Sterling’s Emergency Communications Center (TwinCom) received a 911 call at 10pm Tuesday, for the fire in a home located 5400 block of Anne Street in Galt in the Sterling Rural Fire District .
TwinCom dispatched a structure fire response assignment consisting of Sterling Fire, Rock Falls Fire Department and CGH EMS units. While companies were enroute, TwinCom advised police were on the scene with a female occupant outside with smoke inhalation. That occupant was transported to CGH by EMS and a male occupant who was home at the time of the fire, drove to the hospital on his own. Their condition is unknown at this time.
At 10:14, the first arriving vehicle arrived on scene and found heavy fire showing from multiple doors and windows of the structure and a live electrical utility wire down on the driveway. Also at that time, a MABAS Box Alarm was called and followed by a 2nd Alarm Box. The fire was deemed under control at 2:50am, after extensive overhaul and fire control.
Crews were hampered by heavy damage to the structure and access into the structure due to heavy loads of materials inside the home. Fire companies remained on the scene until 4 this morning,assisting the IL Office of the State Fire Marshals office who conducted the fire investigation.
The Sterling Fire Department was assisted on the scene by the Rock Falls, Dixon Rural, Polo, Milledgeville, Morrison, Prophetstown, Morrison, Tampico, Lyndon, Amboy, Chadwick, and Franklin Grove Fire Departments and the Lanark Fire Department who provided station coverage.
The cause is under investigation. There were no injuries to any firefighters while operating on scene. The building was deemed to be uninhabitable and a total loss by the Fire Department.
