A fire Tuesday at a vacant U-Haul facility in Dolton destroyed the building near 142nd Street and Dante Avenue, according to the village.
Firefighters responded at about 7 a.m. to a report of an active fire, and the building “was engulfed in flames,” said Kiesa Jacob, a spokeswoman for the village.
She said nobody was inside and the building and the fire was brought under control in about two hours.
Jacob said she was at the fire scene and at one point heard an explosion inside the building, but was not sure what caused it.
Jacob said the building had, until recently, been used for a U-Haul rental business, but had been closed or its business license not renewed under the administration of Mayor Tiffany Henyard.
Trustee Jason House is due to be sworn in Monday as the village’s mayor.
Along with the Dolton Fire Department, the state fire marshal’s office is also investigating the cause, Jacob said.