On Friday, Nov. 11, at 8:40 p.m., Macoupin County dispatch received a call from Blackburn senior commuter Alexis Platto that a house in the 900 block of University Street had caught fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
According to Carlinville Fire Protection District Chief Jess McKee, the fire department was enroute by 8:44 p.m. and on the scene of 910 University Street at 8:48 p.m. Platto, who lives on the next block, helped knock on doors along the street to evacuate residents while the house became engulfed. Within minutes of the fire department’s arrival, the structure collapsed into the basement, while both houses on either side (906 and 914 University) also caught fire. The Girard Fire Protection District was paged for backup.
According to McKee, 22 members of the Carlinville Fire Protection District responded to the scene along with nine fire trucks. Four fire trucks from Girard were also dispatched. The Carlinville fire department was back in service by 3 a.m.
The collapsed structure belonged to Ken Snider; it had been vacant and was under renovation. However, one of the houses next door, 906 University, was severely damaged particularly in the attic area, and belonged to Amy Young and Cody Sibley. The couple were slated to be married the next day. According to Blackburn adjunct physical education professor Mary Ann Harp, who lives directly next door, Amy’s brother Jonathan Young was one of the first officers on the scene and was able to rescue the family’s two dogs and guinea pigs. The two siblings had grown up together in the house.
Nobody on the scene was hurt, the home is able to be rebuilt and the couple went through with the wedding, according to Harp, who believes the situation could have been much worse. “Who knows how far that fire might have gone if it wasn’t stopped when it was,” she said. “It really was scary. I think I was kind of just in a daze…I think I was just in a state of horrified fascination just looking at it.”
Several community members and Blackburn students were at the scene, as it occurred across the street from the Blackburn tennis courts. Platto, who had been evacuated from her home by the police, did not return to her home until the following morning.
The cause of the fire remains undetermined and is under investigation by the Illinois State Fire Marshal.