- 405 S. Fletcher Ave Rahn Elementary School - Structure Fire -


The firefighters from Mt. Morris as well as all MABAS division 18 companies were severely taxed On February 12th. At 10:22 hours the District responded to a report of a structure fire in an occupied Elementary School. All the students were quickly removed from the building thanks to great work from the students and faculty. The first companies on scene reported fire and smoke showing. Upon the receipt of this information Chief Hough immediately struck a second alarm.Due to the buildings construction of bar truss with false mansard roofs the fire grew rapidly. An aggressive 50 minute interior attack was initiated from numerous fire companies, all encountering very high heat and zero visibility. Several attempts were made by companies to trench cut the roof , attempting to stop the horizontal fire spread with no avail. At the receipt of this information Chief Hough pulled all companies from the building and operations went to a defensive mode. The fire progressed through the building unimpeded. The building had no fire stops or automatic fire suppression systems in place. Chief Hough requested subsequent alarms for water and manpower ultimately reaching 9 alarms plus a special interdivisional box from MABAS division 8. These alarms brought 75 pieces of apparatus from 50 departments, as well as 175 firefighters to the scene from six counties.