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Fire guts Bloomington apartment building

An image from a Bloomington Fire Department drone over an apartment building fire Thursday night.
Bloomington Fire Department.
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Bloomington Fire Department
An image from a Bloomington Fire Department drone over an apartment building fire Thursday night.

The Bloomington Fire Department said Monday it does not yet have a damage estimate on an apartment fire Thursday evening that required every BFD unit to fight.

A tenant in the apartment building at 2608 Hall Court reported smoke from around a washer and dryer in their apartment about 7:41 p.m. Fire officials said a thermal imaging camera showed the fire was in the wall of the apartment and spread to multiple levels of the building.

The department ordered an evacuation and searched the building after multiple people left. Firefighters rescued a child and six cats from the burning building. The child was in the last apartment searched.

Firefighters put in numerous hand lines on several floors and used two ladder trucks, but pulled out after a section of the roof collapsed. The flames took several hours to bring under control and hot spots lasted till morning.

The cause of the fire is as yet undetermined.

 Thermal imaging from the Hall Court apartment building fire in Bloomington.
Bloomington Fire Department
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Bloomington Fire Department
Thermal imaging from the Hall Court apartment building fire in Bloomington.

WGLT Senior Reporter Charlie Schlenker has spent more than three award-winning decades in radio. He lives in Normal with his family.