Fire Destroys Galesburg Apartment Building

UPDATED 12:46pm Crews remained on the scene into the lunch hour of a fire that broke out at a Galesburg apartment building that started during the mid-morning hours today.

Galesburg firefighters were called to the fire at 117 Maple Avenue not far from the Don Moffitt overpass around 9:30 this morning, and were on the scene for over two hours.

Galesburg Fire Battalion Chief Todd Peterson tells WGIL the fire didn’t look good from the start.

“As soon as we left the doors of Central Fire, we could see black smoke coming from the area,” Peterson said.  “As we approached, there was heavy flames coming from the rear of the building.  So once we were on scene, we sent crews in through the unaffected area — the front — with hose lines.  We also put lines out back.”

The most difficult part of the fire, Peterson says, ended up in a small attic area of the second floor. He says firefighters essentially chased fire around that part for a long time.

An exact cause of the fire is not yet known, and Peterson says it may be awhile before that’s known.  A damage estimate wasn’t yet available either, but Peterson says the two-story structure is “in pretty bad shape.”