Fire Destroys Illinois Chiropractic Clinic

Jan. 16--COAL CITY -- Firefighters spent most of Wednesday morning working on a fire that destroyed much of a local chiropractic clinic.

Just before 6:30 a.m. the Coal City Fire Protection District was called to a structure fire at the Lardi Chiropractic Clinic on the 400 block of east First Street in Coal City, Coal City Fire District spokesman Nick Doerfler said.

The fire was under control between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., but firefighters were on scene until about 12:45 p.m. The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System 15 investigators were called to the scene.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Doerfler said, but about $500,000 worth of damage was done. The clinic is in a former church that has an addition on it, he said. The fire destroyed the addition.

On arrival there was heavy smoke coming from the structure. The building was empty, but the fierce fire caused the firefighters to switch to a defensive attack.

"We used a lot of water from the city's water supply," he said. "[The city] requested we shut down the hydrant use so we had to bring in tenders."

So much municipal water was used the city's water towers were running low so additional resources had to be called in, Doerfler said.

The call alerting firefighters to the blaze came in from an employee who was opening the facility for the day and saw the smoke.

No one was injured and multiple agencies assisted Coal City from throughout the area because of the need for water tenders.

Copyright 2014 - Morris Daily Herald, Ill.