Cause of Polo apartment complex fire still under investigation

POLO – The cause of a fire that started nearly a week ago in a two-story apartment complex, destroying one unit and causing smoke damage to the others, appears to be accidental and not suspicious, Fire Chief Tony Karrow said.

The state fire marshal is investigating.

Fire crews responded at 4:15 a.m. Thursday to 709 E. Webster St., where flames were coming out of the back of one apartment. The building has eight units, and most of the residents got themselves out of the building.

“Some had to go out a window in the back,” Karrow said. “We carried one person out. We put the fire out pretty quickly and kept it in the apartment it started in.”

Four or five residents were taken to KSB Hospital in Dixon for smoke inhalation. The person who was carried out was on oxygen and “wasn’t hurt badly,” Karrow said. No firefighters were injured.

Six apartments sustained smoke damage. One had smoke and water damage. The apartment that burned is “destroyed, but reparable,” Karrow said.