Fire Damage Contained After Resident Shut Garage Door, Chief Says

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — Closing the door to the garage likely saved one Libertyville resident's home during a vehicle fire on the 1100 block of Hunters Lane Tuesday evening.

Fire officials responded to the call, which was originally reported as a fluid leak in the garage, at around 4 p.m. Once they arrived, firefighters saw a vehicle inside the garage had caught fire, putting the rest of the home in danger.

Deputy Fire Chief Michael Pakosta told Patch that neighboring departments from Countryside and Mundelein reported to the scene as a procedural response, but the fire was extinguished "pretty quickly." The only thing that contained the damage to the attached garage, he said, was the resident making sure the door into the home was shut tightly before calling first responders.

"Make sure that the door to the house, mudroom, is closed and secured before going to sleep," Pakosta said. "There are amazing images that show, when a bedroom door is closed, the bedroom is untouched but the hallway is demolished."

Pakosta referenced the Close Before You Doze campaign, which is a public safety movement that urges people to close interior and exterior doors to isolate the area in the event of a fire.

"In case of fire, a closed door can isolate the fire's flow, reduce room temperatures and keep carbon monoxide levels down," the campaign's website states.

No injuries were reported in Tuesday's fire.

In addition to closing doors, Pakosta recommended residents install a smoke detector in their garage, a place many often forget.