The Town of Rolling Meadows is located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and had two unusually memorable fires several weeks apart in May of 2009. Within two miles of each other, they had a 3-Alarm and then a 4-Alarm fire in two different three-story condominium buildings.

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

The fire shown here was the second and occurred on May 25th of that year at 5200 Carriageway Drive. The fire was in a third floor storage room adjacent to the center stairway behind a mansard roof. Moderate smoke was showing on arrival, but as the fire took hold of the attic space and was fanned by high winds, it grew quickly and vented through the roof.

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Companies made an interior attack with lines taken in through third floor balconies, but they were chased out by the fire overhead which was then hit from the outside. Some residents were evacuated off of balconies. The fire was reported  around 11:15AM.

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

There is a gallery with many more fire scene photos.