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crazylev · 05-24-2007, 03:54 PM

From the Chicago Tribune Website:

A portion of Interstate Highway 55 was shut down this afternoon while firefighters battled a blaze at an RV dealership just off the expressway in southwest suburban Bolingbrook, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The fire broke out at U.S. Adventure RV, 535 S. Frontage Rd., around 3:30 p.m., according to the Bolingbrook Fire Department. Multiple fire departments were assisting Bolingbrook at the scene as of 4:30 p.m.

Tom Nugler · 05-24-2007, 04:11 PM

Well.... I was contemplating heading down there this weekend and checking out the parts department. (and going a bit of drooling on the showroom)
Maybe I'll wait a week.
Fridge fire?

tom.

bredlo · 05-24-2007, 04:13 PM

Screengrabs from CBS2Chicago.com. This looks like a total loss of the Airstream dealership in Bolingbrook. Heart-wrenching to see, the entire building is gone, including any trailers inside or near the building. There's a row of about 10 or 12 trailers along the highway that look like they might avoid being torched, but they'll still suffer significant smoke damage.

Wild stuff.

cosmotini · 05-24-2007, 04:46 PM

Bummer!

I hope no one was injured or worse.

Is this near the Camping World in Bolingbrook?

InsideOut · 05-24-2007, 04:58 PM

Yikes, hope nobody had their trailers in for service before "the big weekend"...makes me sick to look at it ~

Shari

Goin camping · 05-24-2007, 05:33 PM

Wonder if they will be having a fire sale?

I know I know that was as wrong as the fridge fire joke. I'm sorry.

Don't flame me. Aaarrgh. I did it again.

Caryl · 05-24-2007, 05:50 PM

Our Base Camp was at the dealership getting those pesky door gaskets fixed. Don't know if it was destroyed, but I think it probably was. I will know more tomorrow likely. Thank God no one was hurt. I have already spoken to one of the managers who is not in Chicago today and he is just gathering information. Big loss for a new, very good dealership. I miss my Base Camp.

Caryl

overlander63 · 05-24-2007, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goin camping

Wonder if they will be having a fire sale?

I know I know that was as wrong as the fridge fire joke. I'm sorry.

Don't flame me. Aaarrgh. I did it again.

Any more jokes like that, and you're fired...

bredlo · 05-24-2007, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caryl

Our Base Camp was at the dealership getting those pesky door gaskets fixed. Don't know if it was destroyed, but I think it probably was. I will know more tomorrow likely. Thank God no one was hurt. I have already spoken to one of the managers who is not in Chicago today and he is just gathering information. Big loss for a new, very good dealership. I miss my Base Camp.

Caryl

Caryl, from one Evanstonian to another - my condolences!! Hopefully it was on the downwind side of the building and all is okay, but from the video I saw, it doesn't look like there was too many trailers parked in that area. Best of luck.

Goin camping · 05-24-2007, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caryl

Our Base Camp was at the dealership getting those pesky door gaskets fixed. Don't know if it was destroyed, but I think it probably was. I will know more tomorrow likely. Thank God no one was hurt. I have already spoken to one of the managers who is not in Chicago today and he is just gathering information. Big loss for a new, very good dealership. I miss my Base Camp.

Caryl

I hope your Basecamp is safe and sound.

overlander63 · 05-24-2007, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caryl

Our Base Camp was at the dealership getting those pesky door gaskets fixed. Don't know if it was destroyed, but I think it probably was. I will know more tomorrow likely. Thank God no one was hurt. I have already spoken to one of the managers who is not in Chicago today and he is just gathering information. Big loss for a new, very good dealership. I miss my Base Camp.

Caryl

Yikes! I was busy typing post #8 when you posted about your Basecamp. Hopefully it is okay, if not, there is insurance to cover most of the loss. Now would be a good time to make sure you have info about anything extra (clothes, TV, etc) that may have been in it. Their adjuster will want that info if the trailer was damaged (and I hope it wasn't).

3Ms75Argosy · 05-24-2007, 07:23 PM

oh man, I hope your Basecamp is ok. Of course, I really hope everybody INSIDE is ok. Seems like it went up pretty fast. Please post more when you know more.

Take care!
Marc

Tom Nugler · 05-24-2007, 08:23 PM

Just saw the video on the 9:00 news. Both buildings burned. There were very strong winds which whipped things into a frenzy. Hopefully your BaseCamp was outside as the pictures showed a number of Airstreams being spared damage.
OK, in retrospect the fridge fire jab was a bit off, but, at the time no one knew the extent of the fire.

I'm disappointed I never made it down there to take a look as I heard it was great place see.

Tom

Boondocker · 05-24-2007, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Nugler

OK, in retrospect the fridge fire jab was a bit off, but, at the time no one knew the extent of the fire.

Tom

Nah, one has to be able to laugh at things, and your comment sparked conversation.

crazylev · 05-24-2007, 08:30 PM

The camping world is about a mile from the AS place. Realloy sad, because they were just one of two AS dealerships in the Chicago area, and the other one kinda blows.

jonathan

Tom Nugler · 05-24-2007, 08:58 PM

Neither myself, or any of my co-workers, have ever caught anything on fire in any of the shops we've worked at.
Oops, nose grew so fast it knocked over the monitor.

Anyone who's done mechanical or construction work can tell you that fires can spring up in an instant from seemingly inconsequential actions. After the dash for the extinguishers and blowing away the masses of powder you stand back and say "Ooohhh, should have seen that coming". Luckily we have never caused any real damage or have had anyone injured.
The titles "Sparky" or "Flash" only hang around for a week or so.

Tom.

Caryl · 05-24-2007, 08:59 PM

Thanks for all the good thoughts and comments. We won't know until tomorrow or later about the fate of the Base Camp. Jerry looked at all the pictures of the fire on the Web that he could find. There seems to be a Base Camp parked outside from what we could tell through the smoke and fuzziness of the shots. We obviously can't tell if that is ours. The dealership had another new Base Camp on the lot and I think that is about where it was parked when we dropped off ours last week for the warranty work. Is ours destroyed?? Don't know yet.

The folks who work there are just good solid people with alot of experience and knowledge. It is wonderful that no one was hurt. I will let all of you know when I know something. We are taking it in stride. I just hope that the business will recover and the workers can stay employed and that they are well insured.

More later,
Caryl

63air · 05-24-2007, 09:02 PM

Sorry to hear about the fire. They also have the AS dealership in Davenport, Iowa. I vist there quite often. Very good people to deal with.

Silvertwinkie · 05-24-2007, 10:10 PM

What a total shame. Glad no one was hurt. I'm sure insurance will kick in and that they will be back in no time. Kind of spooky when it hits that close to home.