North Champaign house fire displaces family

By Daily Illini Staff Report

A fire on the 500 block of E. Washington Street on Saturday has left a family of four homeless for the time being. The Champaign Fire Department had firemen on the scene at 9:21 a.m. No one was injured in the fire.

Champaign fire marshal John Koller said they are currently unaware of the cost of the damage and the cause of the fire. Koller said the construction of the house made it difficult to extinguish.

“What we had here was what we call a balloon frame type construction house,” Koller said. “There were a lot of void spaces in the home, so literally finding the fire and getting to it to get it extinguished was a bit of a challenge.”

Koller said the situation was under control by 1 p.m. Saturday. He said the marathon was another obstacle to extinguishing the fire.