Two neighboring houses on Naperville’s far northeast side were badly damaged by fire Wednesday night.
The fire was spotted about 6:10 p.m. in the attached garage of a two-story frame house in the 500 block of Springhill Circle, and then spread to a two-story frame house next door, Naperville Fire Department Bureau Chief Jim Kubinski said.
The first house was “fully involved” by the time firefighters arrived, Kubinski said. Forty-five firefighters and 19 vehicles/pieces of equipment were needed to bring the fire under control in 45 minutes, he said.
“There were no reports of injuries and no reports of anybody trapped” in either house, he said.
More Top Picks Best Baby Jogging Strollers
Investigators determined Thursday the fire was accidental in nature, Kubinski said. However, the intensity of the blaze and the magnitude of the damage means the fire’s source will likely never be learned.
Kubinski said he did not know how many people lived in the houses or if any of them were at home when the fire started. A neighbor, Fred Jeske, said a brother and sister lived in the first house and a husband, wife and two children in the other home.
An inspector from the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development Business department ruled the first house could not be entered without an insurance representative present but the other was habitable, Kubinski said.
The residents left homeless are receiving assistance from the American Red Cross, he said.
A neighbor who declined to be identified said she and her family heard an explosion inside one of the houses. That brought her family and others out onto the street, she said.
“It started out in the garage and the next thing you know, the whole house was on fire,” the woman said.
Jeske said he did not know the names of the brother and sister who lived in the house where the fire started.
“They’re just super nice people, very friendly,” Jeske said. “I feel just horrible for these families.”