townhouse blown apart by an explosion

After being dispatched to a working fire at an unknown address because of the volume of 911 calls, firefighters from the North Maine FPD (Des Plaines, IL) followed a header and travelled less than 1/2 mile to 9320 Noel Street in unincorporated Maine Township. They pulled up to heavy fire blowing out what was left of one unit of a four-unit, two-story apartment building. The entire front of the second unit from the street had been blown out. The alarm was upgraded to a Working Fire and then a MABAS Box Alarm, followed within minutes by an upgrade to the 2nd Alarm.

Multiple hand lines and three elevated master streams were used to battle the fire, the majority of which had been knocked down prior to my arrival.