No injuries as fire ravages 2-story house in St. Charles Twp.

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – A fire on Monday caused an estimated $150,000 in damage to a house and its contents in the 35W500 block of Catalpa Avenue, in the Valley View area of St. Charles Township, a fire official of the Fox River and Countryside Fire Protection District said.

No one was home, no firefighters were injured and there were no pets in the house, Battalion Chief John Rice said.

“The neighbor heard cracking,” Rice said, and it turned out to be a fire in the back of the two-story house. “It’s heavily damaged and uninhabitable. … There was heavy fire in the rear of the building, all up to the two floors, from top to bottom.”

The call came in at 12:40 p.m. and because there are no fire hydrants in that area, the fire district has to bring its own water in tanker-type trucks called tenders.

Fire crews also went inside the house, which is over 3,500 square feet, and continued to put out other fires in the interior, Rice said.

It took about two hours to get everything extinguished, he said.

The cause is still under investigation, but so far it does not appear to be suspicious, Rice said.

“Because they lost everything and the kids were still in school, we got some gift cards for the family right away .. so they could get some clothes,” Rice said.

Fox River and Countryside put out a mutual aid call for other districts to respond with their water tenders and ladder trucks.

Those fire districts responding to the call for assistance were Bartlett, South Elgin, Hampshire, Pingree Grove, West Chicago, Carol Stream, Fermilab, Elburn, Elgin, Hanover Park and Geneva.

The East Dundee fire chief came to the scene to provide assistance while East Dundee and North Aurora provided station coverage during the fire with an ambulance and a fire truck, Rice said.