yet home from lacrosse practice, so he came outside with his phone in his hand. The family’s two cats were still inside. He was primarily concerned about water damage to the front of the house, he said. He said he did not know the occupants of the other damaged home.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.