MARCH 5, 2015
ROLLING MEADOWS, ILLINOIS
A 55-year-old man died after he jumped from a third-floor
balcony when a fire broke out Wednesday night in the Rolling Meadows
condominium building in which he lived, officials said.
Kenneth Vansickle was pronounced dead after being
transported to Northwest Community Hospital, Fire Chief Scott Franzgrote said.
Vansickle was found by first responders lying outside the rear of the building
at 5201 Carriageway Drive in cardiac arrest.
No other injuries were reported, Franzgrote said.
The three-alarm blaze engulfed the three-story building
containing 48 condominium units, Franzgrote said.
A release issued by the department Thursday morning said
firefighters received a call at 8:03 p.m. through the Northwest Central
Dispatch Center, which was activated by a fire detection system in the roughly
50-year-old building along Algonquin Road.
According to the release, the three floors above ground are
not protected by a fire suppression system. However, the below level
parking garage is protected by a fire suppression system.
The exact cause of the fire was still under investigation
Thursday morning. The building sustained significant damage from fire, smoke
and water and many residents were displaced during the below-zero temperatures
Wednesday night.
Teresa Pfister, a resident of the Rolling Meadows complex,
said she arrived home Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m., jumped into her pajamas and
popped open her computer, only to be startled by the fire alarm five minutes
later.
“I opened up my patio door, looked out and up, and saw
flames shooting out 10 to 20 feet in the air from unit 303 above me,” said
Pfister, 60, a professional business writer who lived in the building at 5201
Carriageway Drive for more than 20 years. “Then there was this loud boom,
something had exploded, and my apartment shook. I was jarred by it.”
Pfister grabbed her coat, purse and computer and headed out
into the frigid temperatures with the dozens of other neighbors to watch the
building go up in smoke. Some residents headed down the street to a warming bus
provided by the city.
“People were huddling together and crying,” said Pfister,
who said she only vaguely knew Vansickle, her neighbor and the lone fatality in
the three-alarm fire. She said he was quiet and was home a lot alone but would
always wave when she saw him. She confirmed she did see his wife outside the
building last night. Pfister explained it was a “really nice building,” with
many children living there.
Pfister said she was in shock last night. She stayed with
family, while many neighbors who were displaced headed to area hotels. When she
went to Meijer Thursday to buy a pair of jeans, the shock subsided.
“It hit me, my staff is all gone. Everything will be
destroyed. And I began to cry,” she said, as she surveyed the outside of the
building Thursday morning.
On the scene with the fire marshal Thursday investigating
the cause of the fire, Franzgrote confirmed that the southeast portion of the
building, the site of Pfister’s condo, was totally demolished in the blaze but
he suspects other residents may be able to return to the building at some point
in the next day or so.
Sprinkler systems were not inside any of the housing units
in the building, he confirmed, and may have contributed to the blaze. However,
the underground garage did have sprinklers for vehicle fires. Franzgrote said
the building met city codes.
Annette Byrd, vice president of property manager Associa of
Chicagoland-Schaumburg, asked that residents who are seeking updates, access
and assistance with their insurance claims to contact Associa at 847-490-3833.
She could not immediately say how many people lived in the building.
Firefighters arrived to heavy smoke and flames shooting into
the air from the third floor in the rear of the building. The fire continued
past 10 p.m., leaving many firefighters covered in ice from the water hoses
spraying from the ladder trucks.
A Mutual Aid Box Alarm (MABAS) was activated and 20 units
and 104 firefighters from neighboring departments brought the fire under
control by 11:52 p.m., according to the release.
Those departments included Palatine, Palatine Rural,
Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Elk Grove Village, Elk Grove
Township, Streamwood, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Wheeling, Buffalo Grove,
Lake Zurich, Wood Dale, Roselle, Itasca, Long Grove, Prospect Heights,
Bloomingdale, Rosemont, Northbrook, Hanover Park, North Maine and Addison.
The Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal, Rolling
Meadows Police Department and the Rolling Meadows Fire Department were on the scene
Thursday morning continuing their investigation.