KENOSHA -- The Red Cross says it has provided food, comfort kits, and emergency financial assistance to up to 25 people impacted by three fires in Kenosha Saturday.
The first fire happened at a condo at 3306 55th Court. The division chief told us the building, with eight units inside, is likely a total loss.
“If I had to estimate the cost for damage, I would probably put the building at 1.5 million,” said Division Chief Guy Santelli with the Kenosha Fire Department.
On Sunday, less than twenty-four hours after this condo went up in flames, firefighters were back on duty, taking care of hot spots.
Their assignment Sunday though was nowhere near as chaotic as it was Saturday.
While thirty firefighters fought these flames Saturday, less than twenty minutes later, another fire call came in, three and a half miles away, to a home off 34th Avenue.
Matt Cook lives a couple doors down.
“I was just looking at it right now for the first time and I didn’t really realize how bad it was until I actually saw it,” said Cook.
The fire started from a backyard fire pit. The flames got out of control, damaging houses, garages, sheds, cars, a motorcycle and more.
“We had ten off-duty firefighters come in and help us also,” said Santelli.
With resources and staff stretched to the max, other fire departments, some even from Illinois, responded.
Neighbor Byron Perona witnessed all the different departments on 34th Avenue.
“There were people from Antioch, there’s Winthrop Harbor,Somers and Racine,” said Perona.
But the fires in Kenosha weren’t finished. A bedroom fire broke out inside a home on Roosevelt road. The cause, appearing to be electrical.
“A cell phone charger plugged into an extension cord and it was on the bed,” said Santelli. “All at once we had three working structure fires. It taxed us to our limits."
Those three working fires happened in less than two hours. No one was hurt in any of them.
“It’s the first time that we’ve had three fires in my career, in that short of a period,” said Santelli.
The cause of the condo fire is the only one that hasn’t been released.
