Nursing Home/Senior Living, Residential Vernon Hills, IL – Laundry fire at senior living complex contained by sprinkler system June 23, 2017 viking210 A fire broke out in a Vernon Hills senior living complex’s laundry room Tuesday morning, but officials from the Countryside Fire Protection District say a sprinkler system and collapsible doors contained the fire until crews arrived. The fire started in a dryer on the fifth floor of the Victory Centre of Vernon Hills, 97 W. Phillip Road, shortly after 9 a.m. No one was injured in the blaze, according to a statement issued by Countryside Fire Chief Jeff Steingart. “Quick and decisive actions by the Victory Centre staff as well as the emergency response and the fire sprinkler controlling the fire clearly averted a potential tragedy,” Steingart said. Approximately 110 residents and 25 employees were inside the building when the fire started, according to Steingart. He said investigators are still trying to determine why the dryer caught fire. The incident was deemed a structure fire and Countryside was assisted by crews from Libertyville, Mundelein and Lincolnshire. Smoke and heat was contained inside the laundry room and fresh oxygen kept outside by automated doors that closed, Steingart said. He said the laundry room had one sprinkler that functioned properly and limited the fire until crews arrived. A few residents will be temporarily relocated during the cleanup and investigation, Steingart said.
