Cause of fire that left Joliet family homeless under investigation

The cause of a fire on Friday night at 324 S. Reed St. in Joliet that left a family homeless is still under investigation.

Michal Aleb Lev, along with her husband William, 11-year-old daughter Maya and 14-month-old grandbaby Kamel were in the home when the fire started, Michal said.

Michal is known in the Joliet area for her outreach to the homeless community.

Joliet Fire Department chief Greg Blaskey said firefighters were called to the scene at 9:30 p.m.

“Our guys found the fire within the front of the home,” Blaskey said. “Luckily all the family members were able to escape. Our crew went back and rescued a family dog.”

Blaskey said no one was in the front of the house at the time of the fire. Maya woke up the rest of the family when she smelled smoke, Michael said.

“The mom attempted to extinguish it [with clothing] but it just spread so she felt it best to evacuate the home,” Blaskey said.

The firefighters left at 10:20 p.m., he said.

Although the fire was confined to the living room area, the entire house has smoke and water damage, he said.

Blaskey said it normally takes a couple of weeks for any evidence from the scene to go through a lab to determine the cause of the fire.

For videos of the destruction, visit theherald-news.com/video.

To donate to Michal's house fire GoFundMe page, visit bit.ly/3msxJR8.