For the third time in six weeks, a fire in Elgin’s tent city destroyed makeshift structures that are part of the homeless encampment along the Fox River.
Firefighters arrived about 10:45 p.m. Saturday to find four or five dwellings in a 1,000-square-foot area fully engulfed, according to Elgin Fire Department reports. The fire was contained within an hour, officials said.
The incident comes just a week before the city begins the process of relocating people from the 8-acre site to hotel rooms at the Lexington Inn and Suites at 1585 Dundee Ave. in advance of demolishing and removing the structures that fill land near Route 31 and Kimball Street.
A $2.5 million contract to fund the teardown work was approved by the Elgin City Council last week. Hotel rooms for the homeless through the spring will cost up to $425,000.
The previous two fires, which occurred Dec. 4 and Dec. 12, damaged about a dozen structures but resulted in no deaths or injuries. However, they were the impetus behind the city deciding to do something about the encampment, which has been there for decades.
Fire officials have not been able to determine an exact cause for the previous fires but suspect they could stem from homemade furnaces or warming devices built by residents to provide heat.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
