Basement Fire Displaces Two Residents, Cat From Evanston Home

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston firefighters battled a blaze Wednesday that displaced two residents and a cat from a single-family home in the 9th Ward, fire officials said.

Fire crews were dispatched to the 1800 block of Washington Street around 7:30 p.m. after getting multiple calls of a house on fire, according to Division Chief Kim Kull.

Arriving within minutes, the first firefighters on scene found smoke and fire advancing from the home's basement, Kull said in a release.

The fire was extinguished around 8 p.m., Kull said, following a "quick and aggressive offensive attack," and no residents or firefighters were injured.

The two displaced occupants and the cat escaped the building before the arrival of fire personnel, who notified the American Red Cross to provide the residents food, housing and social services for the residents.

Evanston fire officials summoned personnel from nearby towns to assist with station coverage and fighting the fire, Kull said. The cause of the fire remained under investigation as of Monday evening.