2 Cats Dead, 13 People Displaced By Evanston Apartment Building Fire

EVANSTON, IL — A fire in an Evanston apartment building Thursday left two cats dead and displaced more than a dozen residents, fire officials said.

Fire crews were dispatched to multiple reports of a fire in three-story courtyard complex in the 900 block of Judson Avenue around 8:30 a.m.

Firefighters arrived to find thick, brown, billowing smoke coming from the third-floor unit where the fire began, according to Division Chief Kim Kull.

The department upgraded the response to a third alarm by 8:42 a.m., calling in neighboring departments to send crews to help battle the blaze and cover the rest of town.

"We had to make sure that the fire hadn't traveled, and that's really the reason for the upgrade," Kull said. "Based on the type of construction, based on fire behavior, and potential for spread, and the size of the complex and the advanced conditions, all of that warranted an upgrade."

Firefighters opened up the roof of the building in several places, Kull said, preventing the fire from spreading through void spaces into other units.

"We had to make sure it hadn't spread," she said, "and if it had spread, we wanted to get ahead of it."

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All people inside the apartment building were able to evacuate without injury.

But two cats were found dead by firefighters carrying out search and rescue units in the apartment where the fire began, according to the division chief.

The blaze was brought under control by 9:30 a.m., though streets in the area remained closed while the investigation continued.

Thursday morning's blaze was the fourth significant fire in Evanston in just over two weeks.

On Jan. 24, a fire at a multi-family home on Emerson Street displaced six residents. On Jan. 27, two residents of a one-story, single-family home on Grey Avenue were displaced by fire, with one taken to a local hospital in stable condition. And on the morning of Feb. 3, a fire at the business 4 Suns Fresh Juice, 1906 Main St., was extinguished within about 10 minutes of firefighters' arrival.

In the case of the Judson Avenue fire, all residents of the building had renter's insurance, according to fire officials, who encouraged residents to ensure their coverage is up to date.