$80,000 in estimated damage to 2-story family home

ROCHELLE — Residents suffered minor injuries due to a fire at a home on South 9th Street on Saturday morning, Rochelle Fire Department Chief Dave Sawlsville said. 

Fire crews were called at 11:56 a.m. to 128 S. 9th St. for a report of heavy smoke in a two-story, single-family home. First responders noticed heavy black smoke upon arrival and utilized the box alarm protocol to call the Ogle-Lee Fire Protection District stations of Hillcrest, Flagg Center, Steward and Creston and fire crews from Stillman Valley, DeKalb and Lynn-Scott-Rock. The home was occupied by a husband and wife and their three kids, Sawlsville said. 

“The family was home at the time of the fire,” Sawlsville said. “The fire started in an upstairs bedroom and spread to another adjoining bedroom. When I got there fire was shooting out of three windows upstairs and the left half of the upstairs was fully involved. We hit the fire with water from the yard outside through the window to knock it down and then transitioned to fighting it from the inside, and that process was effective. DeKalb got on scene with five people and Stillman Valley arrived with four and they relieved our initial companies, who were pretty tired by that time.”
The cause of the fire is still undetermined, Sawlsville said. The fire did not spread to the attic or first story, which Sawlsville said prevented the home from being a total loss. He estimated the “extensive” damage from the blaze to be about $80,000. The family was displaced from the home and The Red Cross was notified and provided temporary housing for the family. 

The father of the family suffered minor burns from trying to put the fire out and the mother and two children suffered smoke inhalation, Sawlsville said. The family was transported to the hospital for treatment.