Garages, vehicles damaged, destroyed in early morning Lincoln Park fires

CHICAGO (WGN) — Six garages and at least three vehicles were damaged or destroyed in an early morning fire in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Firefighters responded to the 2000 block of North Fremont Street around 3 a.m. and found five to six garages that had caught fire, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Despite the tight alleyway space and low wires that prevents engines from fitting down it, firefighters were able to put the fires out within the hour and stop flames from spreading to any homes.

Officers with the Chicago Police Department were also called to the scene around 3:10 a.m. and found firefighters there already, working to extinguish multiple garage fires.

A garage behind a home on North Dayton Street, the vehicle, and everything inside it were destroyed. Neighbors were alerted to the flames that erupted from the property, while the residents said their 10-year-old woke them up, allowing them to quickly call for help and begin checking on their neighbors.

Many said they evacuated out of precaution, not knowing where the flames could spread.

“All we smelled was a lot of smoke. Neighbors were on the sidewalk, and everyone was telling us that there were balls of fire in the back,” said resident Libby Holdren.

Holdren told WGN-TV they were sleeping at the time the fire started. It wasn’t until the daylight where she and other neighbors were able to see the true scope of the damage.

She said they are working to find ways to support their neighbors who were most impacted by the series of events and they hope to find out soon what happened for peace of mind.

“We of course want to know what happened because it’s a scary event,” Holdren said.

The cause of the fire was unknown as of midday, but firefighters were back in the area investigating. Utility crews remained on scene in the early afternoon hours, working to fix damaged wires.